The LIDF2012 will run at venues across London from 24 May to 2 June.

View events calendar

CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS – DOCUMENT LONDON!

Do you have a great photograph of London? Do you want it to be seen in print and on-line to a global audience? Do you want to provide the poster image or programme cover for the UK’s largest documentary film festival, and win yourself a great Canon camera?

The winning entry will be an outstanding photograph of London. All subject matter is suitable. Your photograph may be a cityscape, a crowd scene, a portrait of an individual, a building, a detail. The brief is open. Your eye and your imagination are what count.

Prizes

1st Prize: Your image to be the poster of the LIDF 2012. Plus, a Canon EOS 1100D (or cash equivalent).

1st Prize (Student Category 16-26 years) Your image to be the programme cover of the LIDF 2012. Plus, a Canon EOS 1100D (or cash equivalent).

2nd Prize: To be one of 3 holding images used on-screen before and after every screening at the LIDF and included in the festival programme. Plus, a Canon Powershot SX150 IS.

10 Runners-up will have their photographs published on the festival website

All winning entries will be published on the LIDF website with full credits, each winning entrant will receive a LIDF2012 festival pass, and invitations to the Festival Opening and Closing Galas.

The judging panel includes:
Kate Edwards (Picture Editor, Guardian Weekend Magazine)
Nick Cunard (Owner at Nick Cunard: Stills Moving, partner at CHI-photo, and contributor at Eyevine.
Frede Spencer (Founder of the Twenty Twenty Agency)

How to Enter

The LIDF Photography competition is open to anyone and to all ages and consists of two categories: general and student (16-26 years).
The competition is open to all nationalities.
Your photographs may have been taken at anytime between 31st January 2007 and 31st January 2012.
Complete the on-line entry form, pay the £7.00 entry fee, and submit up to 10 photos.
Deadline for entry is 31st January 2012

Official Entry Form

Frequently Asked Questions

Entry Regulations

Many thanks to all who have taken part in this year’s festival. From the filmmakers, panel contributors, venues, sponsors and of course the audience of whom we have seen record numbers this year.

The 2011 programme has been of an exceptionally high standard, truly reflecting the great work being done in the documentary field across the globe. After long deliberation the awards have gone to:

Audience Award – to be announced on Friday 3rd June

Best Campaign Film
Our Generation; director, Sinem Saban; Australia

Best Short Film
Special Mention
One Day in Smara; director, Fany de la Chica; Spain
Martin the Ghost; director, Aslak Danbolt; Norway
Vertical City; director, Avijit Mukul Kishore; India

Winner
Undertow Eyes; director, Petra Costa; Brazil

Best Film
Special Mention
I was Worth 50 Sheep; director, Nima Sarvestani; Sweden
In the Garden of Sounds; director, Nicola Bellucci; Italy

Winner
Grandma, A Thousand Times; director, Mahmoud Kaabour; UAE, Qatar, Lebanon

LIDF has partnered with Ricker Restaurants to make sure your conversation about film does not end in the cinema. 

Great Eastern Dining Rooms and Cicada will give LIDF ticket-holders offers on cocktails, dinners and group bookings during the festival*. All you have to do is show a valid ticket for any of the events during the two week festival and you are eligible for a discount. So after seeing a film, make sure to head over to one of these restaurants to discuss, debate and enjoy a nice drink or two. 

GREAT EASTERN DINING ROOMS

Great Eastern Dining Room is one of London’s trendiest restaurants and bars situated in the highly fashionable area of Hoxton. It is a fabulous looking venue with a modern, minimalist style, serving top notch pan-Asian food. 

54 – 56 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3QR 
Tel. +44 20 7613 4545

CICADA 

Cicada, the first of the Ricker restaurants, which has been open since 1996, is near to Smithfields Market in Clerkenwell. The restaurant, bar and private dining room have all been recently refurbished. The mix of strong design, fun and consistently inexpensive pan-Asian food make it a winner all round.
 
132 – 136 St. John Street, London, EC1V 4JT 
Tel. +44 20 7608 1550 

*Offer valid for LIDF ticket holders/ members.offer refers to house cocktail only and is subject to availability & change.

Last night saw the World Premier of BENEATH THE SKY at Europe House with the director and the presence Bosnian Ambassador, while we screened the UK Premiere of Elisa Mantin’s IN THE SHADOWS OF DEATH at the Courthouse cinema to an appreciative audience. The top-notch panel following the film about Roberto Saviano resulted in a long debate that when on for many hours after leaving the cinema.

Today, there is a second chance to see both films.

BENEATH THE SKY is playing in a double-bill with FULL DISCLOSURE at the Frontline Club. Both director’s will be present.

IN THE SHADOWS OF DEATH is again at the Courthouse Hotel Cinema followed by another fascinating panel line-up.
Annalisa Piras (Chair) Media Strategy Advisor. Writer, broadcaster, freelance commentator on 
EU and Italian Current Affairs. TV producer with 20 years experience 
in International Journalism, print and broadcast, and President of the Foreign Press Association in London.
Federico Ippoliti. 
Expert on organized crime from Circolo Radio Londra of the London 
group of the Italian party Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà (Left Ecology
and Freedom, SEL). Christopher Duggan
. Professor of Italian History, University of Reading. Director of 
Centre for Modern Italian History. He has written and researched 
extensively on many aspects of modern Italian history.
Gaia Servadio. 
Expert on the mafia. Author of “A Profile of a Mafia Boss”, “Mafioso: A
 History of the Mafia as a social phenomenon”. 
Vice-President Foreign Press Association, London from 1989 to 1994. As a journalist has worked as the London correspondent for La Stampa, 
l’Espresso, l’Europeo, Art correspondent for Il Corriere della sera; 
in the UK, amongst others, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Times, 
The Independent, The Telegraph group. TV documentaries: On the Mafia
 (Murder by Neglect BBC1) and Alcamo, the Mafia mentality BBC 2.

Book early and on-line for either event.

Record-breaking opening weekend for the LIDF. From the sold out ‘Senna’ to ‘Salam Rugby’ and Steven Soderberg’s ‘ And Everything is Going Fine’ on Sunday night the festival was lively, joyful and animated by some great panels. A big thank you to all the directors who took part and the many other contributors.

Our opening night gala screening of Senna is now sold out. Make sure you don’t miss out on any of the other great films and book early. The best way to enjoy the festival is with one of our new Festival Passes. Passes give you great savings and flexibility. And don’t forget the other Gala screenings that promise great evenings of film and debate.

After our successful press screening in Karachi, and another full and busy event in London, more screenings are planned across Pakistan and the UK, including at the forthcoming LIDF.

All the up coming screenings in Pakistan are FREE. Come along and take part and contribute to the debate. For More details CLICK HERE

The media landscape in Pakistan has radically altered over the last decade. Independent TV and radio channels have increased in number and as a result audiences have become ever better informed and more aware. At the same time ordinary citizens are beginning to find their voice. Slowly they are becoming a part of the process itself, a provider and distributor of information as opposed to a passive recipient. The possibilities opened up by cheaper technology and alternative distribution strategies have also suggested effective means for transnational information sharing, and story-telling. Micro narratives of the everyday and the personal that undercut the dominant media representations, as well as suggest hope for ever greater empathy and compassion. A politics of the individual in the most revealing and altruistic sense.

Two years ago, in response to these possibilities, the Filmmaking for Social Change project was set up to enable young Pakistani filmmakers to produce documentaries which raise awareness of the negative impact of violent extremism, conflict, social exclusion and poor governance. The films have since been screened to appreciative British audiences  at the LIDF09 and LIDF10. To date 16 documentaries have been produced by 45 young filmmakers through hands-on training workshops. These documentaries focus on stories of individual lives affected by bomb blasts and riots in Pakistan, the effects of extremism on arts and culture, interfaith harmony, and poverty in Pakistan.

LIDF Media Forum Karachi is the next stage in the project. A symposium and screening that will debate, celebrate and explore issues facing documentary filmmakers in Pakistan and beyond, and their part in encouraging social change and active citizenship. It will mark the launch of the Filmmaking for Social Change roadshow – an extended period of public screenings and debates across Pakistan that will showcase the films made during the project. Films that tell the stories of Pakistan’s citizens – how they live and work, the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the future.

28th February, 9.00 – 18.00
Avari Towers, Fatima Jinnah Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

The forum will focus on:

• A presentation by students of their Filmmaking for Social Change films;

• A celebration of the best of international documentary film presented by the LIDF;

• Knowledge-sharing, and synthesis of emerging practice and the latest thinking on film as a tool for social change;

• The role played by the media in creating the opportunities for citizens to participate, interact, give rein to free and constructive expression, and demands for accountability;

• An appeal to Pakistani filmmakers, broadcasters and NGOs to engage with the LIDF and strengthen international collaboration in the documentary field;

Watch this space for the final programme of events and speakers!

Spaces are limited. To reserve a place or write to tickets@lidf.co.uk

Thinking and Drinking: Conversations in Film
Six UK Short Docs from the LIDF 2010

We are delighted to be starting a new partnership with The Book Club (‘…currently the venue for hip literary events.’ The Independent). The Book Club brings together wit, wisdom, creative events, food, drink and a brain-teasing, eclectic programme.

The new partnership allows the LIDF to meet, greet, entertain, chat and watch films with the London community of documentary film enthusiasts. It is our first chance to really sit down in an informal setting and ask what do you want from your London documentary festival. It is a chance for closer involvement, for forging deeper partnerships and generating as yet unknown connections and ideas.

We look forward to meeting you on the 19th January when we kick off with drinks and a selection of our favourite UK short docs.

‘Conversations in Film’ is a new event where film and discussion go hand in hand. Each month we will look at documentary film as it straddles the worlds of reportage, anthropology, activism, and mass entertainment. A chance for dialogue and the London documentary community to gather, a chance for debate, for support and inspiration.

Wednesday 19th January
Time: 7pm -  8.30pm
Door: £7 including complimentary glass of wine
100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH – 020 7684 8618
www.wearetbc.com

The full film line-up ……… Read the rest of this entry »