The Frontline Club

In 2014, 14,792 asylum seekers arrived in Denmark, 2,940 of them were children. At Home in the World follows the day-to-day lives of those children whose families are seeking asylum in the EU.

This remarkably intimate and touching documentary focuses on one Danish Red Cross school for refugees, where classrooms are filled with children from more than twelve countries. The students have had to learn Danish while adjusting to new surroundings and, in some cases, dealing with the traumas of conflict. While some students thrive and find friendship despite their difficult pasts, others act out with feelings of alienation and frustration. Some are denied asylum and sent back to their countries of origin, while others are granted residence and graduate to standard Danish language schools.

With stunning and unobtrusive camera work, director Andreas Koefoed masterfully captures the social and psychological impacts of displacement from the outlook of young people and the educators who are tasked with guiding them – and at times their parents – through daunting new experiences.

Since the Paris attacks on 13 November, world leaders have seemingly put grievances aside to unite in a newly energised fight against Daesh – but what can be achieved by bombing the already bombed-out cities of Syria?

If Daesh is pushed back militarily then what comes next? Who fills the void and how do you stop from merely driving them elsewhere? Even if military gains are made, the ideology remains. Those involved in the attacks in Paris were French and Belgium citizens – how do we tackle radicalisation both online and on the streets of Europe, and prevent rising fear and the polarisation of communities?

The recent downing of a Russian jet by Turkish forces highlights the perils of combat aircraft from different countries operating in the same theatre. How can this be managed logistically without causing another major diplomatic incident?

For the first First Wednesday of 2016 we will be bringing together a panel to answer these questions and to discuss the diplomatic, logistical and ideological challenges of the fight against Daesh.

Chaired by

David Loyn, foreign correspondent for the BBC for over 30 years, most recently Afghanistan correspondent.

The panel

Richard Spencer is Middle East editor of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph. He moved to the Middle East from China in 2009, based in Dubai and then Cairo. Since then, he has reported regularly from Egypt, Libya, Syria and Iraq, and was in Aleppo when Jabhat al-Nusra split to give birth to Daesh.

Shiraz Maher is a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King’s College London and is currently coordinating the centre’s research on the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts.

Robin Yassin-Kassab is a journalist, author of the novel The Road From Damascus and co-author with Leila al-Shami of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War.

Azadeh Moaveni is a journalist, writer and lecturer in journalism at Kingston University. She was TIME magazine Middle East correspondent and is author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran.

A panel of acclaimed documentary filmmakers come together for an evening dedicated to the art of character-driven documentary and working with contributors. Looking in detail at scenes from their recent works and discussing the various stages of building remarkable stories, our speakers will shed light on the delicate process of communicating the experiences of others.

From finding an extraordinary character and establishing a relationship of trust, to interview methods and collaboration, these filmmakers will discuss their approaches to exploring the lives of others. They will also address the ethical dilemmas that arise when working closely with a character, including issues relating to consent, authorship, and narrative.

The panel:

Beadie Finzi (moderator) is one of the founding directors of BRITDOC, a non profit film foundation supported by Channel 4 Television, Ford Foundation and Bertha Foundation as well as a number of US and European foundations. Having worked in documentary for the past 20 years, Beadie is in heaven in her role at BRITDOC – whose mission is to befriend independent filmmakers, fund great films (120 to date), broker new partnerships, build new business models, share knowledge and develop audiences globally.

Brian Hill (The Confessions of Thomas Quick, Feltham Sings, The Not Dead) is the managing director of Century Films and also directs drama and documentary. His most recent documentary, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015.

David Sington (The Fear of Thirteen, In The Shadow of the Moon) is a self-taught filmmaker. He worked initially as a radio producer for BBC World Service, and as a documentary filmmaker for BBC TV. In 2007 David’s feature documentary on the Apollo astronauts “In the Shadow of the Moon” was awarded the “World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary” at the Sundance Film Festival. His most recent film The Fear of Thirteen focuses on death row prisoner Nicholas Yarris and premieres at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.

Edward Lovelace along with co-director James Hall, operates under the creative moniker D.A.R.Y.L. Their critically acclaimed, award-winning third feature film The Possibilities Are Endless (SXSW, London Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival) traced the mental and physical journey of singer/songwriter Edwyn Collins following a life-changing stroke. The film was awarded 5 stars by the Guardian, won Best Film at Solo Positivo Film Festival and was named Film of the Year 2014 by indie bible MOJO.

I Am Sun Mu documents the life and work of North Korean defector and pop artist ‘Sun Mu.’ In North Korea, Sun Mu was a prolific propaganda artist for Kim Jong-un’s regime. After swimming to safety and beginning a new life in South Korea, Sun Mu turned his skills against the North Korean regime, satirising those who he once worshipped.

Sun Mu means ‘no lines’ or ‘no boundaries’ in Korean and became the political pop artist’s pseudonym as he rose to visibility. With the Chinese government keeping a close eye on him and the threat of execution looming over his head, Sun Mu is forced to conceal his face and name out of fear for the safety of those he left behind.

His artwork is brightly coloured and bold, but the price for creating political paintings could be fatal. During an exhibition in Beijing, Sun Mu’s friends and family find themselves in danger. Meanwhile, Chinese and North Korean authorities surround the exhibition, banning anybody from entering the space. Artists are interrogated and Sun Mu is forced to once again flee for safety in South Korea.

Gaining remarkable access to a notorious figure who must carefully guard his identity, director Adam Sjöberg brings us into a private world, revealing the stakes involved in countering the North Korean regime.

I Am Sun Mu had its UK Premiere at the 2015 Raindance Film Festival.

“If you add the combined shutter speeds of these images they equate to nothing more than a moment of time – One Second of Light. Photography can give us some insight, but it’s just a window you are looking through momentarily. For those caught in these stories, the time and their suffering is a constant.” – Giles Duley

One Second of Light is a culmination of a decade of experience observing and capturing the lives and stories of people around the world. From Angola to Bangladesh, Afghanistan to Sudan, internationally renowned photographer Giles Duley has worked with charities such as Medecins Sans Frontières, UNHCR and EMERGENCY UK to bring light to the stories deserving of public attention.

Duley will be joining us to present his work, to talk about how his approach to photography has changed and how this has affected the projects he embarks on and the work that he produces.

Frustrated by the limitations of working with the media and the constant need for a hook, the majority of One Second Of Light is the result of self-funded projects. Duley will discuss this process, his experience of working with NGOs and the freedoms and difficulties it entails.

Giles Duley worked for 10 years as an editorial photographer in the fashion and music industries in Europe, before focusing his working on humanitarian projects. His work has been exhibited and published worldwide in many respected publications including Vogue, GQ, Esquire, Rolling Stone, The Sunday Times, The Observer and New Statesman.

Duley will be joined by:

Jon Levy, London and international photo editor at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). He was the founding editor of Foto8, a photography publishing company. Previously he served as staff photographer at AFP, photo editor at The Independent and senior editor and deputy to director photography at The Wall Street Journal.

Roger Tatley, director at Marian Goodman Gallery, London where recent projects have included William Kentridge’s ‘More Sweetly Play the Dance’ and Anri Sala’s ‘To Each His Own (in Bridges)’. He has previously worked closely with the estates of Lygia Clark, Ana Mendieta and Hannah Wilke and as a director at Hauser & Wirth. Tatley has been the editor-in-chief or member of the editorial teams of a number of magazines, including Modern Painters, Contemporary, Artforum and Dazed & Confused and edited publications on art, photography, architecture and film whilst at Booth-Clibborn Editions.

Gulwali Passarlay was only 12 years old when he left his home and family in Afghanistan. He would be shot at, imprisoned and almost drown before he reached his new home in Britain.

Fleeing the violence and reprisals of the Afghan war, Passarlay was smuggled into Iran, separated from his brother in Pakistan, and forced to spend 50 hours on a dangerously overcrowded boat on the Mediterranean. Braving oppressive heat and the freezing cold, his 12 month odyssey took him across an entire continent.

We welcome Gulwali Passarlay to the Frontline Club in conversation with journalist and former Afghanistan correspondent for the BBC, David Loyn, to share his story as documented in his memoir The Lightless Sky, and to offer his personal insight into the current refugee crisis. As an accomplished ambassador and advisor, Passerlay holds the unique position of both witness to and spokesperson for the plight of refugees in Britain.

Gulwali Passarlay is an Afghan political refugee currently reading politics and international relations at the University of Manchester. He has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 News and TEDx.

He will be joined by co-author of The Lightless Sky and journalist, Nadene Ghouri.

From the early days of the Arab Spring that sparked hopes for change to the years of instability and political tension that followed, this enthralling documentary follows the stories of young prominent underground artists from across the Middle East during the period of 2009 to 2013.

In a region fraught with political tension, these progressive musicians and artists have struggled for years to express themselves freely and to promote more liberal attitudes within their societies.

From young female artists in Egypt overturning the norms by living alone, to the persecution of a famous Lebanese musician for singing against the political leader, director Farid Eslam paints a picture of a new generation challenging both old and new realities with passion and admirable perseverance.

Language, neuroscience, and cinema come together for this unique evening at the Frontline Club showcasing the work of ethnographic filmmaker and sound artist Vincent Moon, in collaboration with A World Without Words.

A World Without Words is a project by writer and filmmaker Lotje Sodderland, with poet and curator SJ Fowler and artist and material engineer Thomas Duggan, inviting audiences to engage with the nature of human language. With a series of events around London, including exhibitions, screenings and performances, A World Without Words calls into question how meaning maps into the brain.

A selection of Vincent Moon’s short observational documentaries — shot around the world and capturing local folklore and diverse musical rituals — will be screened in alternation with an informal discussion by the director of London’s Institute of Philosophy Dr Barry Smith.

Dr Smith will explore the neural correlates of meaning, music, and language in the context of each film, to offer the audience an explanation of the role of language in subjective mental life.

From Sufi rituals in Chechnya, to ancient folk songs in Columbian’s pacific rainforest; from an Eastern Orthodox family portrait in Tbilisi, to shamanic healing songs in Peru, we will experience how the brain ascribes meaning to music and sound – even when words are obsolete.

The film lineup:

Le Grand Jihad (8 min) – A Sufi ritual in Chechnya

Nur-Zhovkhar (9 min) – Folk songs from Chechnya

Belogorskiy – (12 min) A rare liturgy in Russia’s hidden cave monastery

L’école du Vent – (7 min) Contemporary maestros of Azerbaijan

Erdm Ensemble – (12 min) Songs from Kalmoukie

A portrait of Justina – (16 min) A shipibo shaman in Peru healing villagers with song and ayahuasca

Vincent Moon is a French independent filmmaker and sonic ethnographer who rose to prominence with the Blogotheque’s Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music videos of indie rock musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists including Tom Jones and Arcade Fire. In recent years the focus of his work has been documenting local folklore, sacred music, and religious rituals worldwide for his label Petites Planètes, amassing a vast collection of rare recordings.

l-profileDr Barry Smith is a professor of philosophy and director of London’s Institute of Philosophy, a partner in the Sensory Research Network (Toronto, MIT, Harvard, Glasgow), and co-director and founder of the Centre for the Study of the Senses in the University of London which pioneers collaborative research between philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists. He appears frequently on BBC Radio and writes for mainstream publications on self-knowledge, and the philosophies of language and mind. In 2010, he was the writer and presenter of a four-part series for the BBC World Service called The Mysteries of the Brain.

Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua just across the border from El Paso, Texas has a reputation as the most murderous city in the world.

At the age of sixteen, Vicente Leon Chavez, along with two of his high school friends murdered his mother, his father, and his little sister. Through this inexplicable triple murder, journalist Sandra Rodríguez Nieto has sought to explore the culture of extreme violence that has developed in Juárez. Her in-depth investigation offers an insight into the thought process of the three young boys, the fabric of the city they grew up in and the drug cartels that wage war in its streets.

We are pleased to welcome Sandra Rodríguez Nieto to the Frontline Club in conversation with Ed Vulliamy, writer for the Guardian and Observer. They will be discussing the poverty, deep levels of corruption, incapacitated government institutions and US meddling that have combined to create an explosion of violence in Juárez.

Sandra Rodríguez Nieto has won international plaudits for her reportage in Mexico, including the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism, the Reporteros Del Mundo award from the Spanish newspaper El Mundo for outstanding work in a conflict zone, and the Los Angeles Times Media Hero list for reporting in one of the most dangerous cities on earth. In 2012, she published La Fábrica del Crimen (The Crime Factory) and this year The Story of Vicente, Who Murdered His Mother, His Father and His Sister: Life and Death in Juarez.

Across vast tracks of the world people are running short of a basic commodity: water. There are often many complex reasons that drive migration, but there is an undeniable relationship between water shortages and the large population movements we are seeing today.

For our fourth in a series of events in collaboration with the Scientific Exploration Society, we will be exploring how the effects of climate change are being seen across the Middle East and North Africa, the supply and control of water in the region, and the technologies that are being developed to combat the problem.

Chaired by the Guardian‘s environment editor, John Vidal.

The panel:

Roger Blench is a international development specialist and anthropologist. He has conducted research and evaluations of international development activities worldwide, notably in Nigeria and other regions of West Africa as a consultant and formerly as a research fellow of the Overseas Development Institute in London. He is now affiliated to the McDonald Institute of the University of Cambridge and is chief research officer for the Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.

Mikael Strandberg is a Swedish explorer and filmmaker. He has travelled solo through many parts of the world, including amongst communities in Yemen, through Africa and parts of Asia, and is currently working on a film project with migrants arriving to Sweden.

James Fergusson is an author and freelance journalist. He has written extensively on Afghanistan, Somalia and laterly used his degree in hydrology to write on water security in Yemen. His most recent book The Worlds Most Dangerous Place was nominated for the Orwell Prize.

Professor Tony Allan is based at King’s College London and SOAS London, he specialises in the analysis of water resources in semi-arid regions and on the role of global systems in ameliorating local and regional water deficits. He provides advice to governments and agencies especially in the Middle East on water policy and water policy reform. His is the author of The Middle East water question: hydropolitics and the global economy and Virtual water.