Tipping Point Film Fund | Tipping Point North South

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.

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.