Category Archives: News

TPFF Spring Newsletter

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Dear colleagues, supporters and friends,

Here’s a quick round-up of TPFF news – dates for your diary, project news, more films and campaigns to watch out for and, most importantly, read to the end to find out how you can get more involved with what we do!

FILM PROJECT NEWS

We Are Many

We are delighted to say we are working with director Amir Amirani to help raise funds and provide campaign outreach support for his film We Are Many, which will be released in 2013 to mark the 10th anniversary of the global anti-Iraq invasion marches. ‘We Are Many’ is a film about a single day and its aftermath – an untold chapter in the history of people power. By turns uplifting and chilling, it reveals both the power and potential of ordinary people, as well as the dark underbelly of the war machine.

Imagine This (working title)

As we witness the outcome of unfettered greed in the markets and financial systems, TPFF is leading on the development of a film that will take us on a journey to show how you can combine ethics and commercial success. Some are arguing that the ‘unselfish gene’ is embedded in many areas of human economic activity – we just don’t seem to make much noise about it . Taking an international look at this subject, the first stage research has been completed. Read here for more.

The Road to Bethlehem

Following from a very successful presentation at the Dubai International Film Festival, and as distribution plans for its release for Christmas get underway, we are embarking on the task of fundraising for the film’s outreach campaign to accompany the film’s release. As part of this, there will be a fundraiser held at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre on May 16th, with a screening of Jeremy Hardy vs The Israeli Army, with a Q&A with Jeremy and Leila. If you would like to book for this event or find out more about how you can help, email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com.

More ones to watch…

Just Do It – TPFF is part of the funding community supporting Emily James’s film about environmental activists, due for release this summer.

Our Generation – Sinem Saban & Damien Curtis’s shocking new documentary about present day Australia’s abuse of Aboriginal people’s rights – land, culture and freedoms.

New Dogwoof Release on June 21st – Countdown to Zero

“The horror film to end all horror films.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, or miscalculation, or by madness.” – President John F. Kennedy

Nine nations possess nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them. The world is now held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. Written and directed by Academy Award® nominated documentarian Lucy Walker (Waste Land, The Devil’s Playground, Blindsight), Countdown to Zero traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs. It makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament and features an array of important international statesmen, including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Pervez Musharraf.

The film’s UK distributor, Dogwoof (The Age of Stupid), have announced Demand Zero Day on Tuesday 21 June. The film will screen simultaneously across the UK and Ireland before venues link up live to London’s BAFTA for a high-profile panel discussion starring Queen Noor of Jordan, Valerie Plame and Tarantino’s producer, Lawrence Bender.  Audiences will also be encouraged to join the discussion and text in their questions. Not screening near you? You can bring the premiere to your community by hosting your very own. Dogwoof’s Ambassadors programme allows individuals to make a big social impact while generating funds for both themselves and the filmmakers. Find out where the Countdown to Zero is playing and bring the movement to your area with Ambassadors.

Watch the trailer here.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

TPFF is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and this Spring, SCC are driving The Big Climate Re-Connection – find out how you can make sure your MP pushes the government to deliver the best possible Climate Act.

We are also members of the wonderful Tax Justice Network – who worked closely with author Nicholas Shaxson to produce a new book, Treasure Islands – the truth about tax havens. Check it out.

Join a revolution – courtesy of The Co-operative! The Co-op Group are encouraging its customers to Join The Revolution as it announces the most radical sustainability programme in UK corporate history that will spearhead its membership drive and help build a more sustainable economy. Get involved!

Britdoc’s excellent Case Study on End of the Line was recently published and aims to illustrate just how and why film matters and makes a tangible impact that is auditable.

TPFF FILM CLUB & Save the Dates…

April 18th, May 16th, Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre

TPFF held recent events at the Lexi Cinema – End of Poverty (to mark Fairtrade Fortnight) and Academy Award winner Inside Job. Both played to full houses, followed by great post-film discussions with great panellists – so watch this space for our next Lexi screenings! We are now exploring taking TPFF film club to other London venues as well as other cities around the UK…

Meantime, on April 18th, we are partnering with Jubilee Debt Campaign and Pambazuka News to co-host a film + panel discussion to mark 50 years since the death of DRC’s first independent leader – Patrice Lumumba, assassinated just 10 weeks after his election. The event will ask: 50 years on, what future for the Congo?

7pm, admission free, on a first come first serve basis on the night. Read here for more.

May 16th – join TPFF, Jeremy Hardy and Leila Sansour for a fundraising event for The Road to Bethlehem outreach campaign at Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre. Tickets on sale soon – watch this space. Meantime, if you would like to know more email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com.

GROWING THE FUND…

TPFF raises funds for projects from various sources – individuals, charities, NGOs. More and more, people are asking us ‘how can we help?’ or ‘how can we get more involved?’ – so here is how! Fundamentally, we need supporters to back the fund and spread the word. The more the fund grows, the more projects we can support. Find out more – or email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com if you would like to talk to one of us at TPFF about how you can get more involved.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

18th April – Film & Panel – Patrice Lumumba 50 Years On

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The assassination of Patrice Lumumba: 50 years on, what future for the Congo?


“Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.”

Jubilee Debt Campaign, Pambazuka News & Tipping Point Film Fund

Join us for a short documentary film, ‘Assassination: Colonial Style – Patrice Lumumba, an African Tragedy’, followed by a discussion with Firoze Manji from Pambazuka News and Vava Tampa from Save the Congo.

When? Monday 18th April, 7 – 9.30pm

Where? Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, EC2A 3EA

Admission? Free on the night – first come, first serve

50 years ago Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated as part of Belgian and US plots only 10 weeks after he took power. The event has been described as “the most important assassination of the 20th century”.

Lumumba was a freedom fighter who overturned decades of brutal Belgian rule in the Congo and fought to give the Congolese people control over their own resources. His assassins handed DRC to the kleptocratic Mobutu regime which stole from and indebted the country, turning what should be amongst the richest countries in the world into one of the poorest.

Today, after one of the most horrific wars in modern history cost the lives of 4 million people, we assess the legacy of Patrice Lumumba and look at the hopes and prospects for DRC in the twenty-first century.

Entry is free.

More information is available from Jubilee Debt Campaign: 020 7324 4722 or info@jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk

Screening of Inside Job, narrated by Matt Damon, March 28th 7.45pm

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Fresh from its best documentary win at the Oscars, Tipping Point’s next film club night at the Lexi Cinema in London will screen Charles Ferguson’s INSIDE JOB followed by a post-film discussion with John Christensen, Director of the Tax Justice Network.

Premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2010, selected for many festivals worldwide and narrated by Matt Damon, Inside Job is about the origins of the financial crash and is a damning condemnation of the banking industry and its role in the financial meltdown of 2008.
‘Boasting more villains than a dozen blockbusters, it points an incriminating finger at not only financial services execs who got filthy rich on working people’s pain (and who remain in power) but also government officials and biz-school toppers irrefutably revealed to be in Wall Streeters’ pockets…. The pic’s musical selections…somehow manage to keep one’s toes tapping, even as one’s fist remains firmly clenched.’ Rob Nelson, Variety
‘… Charles Ferguson’s Oscar-winning tank ride through Lower Manhattan that truly promises to light a Molotov in your mind. An intricately detailed, journalistically solid and morally outrageous examination of the 2008 stock market crash and ensuing bailout paid for by the American taxpayer…’ Katherine Monk, The Vancouver Sun
The Film:

Inside Job traces the connections between government and financial institutions, as well as theoretically independent academics, showing how they combined to trigger excessive profit-taking and endanger the wider economy. A clear exposé of ‘how it happened’, with interviews from those within as well as outside the financial community and comment from leading financial journalists, the director nevertheless struggled to get a single spokesperson for the current administration or for the regulators. “I asked everyone from the president on down and every single one of them said no… American banking is very much in denial,” Ferguson said. And at the Academy Awards, he began his acceptance speech by reminding us that three years after our worst financial meltdown, the subject of his movie, “not a single financial executive has gone to jail.”  Let’s take action!’

Read an interview with the director here.

The Post Film Discussion

As public anger continues over ongoing banking bonuses being paid out while the rest of us deal with the fall-out, the post-film discussion will explore this idea – if crimes have been committed, then how to see the perpetrators punished. The discussion will also ask what do we do with the knowledge we have acquired post this global crisis to forge new, more socially responsible, transparent and accountable financial models.

Joining for the post film discussion is John Christensen, Director of the Tax Justice Network.

John Christensen is a development economist and former economic adviser to the UK and Jersey governments and has researched tax havens and tax policy for many years. He has also played a leading role in campaigning for tighter regulation and control of tax havens and offshore finance centres. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. The Tax Justice Network is now a worldwide campaign.

Tickets:

Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased through The Lexi Cinema website or by calling the box office on 0871 704 2069 (£1 Booking Fee).

Tickets are free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of more than £60.

Getting there

The Lexi Cinema is located at 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10 3JU. It is around 7 minutes walk from Kensal Rise over-ground station and a good bus service runs from central London. The 52 (from Victoria) and the 6 (from Oxford Circus) stop directly outside the cinema. To map your route by public transport click here, and for a streetmap click here.

Screening of The End of Poverty? narrated by Martin Sheen – 28th February

Screening of The End of Poverty? narrated by Martin Sheen – 28th February

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As Fairtrade Fortnight gets underway, Tipping Point’s next film club event is Monday 28th February 8pm at the Lexi Cinema.
Philippe Diaz’s film The End of Poverty? will be followed by a post film discussion with John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want, and Andrew Simms, nef fellow.
Released in 2009 and selected for 25 international film festivals around the world, including Critics Weeks at Cannes, this is a daring, thought-provoking and timely film.

‘Diaz’s clear-eyed look at how cultures of despair and dependency are created andmaintained alone is worth price of admission’. Ernest Hardy, LA Weekly.

‘A sort of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for global economics…a powerful description ofhow western policies since colonialism have subjugated Third World countries’. Charles Masters, The Hollywood Reporter

The film: Today, with global poverty reaching new levels because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries seems part of this continuum. With comment from leading economic thinkers including Susan George, Joseph Stiglitz and John Christenson, Diaz takes us on a historical journey to the present day – from Europe and the USA to Latin America, Asia and Africa – in order to explain better how and why such widespread poverty exists today in the global south. And if 20% of the planet’s population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate, at this rate, to maintain our lifestyle, will more and more people need to sink below the poverty line?

Post film discussion: Who wouldn’t like to see the end of poverty? Although the rhetoric is mainstreamed, how far are we in the rich world ready to go in rolling back the systemic economic injustice done to poorer nations in our name? How much do we really care – as citizens or governments? Is buying Fairtrade enough –or is it the limit for most? How can the more complex issues that hold back many developing nations ever ‘punch through’ when it demands so much more attention – not to mention political and economic ‘sacrifice’. This event is taking place as Fairtrade fortnight gets underway and we hope post film discussion will unpack some of these questions as we explore how we citizens and consumers in the rich world can most effectively challenge and change our world for the better.

To see the film-makers’ call to action visit.

Post Film discussion and Q&A with John Hilary and Andrew Simms.

John Hilary is Executive Director of the campaigning anti-poverty organisation War on Want. John has 20 years experience in the international development and human rights sector. He has published widely on issues of international politics and globalisation, trade and investment, privatisation, conflict, aid conditionality, Palestine and Iraq.

Andrew Simms is an author, broadcaster and nef (New Economics Foundation) fellow, where he founded the climate change, energy and interdependence programmes. Andrew was a founding organiser of Jubilee 2000 debt campaign and sits on various boards including Greenpeace UK.

Tickets: Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased through The Lexi Cinema website or by calling the box office on 0871 704 2069 (£1 Booking Fee).

Tickets are free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of more than £60.

Getting there

The Lexi Cinema is located at 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10 3JU. It is around 7 minutes walk from Kensal Rise over-ground station and a good bus service runs from central London. The 52 (from Victoria) and the 6 (from Oxford Circus) stop directly outside the cinema. To map your route by public transport click here, and for a streetmap click here.

Tipping Point wants to send sincere thanks Cinema Libre and Share the World’s Resources for their help with this event.

Tipping Point Film Fund end-of-year Newsletter

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Christmas greetings from all at TPFF!

It’s the end of the year already – where oh where did it go? Below is our end-of-year round up, films to watch and campaign news.

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Project News

The Road to Bethlehem is selected for Dubai International Film Festival
We are thrilled to announce that Leila Sansour’s film has been selected for the Dubai International Film Festival, with screenings on 16 & 18 December. This is a great opportunity to show the film to distributors who attend from all over the world.

Additionally, the film has also received an award from the Dubai Entertainment and Media Organisation, which is now a co-producer on the film. Leila and TPFF are now busily planning the festivals and distribution strategy, as well as the campaign outreach to accompany the film on its release.

The film would not have been completed without support from our funding partners, in particular Trocaire (Ireland), Development and Peace (Canada) The McCabe Educational Trust (UK), CBA-DfID (UK) and many other individuals around the world.

You can still support the film and the campaign outreach by donating now or by hosting your own fundraiser screening of Leila’s first film Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army.

Just do it
TPFF joined with many others to donate to Emily James’s recent and very successful effort to raise £20,000 for her new film Just do it. With Cancun at the fore of climate talks, this film will show just why activism makes a difference. Released in Spring 2011, free to watch and free to share.

When China met Africa
Recently screened at Sheffield DocFest,  IDFA and CPH:Dox; it was the winner of best film at the Margaret Mead Festival in New York. This Marc and Nick Francis film, to be released next year, gets beneath the skin of the relationship between China and Africa – in particular Zambia. Be sure to find out about the release date by joining the Facebook Fan Page.

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TPFF Film Club

Our Film Club kicked off in July to a full house for Oliver Stone’s film South of the Border. Since then, we’ve gone from strength to strength, screening Life and Debt, Inside the Revolution, Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army and Robert Beckford’s Channel 4 documentaries, The Empire Pays Back and Great African Scandal.  A very big thanks to our partners The Lexi Cinema, Inn on the Green and The Bernie Grant Arts Centre.

If you’re in London, watch out for alerts about our new year screenings. In mid-January in association with Jubilee Debt Campaign, we’ll mark the 50th anniversary of the assasination of Congo’s first democratically elected post independence leader, Patrice Lumumba – venue and date tbc. We’ll also be screening at The Lexi Cinema in February (new release – watch this space!) and early March to mark Fair Trade fortnight.
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Newly Released Films – TPFF recommends

This Prison where I Live follows German comedian Michael Mittermeier as he embarks on a journey across Burma to try to understand and get closer to Maung Thura (better known as Zarganar), a Burmese comedian victimised by the military junta and now in prison. Find out if it’s screening near you,

In Enemies of the People the men and women who perpetrated the massacres of the Cambodian Killing Fields – from the foot-soldiers who slit throats to the party’s ideological leader, Nuon Chea aka Brother Number Two – break a 30-year silence to give testimony never before heard or seen. Due for release 10 December – find out if it’s screening near you.

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Campaign Spotlight

Tax Justice
Find out about Action Aid’s new report Calling Time, which argues that Grolsch beer owner, SABMiller is dodging its taxes around the world – tax income that could provide education for up to 250,000 African children.

Climate change
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change conference is currently under way. Find out what’s going on right now and how you can have your say, check out tcktcktck.org

Fighting the Occupation
Check out War on Want’s new website disconnectnow.org, set up to highlight and demand an end to British Telecom’s alliance with Bezeq International – a telecommunications service operating in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

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A Christmas gift idea….Fairly Traded Palestinian gifts

For an excellent selection of Fairly Traded Palestinian goods – foods and crafts –  that enable you to help boost the Palestinian economy at the click of a mouse, check out The Co-operative supported OliveCoop.com.

And on that note….we want to send a very big THANKS  to The Co-operative for their continued support throughout 2010. And to our supporters – donors and regular givers!

We look forward to catching up with you in the New Year!

The Road to Bethlehem selected for Dubai International Film Festival

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We are delighted that Leila Sansour’s feature documentary film, The Road to Bethlehem,  has been selected for the prestigious Dubai International Film Festival  2010 (DIFF) and will be screened on 16th December, 6pm and 18th December,  10pm.   Additionally, the film has received an award from the Dubai Entertainment and Media Organization, which is now a co-producer on the film.  Dubai also hosts a market for distributors and sales agents from all over the world

Christmas screenings of 'Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army' – 29 Nov and 5 Dec 2010

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Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie’

Christmas is almost upon us and the Holy Town of Bethlehem is anything but still. For almost five years now the Israeli Army has been building an enormous concrete wall around and through the city, carving up neighbourhoods and cutting off local Palestinians from generations-owned land and from food and medical supplies. Leila Sansour has been documenting the expansion of the wall and the impact on Bethlehem’s citizens for her new film The Road to Bethlehem, now in final stages of editing.

This Christmas, to highlight the emergency facing Bethlehem’s community, Tipping Point Film Fund will be showing Leila’s first feature documentary film (also shot in Bethlehem) Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army, in London and in Edinburgh. Both screenings will be followed by a panel discussion and include a short preview clip of The Road to Bethlehem. For screening details see the end of the page.

Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army follows the Radio 4 comedian in 2002 as he travels to Israel and the Occupied Territories to team up with members of the International Solidarity Movement (or ISM), where he engages in non-violent direct action to challenge the occupation.

CHRISTMAS SCREENINGS – London and Edinburgh

SCREENING INFORMATION (London and Edinburgh)


MON 29 NOVEMBER, 7.30pm
The Lexi Cinema, 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, London NW10 3JU.XBuy tickets online or call 0871 704 2069. Tickets cost £10 but are free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of more than £60. All tickets include a lovely Christmas mince pie and glass of something special. If you work for an NGO you can purchase two tickets for the price of one by emailing info@tippingpointfilmfund.com from your work  email address.

The post-film discussion will ask the question: As we approach Christmas, and the Israeli ‘separation wall’ continues unabated to encircle the town, what future is there for Bethlehem? The panel, chaired by TPFF, will include Maxim Sansour, brother of the director Leila Sansour. Maxim is a character in her new film, The Road to Bethlehem, supported by TPFF and released next year.


SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER, 8.15pm
Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ,
Buy tickets online or call 0131 228 2688. Tickets cost £6.90 (£5.20 conc) but are free to TPFF regular givers & annual donors of more than £60.
For details of how to get there.

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Filmhouse panel includes: Michael Marten (academic and chair of the Scottish Palestinian Forum), Maureen Jack (vice chair of the Scottish Palestinian Forum and member of Christian Peacemaker Teams), the Rev Clarence Musgrave who has lived and worked in Jerusalem, and Deborah Burton, Co-founder of Tipping Point Film Fund.

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Films for Black History Month with Dr. Robert Beckford – 28 Oct 2010

Films for Black History Month with Dr. Robert Beckford – 28 Oct 2010

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To celebrate Black History Month we’ll be hosting a double bill screening of Robert Beckford’s Channel 4 documentaries, The Empire Pays Back and Great African Scandal. The films will be shown at The Bernie Grant Arts Centre on Thursday 28 October at 7.30pm, and will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Robert Beckford. The event costs £5 (£3 conc) but is free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of more than £60. Read on to find out more…

Dr. Robert Beckford

Dr. Robert Beckford is an academic and award winning broadcaster based in Birmingham. He has authored half-a-dozen books in the field of theology and culture and made over 20 documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, averaging two films per year with Channel 4, becoming a regular fixture on the prime time television slots of Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

The Empire Pays Back

“I believe African slaves were ripped off by the British Empire,” says Dr Robert Beckford at the outset of this documentary. “I want to know who bankrolled it, who insured it and who made a mint from it.”

Beckford believes that Britain should pay reparations to the descendants of slaves, and hires a team of experts to put a monetary figure on the amount owing. In the process, he details how institutions such as the Bank of England, Guys’ Hospital, HSBC, Barclays and the National Gallery all have slavery in their histories. The final figure put on the amount owing will shock!

Great African Scandal

In this thought-provoking documentary, made with the help of Christian Aid, Robert Beckford undertakes a challenging, emotional journey to Ghana in West Africa. This is where, two centuries ago, Robert Beckford’s ancestors were seized and taken as slaves to Jamaica. Now he is making a journey to the land of his roots to discover the hidden costs of rice, chocolate and gold.

Working alongside local people, Robert struggles to survive on the average wage of 60p a day. He asks why, 50 years after independence, this country, which is rich in minerals and is a stable democracy, is still one of the poorest in the world.

He examines the activities of multinational corporations, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to find out whether they have actually made countries like Ghana worse off. And, most importantly, he asks how we, as consumers and citizens, can make a difference.

Getting there

The Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, N15 4RX

Underground
Seven Sisters (Victoria Line): take Tottenham High Road exit 1, Tesco should be on your right hand side. Walk straight up the road and past CONEL (on left) turn left. Bernie Grant Arts Centre is just past the town hall and before the leisure centre and Marcus Garvey Library. It should take no more than 5 minutes to walk.

Buses
149, 259, 243, 476, 230, 123, 41, 341

Trains
Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale

Car
Off the A10, continue towards Seven Sisters Junction and then branch off to the left for Town Hall Approach.

Screening of 'Inside the Revolution: A journey into the heart of Venezuela' – 26 Oct 2010

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Tipping Point Film Fund and Alborada.net (an independent website covering Latin America related issues such as politics, media and culture) will jointly host an evening of Latin American music and a screening of Pablo Navarrete’s 2009 documentary ‘Inside the revolution: A journey into the heart of Venezuela’ on Tuesday 26 October at 7pm at the Inn on the Green in Ladbroke Grove.


“…a rare film about Venezuela, a country in extraordinary transition. Watch this film because it is honest and fair and respectful of those who want to be told the truth about an epic attempt, flaws and all, to claim back the humanity of ordinary people.”
– John Pilger (Journalist, author and documentary filmmaker).

Starts at 7pm – Filmed in Caracas in November 2008, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Chavez’s controversial presidency, this feature-length documentary takes a journey into the heart of Venezuela’s revolution to listen to the voices of the people driving the process forward. The film traces the recent history of Venezuela, before and after the election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency, using archive material and interviews with Venezuelans living in the barrios of Caracas who are involved in community and social movements. The achievements and challenges facing the Bolivarian process are put into context by means of interviews with leading Venezuelan social scientists Edgardo Lander and Javier Biardeau, as well as the Canadian economist Michael Lebowitz, who currently lives in Venezuela.

Discussion – after the screening there will be discussion with the director, Pablo Navarrete, exploring the Venezuelan experience in particular, and also the wider topic of how the South American political landscape compares and contrasts with a Pan African one. Joining the director will be Firoze Manji -a Kenyan activist with more than 30 years experience in international development and human rights. He is also founder and executive director of Fahamu as well as founder and editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News, an open-access, pan-African email and online newsletter for social justice.

Music from 9pm –  Movimientos‘ DJ Arias joins acclaimed Afro-Venezuelan percussionist, William Cumberbache, to DJ classic and contemporary Latin and African music until 11pm. For those not attending the film screening there will be music selected by Alborada &  Movimientos in the bar from 6-9pm.

Tickets – The evening costs just £5 (£3 conc) but is free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of more than £60.

Getting there – The Inn on the Green is located at 3-5 Thorpe Close W10 5XL, under the Westway flyover and above the Portobello Green Fitness Club. Thorpe Close runs between Ladbroke Grove and Portobello Road. For a streetmap click here. It is less than a three minute walk from Ladbroke Grove station.

The nearest tube is Ladbroke Grove on the Hammersmith & City line.

Buses to Ladbroke Grove include 52, 452, 23, 7, 70, 295, 316, 228

Autumnal greetings – September’s newsletter

Autumnal greetings – September’s newsletter

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Spotlight News

 

Welcome to our latest newsletter… the summer is almost over and we’ve packed a whole lot of stuff in. But before we start with our update we’d like to highlight a new and exciting TPFF venture – the launch of our very own film club!

 

New film club starts with ‘Life and Debt’
The TPFF Film Club – which we’re launching at The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise on 20 Sept – will be a regular event where TPFF supporters, relevant NGO networks and the general public can get together to watch a specifically chosen feature-documentary (usually related to the news agenda and campaigning) and enjoy a lively panel discussion or Q&A with guest speakers. The event will be free to TPFF regular givers and one-off annual donors of £60 or more. To find out more about our first screening – Stephanie Black’s award-winning documentary Life and Debt – and panel discussion ‘when will rich countries own up to their responsibility in keeping developing nations poor in order to grow their own wealth?’ visit our website or watch the trailer. The panel includes the broadcaster and academic, Dr Robert Beckford; the Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, Nick Dearden and Dr Patricia Daley, lecturer in Human Geography at Oxford University.

 

TPFF summer round-up
Over the summer we teamed up with Dogwoof and the solar-powered Groovy Movie Picture House and held screenings at Glastonbury, Lounge on the Farm and The Wickham Festival. We screened Great African Scandal for UNITE trade union, and in association with the brilliant Lexi Cinema, we hosted a sold-out screening and panel discussion of Oliver Stone’s ‘South of the Border’. We also had a great time at the 25,000 strong Greenbelt Arts Festival where we hosted four screenings and Q&As over three days – to find out more about the films and speakers, including a video-message from Jeremy Hardy, visit our website.

 

Ones to watch!

No Impact Man – September
No Impact Man (guilty New York liberal, Colin Beavan, decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for a year) will be hitting cinemas around the country from 3rd September. Watch the trailer at www.noimpactdoc.com or to find a screening near you go to Dogwoof.

 

Budrus – September
Budrusthemovie follows a Palestinian leader who manages to unite Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success appears to elude him until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.  Another Dogwoof film released 24 September.

 

Collapse – October
Collapse is an astonishing portrait of radical thinker Michael Ruppert – exploring his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.

 

Project news

 

The Road to Bethlehem
We are delighted to have secured the grant support of the charitable arm of McCabe Travel – a company specialising in pilgrimages to the Holy Land.  McCabe’s support will enable the post-production costs of ‘The Road to Bethlehem’ to be met. McCabe Travel will also be an outreach partner on the film in 2011 and we very much look forward to our collaboration highlighting the need for visitors to go to Palestine to witness as well as appreciate all that its people have to share.

 

‘The Road to Bethlehem’ is in final stages of editing and we are now turning our attention to raising funds for the international outreach campaign to accompany the film on its release in 2011. Find out about our latest fund-raising initiative and how you can help us to raise money by hosting your own screenings!   Watch the latest clip from Leila Sansour to find out why this is important, and if you need any more encouragement find out what Jeremy Hardy had to say at the Greenbelt Arts Festival.

 

Cashback
TPFF is part of the effort to raise production funding for ‘Cashback’ a film by Marc and Nick Francis. The film will tell the story of how money is drained out of developing countries by a network of bankers, accountants, and lawyers into secret, off-shore Western bank accounts, undermining the lives of millions of people.  If you would like to know more or donate to the film’s funding, contact us at info@tippingpointfilmfund.com. In the meantime, Marc and Nick’s latest film ‘When China Met Africa’ was screened as part of the BBC’s Storyville strand in July – you can find out more here! To find out more about Tax Justice visit The Tax Justice Network, Christian Aid or Action Aid.

 

Save the date – Tipping Point screenings

 

Monday 20th September, TPFF Film Club at The Lexi Cinema (Kensal Rise, London), screening of ‘Life and Debt’ followed by panel discussion. To find out more about the film and the panel discussion ‘when will rich countries own up to their responsibility in keeping developing nations poor in order to grow their own wealth?’ click here, or to buy your ticket go to The Lexi Cinema. Tickets are free to TPFF regular givers!

 

Tuesday 26th October, Inn on the Green (Ladbroke Grove, London)
A screening of ‘Inside the Revolution: a journey into the heart of Venezuela’. This 2009 film will be followed by Q&A with the director Pablo Navarrete. Please check our website in the next few weeks for more details.

 

‘…a rare film about Venezuela, a country in extraordinary transition. Watch this film because it is honest and fair and respectful of those who want to be told the truth about an epic attempt, flaws and all, to claim back the humanity of ordinary people.” – John Pilger (Journalist, author and documentary filmmaker).

 

Monday 29 November, TPFF Film Club, The Lexi Cinema (Kensal Rise, London)
Programme tbc.  Admission free to TPFF regular givers!

 

And later this week….

 

Good Pitch UK 2010
Friday 10th September (London)
Observer Passes now on sale! The Good Pitch brings together documentary filmmakers with NGOs, foundations, philanthropies, brands and media around leading social issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society.  Find out more at Good Pitch UK.

 

Well, that’s all from us folks and very much hope to see some of you on the 20th!

 

With best wishes,

 

from Debs, Emma, Jen and us all at Tipping Point Film Fund

 

PS –   Find out more about joining our network of regular givers – 360
What TPFF did at Greenbelt on August bank holiday weekend

What TPFF did at Greenbelt on August bank holiday weekend

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We’re back from the Greenbelt Arts Festival in Cheltenham and it was full-on as ever, but very rewarding. Greenbelt is a great audience, packed with all kinds of people who really care about political issues, social change and campaigning and who want make big change happen – just like we do!

 

We screened four films, each followed by a live panel debate or Q&A! In case you missed any of them we’ve written a little round-up below. We’ve also posted some photos and a great clip from Jeremy Hardy – talking about Tipping Point Film Fund and The Road to Bethlehem. We’ve got loads of content still to upload – so watch this space!
Thanks to Dogwoof and Good With Film for The Vanishing of the Bees, Burma VJ and The Yes Men Fix the World.

 

The Vanishing of the Bees, Saturday 28 August

We had a full house for The Vanishing of the Bees followed by a great talk from Phil Chandler – author of The Barefoot Bee Keeper. Phil describes his book as ‘a challenge to the status quo [and a read] to stimulate both actual and potential beekeepers to think for themselves and ask questions’.  He talked with first hand knowledge – and with deep passion and energy – of how and why the phenomena of bees and ‘colony collapse disorder’ is directly linked to the way our food is produced (chemical overload, monoculture, agri-business lobbying). Visit Phil’s site www.biobees.com to learn more, or to take action visit The Co-operative’s Plan Bee.

 

Burma VJ, Sunday 29 August

After the film, Zoya Phan – a 28 year old ethnic Karen refugee –  spoke about her own experiences as a teenager fleeing the regime. She now lives in London and works for human rights organisation, The Burma Campaign UK. In an incredibly moving presentation, Zoya spoke about the extent of human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime – including the assassination of her father and assassination attempts on her own life; the need for the international community to keep pressure on Burma as well as its trading partners; the need for a Global Arms embargo as well as for the UN to agree to implement a commission to investigate Crimes against humanity in Burma.

 

To find out more visit The Burma Campaign UK,  buy a copy of Zoya’s autobiography Little Daughter or visit the The Phan Foundation – set up in memory of Zoya’s mother and father, the Phan Foundation works to alleviate poverty, promote education and preserve the culture of the oppressed ethnic Karen people.

 

Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army, Monday 30 August

Jeremy Hardy turned up on Monday morning to a very warm welcome from the Greenbelt crowd. In fact the venue was so full that even Jeremy himself had to queue to get in! After the screening of Leila Sansour’s first film ‘Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army’, the Radio 4 comedian spent more than an hour in a lively post-film discussion, updating the audience about the individuals in the film (International Solidarity Movement) and the issues affecting the West Bank and Bethlehem in particular. We’ll be posting clips of the discussion here on our website but in the mean time, see what Jeremy had to say about Tipping Point Film Fund and Leila’s new film ‘The Road to Bethlehem’.

 

The Yes Men Fix the World, Friday 30 August

Finally on Monday afternoon we showed The Yes Men Fix the World and after the film,  Deborah Burton, co-founder of Tipping Point Film Fund hosted a five-person panel which explored the role of non-violent direct action in campaigning. Joined by speakers from Christian Aid and Tearfund, Trident Plougshares, World Development Movement and Radical Middle Way, the panel discussed various means to both engage supporters and media on the big issues of our time – from postcards and emails to blockades and peaceful direct action protest. Watch this space for clips from the debate…

TPFF screening of 'Life and Debt' at The Lexi Cinema, September 20

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The Tipping Point Film Fund launches its very own Film Club at The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise on Monday 20 September with a screening of Stephanie Black’s award-winning ‘Life and Debt‘. The film, which starts at 7.15pm, will be followed by a panel discussion and includes guest speaker, broadcaster and academic, Dr Robert Beckford.
After the great success of the TPFF hosted screening of Oliver Stone’s ‘South of the Border’ in July, and the accompanying panel discussion, where a packed cinema audience passionately debated radical Latin American leadership until we had to throw them out, we’re looking forward to many more packed-house events!
So join us for the launch of the TPFF Film Club (an exciting opportunity to get together with like-minded individuals, to discuss the issues of the day through the medium of film).  All Tipping Point Film Fund regular givers will receive a free ticket to the event on 20 September and a free glass of wine too – courtesy of The Co-operative. For more information about the TPFF Film Club click here.
We do hope you can join us!

Life and Debt

Jamaica, land of sand, sea and sun… and a prime example of the complexities of economic globalisation on the world’s developing countries.

With twenty-five years of “help” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank intended to bring Third World nations such as Jamaica into the fold of free market economies, these restructuring policies have crippled Jamaica’s efforts toward self-reliant development while enriching the lenders.

This scathing film is an unapologetic look at the new world order from the point of view of Jamaican workers and farmers, as well as government and policy officials.   Featuring interviews with former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and former President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Life and Debt portrays the relationship between Jamaican poverty and the practices of international lending agencies while driving home the devastating consequences of globalisation.

The film was made a decade ago and re-released in August 2010 by Axiom Films – but it remains as relevant today as when it was first released.

Discussion

‘When will rich countries own up to their responsibility in keeping developing nations poor in order to grow their own wealth?’
The panel discussion after the film will delve deeper into the truth behind why many developing nations are still under-developed. It will explore just ‘who owes who’ in the relationship between the rich north and the poor south – especially in light of the recent petition of France to return to poverty stricken post-earthquake Haiti, the 90 million gold francs (£14bn) it took as ‘compensation’ to French slave-owners for Haiti’s independence in 1804.

The panel

Dr. Robert Beckford is an academic and award winning broadcaster based in Birmingham. He has authored half-a-dozen books in the field of theology and culture and made over 20 documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, averaging two films per year with Channel 4, becoming a regular fixture on the prime time television slots of Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.
Nick Dearden is Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign. Before, he worked at War on Want (special focus on labour national rights, including campaigning for justice for the people of Palestine); Amnesty International UK, with a lead role on their campaign on poverty and economic, social and cultural rights and joined  Jubilee Debt Campaign in 2008 as its Director.
Dr. Patricia Daley is a Researcher and Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Oxford, where she is also a Fellow of Jesus College. Previously, she taught at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA, and at Loughborough University, UK. She is a Pan-Africanist; and her area of specialism covers the intersection between development, forced migration, gender, warfare, and the environment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her most recent book is entitled ‘Gender and Genocide: the Search for Spaces of Peace in the Great Lakes Region of Africa’, James Currey and Indiana University Press. She is also chair of the Board of Trustees of the charity Fahamu, which, among a range of its activities, publishes the social justice online newletter Pambazuka News.org.

Booking tickets

SPECIAL OFFER: 2 tickets for the price of 1 if you email your telephone number to bea.addis@thelexicinema.co.uk with subject heading ‘TPFF 20 September’. Includes a free glass of wine

Individual tickets cost £10 (plus £1 booking fee) but are free to regular Tipping Point Film Fund donors. Tickets can be purchased through The Lexi Cinema website or by calling the box office on 0871 704 2069 (lines open 9.30am – 8.30pm and there is a £1.50 Booking Fee). If you are a Tipping Point Film Fund regular donor and would like to attend please contact us.

Getting there

The Lexi Cinema is located at 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10 3JU. It is around 7 minutes walk from Kensal Rise over-ground station and a good bus service runs from central London. The 52 (from Victoria) and the 6 (from Oxford St) stop directly outside the cinema. To map your route by public transport click here, and for a streetmap click here.
*This is a Tipping Point Film Fund screening in association with The Lexi Cinema. The Lexi Cinema is a social enterprise and all profits from ticket sales go to The Sustainability Institute, which supports a vibrant and forward-thinking eco-centre near Cape Town, South Africa.
TPFF Film Club launches at The Lexi Cinema

TPFF Film Club launches at The Lexi Cinema

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Tipping Point Film Fund launches its TPFF Film Club on 20 September at The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise, with a screening of Stephanie Black’s award-winning ‘Life and Debt‘.

The film, a feature-length documentary which addresses the impact of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and current globalisation policies on developing countries such as Jamaica, starts at 7.15pm.

The panel discussion entitled ‘when will rich countries own up to their responsibility in keeping developing nations poor in order to grow their own wealth‘, will be chaired by Tipping Point Film Fund and includes the broadcaster and academic, Dr Robert Beckford.

For more information about the film and panel discussion, or to watch the trailer click here.

The TPFF Film Club will be a regular event (8-12 times per year) where TPFF supporters, relevant NGO networks and the general public can get together to watch a specifically chosen feature-documentary (usually related to the news agenda and campaigning) and enjoy a lively panel discussion or Q&A with guest speakers. Tickets to the TPFF Film Club are free to regular givers and one off donors of £60 p/a or more.

Initially the film club will be located in London but we would hope in time, as we build our volunteer base around the country, to roll the Film Club out more widely and where possible, grow the opportunity to live-stream it from our website.

There will be a free glass of wine for those attending the launch at The Lexi Cinema – courtesy of The Co-operative.

McCabe Educational Trust supports The Road to Bethlehem

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We are delighted to have secured the grant support of the charitable arm of  McCabe Travel – a company specialising in pilgrimages to the Holy Land.  McCabe’s support will enable the post-production costs of The Road to Bethlehem to be met.

McCabe Travel will also be an outreach partner on the film in 2011 and we very much look forward to our collaboration highlighting the need for visitors to go to Palestine to both witness as well as appreciate all that its people have to share.

If you’d like to donate to The Road to Bethlehem outreach campaign, click here and mark your donation ‘The Road to Bethlehem’. If you’d like to find out more contact us or email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com

TPFF Greenbelt line up, 27-30 August

TPFF Greenbelt line up, 27-30 August

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Hurray, it’s Greenbelt time again! And If you don’t know what the amazing Greenbelt Arts Festival, 27-30 August, is all about then check out their website – line up includes Beverley Knight, Gil Scott Heron and Courtney Pine.

We’ll be there, screening some powerful and provocative films, hosting lively panel debates, asking some difficult questions and trying our best to provide some inspiring answers. And if we’re not busy doing that you’ll probably find us admiring our exciting Bethlehem-inspired installation in the G Source tent. Come and find us and admire it too!

In the meantime find out what we’re screening at the FILM venue and when…

Saturday 28 August, 2.30pm
Vanishing of the Bees
As scientists puzzle over the alarming disappearance of honeybees, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for the tragic loss. The film will be followed by a discussion.
Sunday 29 August, 2.30pm
Burma VJ

Risking torture and life imprisonment, Burmese video journalists go undercover to document the 2007 monk uprising, exposing to the international community the Burmese government’s violent and bloody crack-down. The film will be followed by Q&A and book signing with Zoya Phan, International Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. Zoya is one of Europe’s leading Burmese democracy activists and coordinator for the European Karen Network. Her autobiography  Little Daughter was published in April 2009.

Monday 30 August, 11.30am
Jeremy Hardy vs Israeli Army

The Radio 4 comedian tags along with Palestinian film-maker Leila Sansour as she travels to Israel and the Occupied Territories to team up with members of the International Solidarity Movement (or ISM), as they engage in non-violent direct action to challenge the occupation. The film will be followed by Q&A with Jeremy Hardy.

Monday 30 August, 2.30pm
The Yes Men Fix the World

Two US film makers pose as top executives of corporations they hate; lying their way into business conferences to parody their corporate targets, doing everything they can to expose the danger of letting greed run our world. The film will be followed by a panel debate: How far is enough? A discussion about the pros and cons of peaceful direct action. The panel will be chaired by Tipping Point Film Fund and include speakers from Trident Ploughshares, World Development Movement, Christian Aid and Tearfund.

Vanishing of the Bees, Burma VJ and The Yes Men Fix World is screened in association with Dogwoof.

TPFF screening of new Oliver Stone film ‘South of the Border’ plus panel debate

TPFF screening of new Oliver Stone film ‘South of the Border’ plus panel debate

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We’re very excited to announce that Tipping Point Film Fund will hold a screening of the new Oliver Stone film South of the Border (including a panel discussion entitled: Radical Latin American leadership – what’s to be afraid of?) on the film’s opening weekend, Friday 30 July.

The screening at The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise will start at 6.15pm.

The panel discussion, which will be chaired by Tipping Point Film Fund, will look at the key issues raised in the film – the US media’s demonising of radical Latin American leaders. It will explore how effective these leaders have been in delivering radical policies that work for the poorest communities and the wider economy.

WE DO HOPE YOU’LL COME AND JOIN US!

View the trailer…

In South of the Border, Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents – Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.

Read latest articles about the film on the Guardian

RADICAL LATIN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP – WHAT’S TO BE AFRAID OF?
Panel members include…

Roberto Navarrete, editor at www.alborada.net, a website covering issues such as politics, media and culture in Latin America. He is the executive producer of the feature-length documentary ‘Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela’ (Alborada Films, 2009).

Michael Klein was Campaign Manager for left of centre US Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s campaign to be candidate for the democratic party’s nomination for US President in 2008. Now London based, Mike is a business consultant specialising in media and early stage technology companies. Formerly in the US army, he has lived in Venezuela and has first-hand knowledge of where and how US media, business and military interests intersect with Latin America.

Jasmine Huggins has almost 20 years experience of development agency work at Christian Aid. She is currently Senior Advocacy Officer for the Latin America and Caribbean Division. Her work has a particular focus on accountable governance and her geographical remit includes the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

BOOKING TICKETS

Tickets cost £10 (plus £1 booking fee) but are free to regular Tipping Point Film Fund donors. Tickets can be purchased through The Lexi Cinema website or by calling the box office on 0871 704 2069 (lines open 9.30am – 8.30pm and there is a £1.50 Booking Fee). If you are a Tipping Point Film Fund regular donor and would like to attend please contact us.

GETTING THERE

The Lexi Cinema is located at 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10 3JU. It is around 7 minutes walk from Kensal Rise over-ground station and a good bus service runs from central London. The 52 (from Victoria) and the 6 (from Oxford St) stop directly outside the cinema. To map your route by public transport click here, and for a streetmap click here.

This is a Tipping Point Film Fund screening in association with the film’s UK distributor Dogwoof and The Lexi Cinema.  The Lexi Cinema is a social enterprise and all profits from ticket sales go to The Sustainability Institute, which supports a vibrant and forward-thinking eco-centre near Cape Town, South Africa.

Politics, football and festivals – May Newsletter

Politics, football and festivals – May Newsletter

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Wow – what an exciting few weeks. Here, we were on the edge of our second-hand seats (thanks Stop Climate Chaos for the free chairs), as election fever unfurled, parliament was hung, the Prime Minister resigned, and a new, never-would-have-thought-it government formed. Ironically, on the night the Con-Lib Dem deal was finally struck, we saw One Night in Turin – a James Erskine film documenting the violence and hooliganism of British soccer fans during the last years of Thatcher’s government, and how Bobby Robson’s 1990 World Cup Team united a nation in disgrace. Plus, we also liked give your vote, a brilliant idea by film-maker, political researcher and our colleague James Sadri – giving citizens in Afghanistan, Ghana and Bangladesh the opportunity to vote in the UK General Election.

In the midst of these changing political times, we’re looking forward to the summer festival scene! In association with Good With Film we’ll be screening some of the best docs of 2009 & 2010 – including Burma VJ, Dirty Oil and The Yes Men Fix the World. Thanks to the solar powered Groovy Movie Picture House we’ll have a great cinematic and ‘green’ venue at Glastonbury, Lounge on the Farm (Canterbury) and Stokes Bay (Wickham). And at the Greenbelt Arts Festival in Cheltenham, late August, we’ll have films and panel discussions a plenty. Do keep an eye on our website for programme plans and screening times.

Essential Viewing

In the Land of the Free tells the compelling story of US prisoners Herman Wallace, Albert Woofox and Robert King, between them, sentenced to almost a century in solitary confinement for a crime the evidence suggests they probably didn’t commit. Today, Herman and Albert are still being held in solitary confinement. The film tells their personal story, documents the campaign for justice, and follows the legal case to free the final two. Log on to www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com for trailer and screening info.

The Alberta Tar Sands is big-doc news again as the new Peter Mettler film, Petropolis is released this month – another one from The Co-operative and Dogwoof. Shot primarily from a helicopter, Mettler takes us on hypnotic flight of image and sound across giant oil reserves, where Canadian wilderness meets large-scale industrial efforts with devastating impacts on the environment. Effects that will be felt far beyond Alberta. To watch the trailer, order the DVD, or to take action log on to www.petropolis-film.com. Plus, as part of the campaign, The Co-operative are offering £500 for the most creative idea (posters, short-films, photos or animations) to highlight the issue.

We haven’t seen this one yet but it looks right up our street. Bananas the movie follows Juan “Accidentes” Dominguez on his biggest case ever. On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility. Watch the trailer www.bananasthemovie.com

Project News

The Road to Bethlehem
Leila Sansour’s film is now moving towards the final stage of editing. At the same time, we are now starting to plan the outreach campaign that will accompany The Road to Bethlehem. We also continue to raise funds for post production as well as outreach and have recently secured a further £10k towards the film’s completion budget. Click here to find out what Leila’s been up to and the latest from Bethlehem.

Cashback
As the development of Cashback progresses, the story around tax and developing countries continues to be a lively issue. ‘Blowing the Whistle: Time’s Up for Financial Secrecy’, a new report from Cashback supporter and development agency Christian Aid, reveals how the same tax-haven secrecy that allows football club owners to hide their business practices – and even their identities – is also facilitating massive tax dodging in developing countries. To download the report or find out what you can do visit Christian Aid. And if you want a simple intro to why tax matters to developing nations check out this video by Global Financial Integrity.

Contact us to find out how you can support Road to Bethlehem or Cashback.

 

 

 

 

Want to support Tipping Point Film Fund?

Volunteer at the festivals this summer! We need you for a couple of hours at Glastonbury, Lounge on the Farm, Stokes Bay and Greenbelt. If you’re already going and would like to get involved, drop us a line

Run a film night for a good cause! Good screenings will calculate the cost of your film licence according to who you are, where you screen and how many people you’re screening to. Any profits you make can be kept by you, your organisation, campaign or cause – including TPFF!

Support challenging films that inspire campaigning by visiting our website to make a donation, follow us on Twitter or become a fan of our page on Facebook.

Dates for your diary

Co-operative Fortnight, 19 June to 3 July
For 14 days, up and down the country, co-operatives like TPFF will be promoting their work! Find out what’s happening near you.

Glastonbury (25-26 June), Lounge on the Farm (10-11 July) and Stokes Bay (6-7 August)
Join TPFF at the Groovy Movie Picture House. We’ll be showing Burma VJ, Dirty Oil and The Yes Men Fix the World. Check out our website for screening times.

Screening of Great African Scandal plus Q&A, 29 June at 6.30pm
Unite Trade Union, Venture Community Centre, 103a Wornington Road, W10 5YB
Near Ladbroke Grove Tube Station

Greenbelt Arts Festival, 27-30 August
Check out our website for details of films and speakers nearer the time.

And Finally

We’d like to wish you a very happy May and June and we hope the sun comes out to brighten your day.

With best wishes,
from Deborah, Emma, Thea and all at Tipping Point Film Fund.
PS Keep a look out for news of our brand new 360 film club – coming soon!

 

Leila Sansour prepares to return to Bethlehem

Leila Sansour prepares to return to Bethlehem

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Palestinian film director Leila Sansour is fighting to keep her home town of Bethlehem open as the Israeli barrier slowly carves up and strangles the city, capturing Palestinian land for Israeli settlements. Leila’s next film The Road to Bethlehem will document five year’s of the wall’s construction and its impact on Leila and her community. Here, Leila shares her thoughts with Tipping Point Film Fund’s supporters.

I spent last month in London discussing plans for the release of my film. This is an industry where you have to plan ahead, especially when you are on a shoestring budget. A producer once told me to think of a film as a triangle with the three sides labelled: ‘Good’ ‘Cheap’ and ‘Fast’. She told me, you can only ever have two sides of the triangle at a time, never three. The result is, we are going slow. Being in London gave me a chance to vote in the General Election. As usual, I had British foreign policy on my mind, so while my friends discussed the economy, taxes and immigration, my thoughts were far away, with a people on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Last week our team took a meeting with a potential partner in the States. As usual, I found myself explaining the wall. “It does not encircle Bethlehem as you might think,” I say. “It cuts the entire area into two parcels, with the urban part on one side and the countryside on the other, cutting the farmland off from the town. Once the wall is complete the townspeople will be shunted into just 13 per cent of the original Bethlehem, while Israeli settlements expand into the rest.” The information causes consternation – not least among members of my team, as I discover later. This is the real challenge: when something is so absurd it is very difficult to communicate what it is really happening, even to the most interested and sympathetic friends.

I return to Bethlehem next week to resume the work of editing. I also resume my role as the director of Open Bethlehem, a campaign against the wall. A key part of my activities is providing fact-finding tours to politicians, diplomats, clergy and media. I distinctly remember one very earnest lady joining us on a summer day. After a tour of the wall we ended up at the highest point in Bethlehem, overlooking an expanse of settlements. This woman sat on a rock in bewilderment and devastation. The first thing she said when she opened her mouth was: “I do not understand this. Surely if this is really happening to the Palestinians, the whole world would be up in arms”. The world is not up in arms, but this lady is. She is Jewish-American and she travels the length and breadth of the US to tell our story. I hope my film will bring the reality of Bethlehem to many around the world who cannot make the journey – and that it will encourage others to visit my still beautiful, fast-disappearing city.

To find out more about The Road to Bethlehem or to watch a clip from the film, click here.

If you’d like to support The Road to Bethlehem please donate here and mark your donation ‘The Road to Bethlehem’.

TPFF summer festival screenings

TPFF summer festival screenings

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Tipping Point Film Fund hits the festival scene this summer at Glastonbury (25-26 June), Lounge on the Farm in Canterbury (9-11 July), Stokes Bay in Wickham (5-8 August) and the Greenbelt Arts Festival in Cheltenham (27-30 August).

FOR SCREENING TIMES SEE END OF PAGE

In association with our friends at Good With Film, we’ll be screening some of the past year’s most powerful and provocative cinematic documentaries – Dirty Oil, Burma VJ and The Yes Men Fix the World.

And we’ve got the best venue! Thanks to the Groovy Movie Picture House, we’ll have a proper cinema with space for almost 200 people but best of all it’s fuelled by the sun’s very own magnificent rays – so no harm to the environment.

We’re really hoping that festival-goers will have the chance to experience the power of people on film, and to see how individuals come together to create great social change.

Each film we’ve chosen charts the struggle of how ordinary people can – and do – challenge oppressive political regimes or all-powerful corporations. And, how you in the audience, just by spreading the word or taking a campaign action, can massively contribute to social change.

Dirty Oil takes a good hard look at the Canadian Alberta tar sands (the biggest US supplier of oil) and its impact on the environment and indigenous communities like the Beaver Lake Cree. Click here to find out more about the campaign and watch the film trailer.

Burma VJ tells the story of how Burmese video journalists risked torture and life imprisonment to expose images, from an otherwise closed country, to the international media during the 2007 monk uprising. Click here to find out more about the campaign and watch the film trailer.

The Yes Men Fix the World shows two US film makers posing as top executives of corporations they hate; how they lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets, doing everything they can to expose the danger of letting greed run our world. Click here to find out more about the campaign and watch the film trailer.

Black Gold : As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man’s fight for a fair price. Visit the Black Gold Movie website to find out more.

Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army : The comedian tags along with Palestinian film-maker Leila Sansour, as she travels to Israel and the Occupied Territories, to document daily life under Israel’s military occupation. The duo teams up with members of the International Solidarity Movement (or ISM), as they engage in non-violent direct action to challenge the occupation.

Vanishing of the Bees examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for the tragic loss. Watch the trailer here.

FOR SCREENING TIMES AND DATES READ ON…

Glastonbury, the Green Futures Field, 23-27 June
The Groovy Movie Picture House
Dirty Oil, 2pm, Friday 25 June
Burma VJ, 4pm, Saturday 26 June
The Yes Men Fix the World, 4pm on Friday 25 June and 2pm on Saturday 26 June

Lounge on the Farm, Canterbury 9-11 July
The Groovy Movie Picture House
Jeremy Hardy vs The Israeli Army, 3pm on Saturday 10 July
Dirty Oil, 5pm on Saturday 10 July
The Yes Men Fix the World, 12pm on Sunday 11 July

For Lounge on the Farm press release click here

Stokes Bay, Wickham, 5-8 August
The Groovy Movie Picture House
Black Gold, 2pm, Friday 6 August
Burma VJ, 4pm, Friday 6 August
Jeremy Hardy vs Israeli Army, 2pm, Saturday 7 August
The Yes Men Fix the World, 4pm, Saturday 7 August

Greenbelt Arts Festival, Cheltenham, 27-30 August
Vanishing of the Bees + Q&A with exec producer James Erskine, 2.30pm, Saturday 28 August
Burma VJ + Q&A with Burma Campaign activist Zoya Phan, 2.30pm, Sunday 29 August
Jeremy Hardy vs Israeli Army + Q&A with Jeremy Hardy, 11.30am, Monday 30 August
The Yes Men Fix the World + Q&A tbc, 2.30pm, Monday 30 August

Click here if you’d like to volunteer

Pre-election event and screenings in London and Birmingham

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Tipping Point Film Fund has joined forces with Christian Aid and the African Development Forum to create the ADF Progressive Forum – a ‘third space’ where, via film and new media, those who believe in humanity and the betterment of society can engage with the key issues affecting the African continent, learn how they interconnect with the UK, and become challenged to act outside of the traditional constructs and notions of the church.

The ADF Progressive Forum launches in April at venues in London and Birmingham. The pre-election events – invitation here – will discuss ‘how can faith make a difference to local, national and international politics?’ and will include a screening of Dr. Robert Beckford’s recent BBC2 programme God Bless You Barack Obama with panel discussion led by Dr. Robert Beckford.

The African Development Forum exists primarily to mobilise the African and Caribbean Christian community and wider Diaspora to confront and respond to poverty by challenging unjust structural systems which keep millions of Africans poor.

April events

Birmingham, Sunday 18th April, 3-6pm
Venue – The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4UU
Panelists – Dr Robert Beckford, Patrick Augustus, Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, Karen Hamilton

London, Sunday 25th April, 3.30-6.30pm
Venue – The Brix at St Matthews, Brixton Hill, London, SW2 1JF
Panelists – Dr. Robert Beckford, Dr. Lez Henry, Adjoa Andoh, Winsome-Grace Cornish