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 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.

A Participatory Screening

“The pocket in question is a pocket of resistance. A pocket is formed when two or more people come together in agreement” – John Berger

On the 28th Feb the LIDF launched a new stage of its now three year project of film and social change workshops in Pakistan. PocketVisions is the umbrella organisation for the LIDF’s work in training and film activisim. Over the next three weeks the short films made during last year’s workshops will be screened across Pakistan. Films that tell the stories of Pakistan’s citizens – how they live and work, the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the future.

Next week at The Book Club we will screen films from the project and hope to encourage further debate and involvement.

If you are interested in the present situation in Pakistan – and who shouldn’t be – in how young filmmakers make their first steps, and in how film can create change, please come along and take part.

If you are already involved in similar projects, or would like to be, we would be delighted if you would share your experiences with us on Wednesday and together we can work towards an extended debate and new projects at the LIDF 2011.

Wednesday 16th March
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Door: £7
100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH – 020 7684 8618
www.wearetbc.com

Thinking and Drinking: Conversations in Film
Invisible City – A Participatory Screening

Welcome to a night of film, discussion and thinking about the city. LIDF invites you to contribute and co-create as we formulate new and exciting ways to continue our Invisible City project begun at last year’s Festival.

Based around three films, ‘open space’ discussions, and psycho-geographical mapping of our city, this night promises to be a thought provoking and absorbing preamble to LIDF’s Invisible City 2011. Tonight we want to hear about your unique experiences of the Invisible City, a mysterious phenomenon with many possible interpretations and meanings: places, ideas, encounters, gestures, nooks, crannies, moments in time and space… all part of our individual experiences of London.

The aim of the event is to devise film, narrative, and participatory means of exploring the Invisible City, so that these ideas can be illuminated, used, discovered and shared by others.

This process of discovery and mapping will take place between films and wine served downstairs at The Book Club.

Wednesday 16th February
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 »

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 »

I am Agha | Atif Ahmad, Kiran Mushtaq, M.Umar Saeed | 2010 | 7min

Two years ago 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 the 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;

Final programme

09.00: Welcome
09.15: Keynote address
Patrick Hazard: Filmmaking and Social Change
09.45 – 11.15: Films from the project (Part 1) + Q&A with the students
Break
11.30: Films from the LIDF
12.30: Presentation by Abrar Hassan (Morango Films): The Role of the Independent Media
13.00: Lunch
14.00: Films from the project (Part 2) + Q&A with the students
15.30 – 16.00: Films from the LIDF
Break
16.30: Presentation of certificates by Masood Hamid (DAWN) to the student filmmakers followed by informal breakout discussions and networking
17.00: Round table discussion and audience Q&A: Film and Social Change – Babar Sheikh (Filmmaker), Aisha Arif Khan ((Faculty, Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi and Indus Valley), Patrick Hazard (LIDF)
17.45-18.45: Q&A session between Patrick Hazard and the press
18-45-19.30: Refreshments / Informal meet and greet with the press

Spaces are limited. To reserve a place  or write to [email protected]

Valetina Monti | 2009 | Italy | 62min

Afghanistan radio has traditionally been the voice of authority – there is no tradition of radio as a democratic, participatory medium that can be used to satisfy the needs of local communities – until today.

23 year old Afghan journalist Humaira Habib is founder and editor-in-chief of Radio Sahar, the first independent community radio station born after the fall of the Taliban regime and entirely run by women. In a unique example of a new democracy building process in Afghanistan, Humaira and the girls of the radio fight every day for the rights of Afghan women.

Focusing on the young Afghani idealists who are trying to make a difference in a country where the very basic principles of democracy were completely destroyed, award-winning filmmaker Valentina Monti explores the value of freedom of expression and information and reveals that Afghanistan is a very different country from the stereotype created in the Western media.
+ Q&A with director Valentina Monti and Patrick Hazard, Director LIDF

Barbican, Cinema 1, 18:30
9 February 2011

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 (subject to availability)

BOOK HERE

DocSpot: Shout (15*) + Q&A + Exhibition

20:45 / This powerful portrayal of youth and growing up and a forgotten part of the Middle East conflict won the Best Film of the London International Documentary Festival 2010

Born in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, best friends Ezat and Bayan journey across the UN monitored no man’s land to study in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Leaving behind their village, friends and family, the two young men at first enjoy the freedom their new home affords them; however, they soon learn that the city is a place where sides must be picked and words carefully chosen.

The Netherlands 2009 Dirs. Ester Gould & Sabine Lubbe Bakker 75 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

+ Q&A with director Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Chris Doyle (Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding) and Shaza Shannan (British Syrian Society)

Chris Doyle – Director of The Council for Arab-British Understanding. As the lead spokesperson for CAABU and as an acknowledged expert on the region, Chris is a frequent commentator on TV and Radio. He gives numerous talks around the country on issues such as Palestine, Iraq, Islamophobia and the Arabs in Britain. He has had numerous letters published in the British and international media.

Sabine Lubbe Bakker is a dutch film maker with a passion for the Middle East. Having orginially trained in political science, she has been in the motion picture industry since 2005. ‘Shout’ is her first feature.

Shaza Shannan is currently the Head of Cultural Committee at British Syrian Society and the Vice Chair at CAABU – she organises events focussed on Middle Eastern issues. She is the Business Change Manager at British Council and also holds a position teaching arabic at SOAS.

20.45, 29 September 2010
Barbican, Cinema 1

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 / Under 15 £5.50
subject to availability. BOOK HERE

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.

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

The Don Boyd retrospective that forms part of this year’s festival kicked off tonight with1998’s Lucia. This was preceded with a talk from Patrick Hazard on the importance of Don Boyd’s work, before Boyd himself took the microphone. He explained the reasons for his focussing this dramatic piece on Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor. It began when Boyd was a young boy, with a passion for the original historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott, whom was regarded as a bit of a celebrity, and was a character of particular interest to Boyd. The opera gave him a wonderful opportunity he said: it is “drenching with beautiful music”, which, with the chance to play with beautiful costumes and scenery, is an “irresistible opportunity” for the filmmaker. Read the rest of this entry »