Cinema is changing. As current BFI statistics reveal, Subscription based Video on Demand (SVoD) platforms are on a steady rise. With a clear mission to provide more inventive, quality and niche cinema MUBI distinguishes itself from many other SVoD services. At the head of their meticulous curating team is Chiara Marañón. After building an accomplished career as director and producer, amongst others working with Abbas Kiarostami on La Chica de la Fábrica de Limones, Chiara joined MUBI over eight years ago. She can be credited as one of the heads who worked to create a distinct vision for the platform and establish MUBI as the independent, creative powerhouse for cinephiles we know today. Back in April I met with Chiara for a coffee to discuss her thoughts about digital cinema and the future of curatorship. Here is our conversation:

Clara Helbig: What was your personal vision when you started at MUBI and how has it developed over the past eight years?

Chiara Marañón: At the time when I joined the company, eight years ago, the product and the platform were completely different. The business model was closer to a content aggregator in the same vein of platforms like Netflix, just with a special focus on quality cinema, including more adventurous cinema, and generally more niche content. To see these films presented in an online environment with such care, and with such a brilliant overall design, was rare eight years ago. There was no real way of watching these movies other than on youtube in a really non-inviting environment. As a user I started to spend a lot of time on MUBI, discovering films and making lists, which are things I still do today. However one year into my time at MUBI, we changed everything: instead of having a large catalogue we decided to go with the model of one-film-a-day in which curation was very much the essence. This changed the game - I believed in it from the beginning. It’s been eight years and I still have the same faith in it as on day one.

I feel that was the point at which I realised the importance of curatorship. In these past years I have been learning how to handle this; how to grow a subscriber base and how to understand audiences. It is a continuous journey with no end to it: there is always new ways of doing new things, you are never going to have an infallible solution. Even if you have one form of content which you know “works”, you still want to be as diverse as possible. You will still want to support films that need it, and you want to champion certain filmmakers. I don’t think there is a secret recipe but that this is a perpetual journey.

I also believe that by having a small selection of films you can take care of them. You can create momentum for them. Films get lost in large catalogues and people only reproduce the same commercial behaviour that happens in cinemas, where people just go to see the big films that occupy all the screens. I think that having less films allows you to simply take better care of them. You are also able to offer additional content, which adds to the experience of watching them and creates a discussion around them. This creates said momentum and, importantly, gives the same spotlight to all films: no matter whether it is an avant-garde short, a ten-hour Lav Diaz film or an American mainstream movie that we love.

CH: What influences your curatorial process? How do you distinguish between movies and works of cinematic greatness you aim to showcase on your platform?

CM: We are three main curators and we have three junior programming assistants in the team. At the moment we are not able to receive open submissions due to the size of our programming team and the particularities of our model––with 365 slots only, we are not able to program that many films!

Our decisions as a team are very informed by the festival circuit. Festivals are seen as the first step for films that are not commercially driven to see the light, making it a very important side of where we find the films we want to show. We cover as many films as possible when we attend those festivals to get a holistic overview of contemporary cinema, and also restorations - films that have come back from the past. Things that we take into account are the audience potential of the films: who is going to be interested in watching this film and how can you make people interested in it. The filmmaker is also a very important aspect. We are a very auteur driven platform and our vision is to champion filmmakers that we feel are important to the history of cinema. We ask ourselves a lot of questions about how we are able to frame the films, as we believe in context being an essential part of the curatorial experience. Context is really important in establishing a bridge with the audience. We work directly with the right holders and ask them for their availabilities. We then hand pick every single film we eventually want to programme.

At least 50 percent of our programme is not contemporary cinema. That is one of the beautiful things about MUBI and something that distinguishes us from the rest. We think it is essential to pay attention to the entire history of cinema. When you go on Netflix you won’t find many movies from before the sixties. There are other platforms dedicated to classics but for us it is very important for films to find their place in a programme that is eclectic, diverse and contemplates the entire history of the medium. This is how people can start to educate themselves and see that contemporary films are not being made in vacuum - they are a continuation of a history of moviemaking.

CH: Considering your experience working in a museum context of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona: Do you see a difference in curating film for an online platform or for a traditional cultural institution?

CM: I believe there are a lot of differences. However I am not sure if I am the right person to ask because I was just there for six months as an Assistant. I just know that with MUBI being part of the online world, we always try for audiences to not only associate us with that, but to see us as a presence attached to the cinema space. We found different ways of doing so, one of them being through our theatrical releases, and another through our new initiative MUBI Go. Those two things keep us alive in the real world.

They have allowed me to understand how physical distribution works and what the challenges of it are. I am not saying anything new here, but it was still a revelation for me how difficult it is to put films in cinemas. Cinemas need to make money so they aren’t generally willing to take many risks. This is the good thing about institutions which can prioritise other variables. They can be culturally driven instead of commercially driven. Independent cinemas are more adventurous too––there have been a lot of independent cinemas in the country who care deeply and that have been crucial to our distribution strategy and have given us great support.

CH: In terms of getting people to the cinema once a film has made it to the big screen I think MUBI Go does a very good job at acting as a trustworthy ‘word of mouth’ through a digital perspective.

CM: Yes, MUBI Go is a project I love and which I have been very involved with personally. The great thing about MUBI Go is that it removes the two main barriers to bring people to the cinema: choice and cost. MUBI Go solves these two problems. We are telling you which film you need to go see and we are paying for your ticket too. The main age group which is being affected by those problems is young people, which corresponds to the audiences that exhibitors struggle to get at the door. It is very difficult to get young people to go to the cinema,it’s very expensive; they are also tech savvy and are very aware of the multiple ways in which they can access content. MUBI Go’s audience is very young–we are doing a great job in bringing 18 - 34 year old people to see films on the big screen.

CH: I know you also have a Film Student Programme, which is a great programme lots of students like myself are benefitting from. However by explicitly addressing a cinephile audience through your branding and advertising, MUBI has been described as elitist in the past. What role does inclusivity and accessibility play for you when curating MUBIs programme?

Are there other measures you take to make sure the films shown on MUBI reach new audiences?

CM: MUBI Go is definitely one of the measures. It allows us to choose films that are available in cinemas and that might have a broader audience. It serves as a way for us to tap into new audiences and open up our reach. Concerning the elitist-thing; I can’t agree!

I think one of the main aspects of our brand is that, at MUBI, we all take films very seriously — however we don’t take ourselves very seriously. That allows us to find the right tone to talk about film. Building a voice and getting it right is key. We invite people to see things that they wouldn't normally get to watch. We aim to approach people in a friendly manner, sort of like the guy in the video-store giving you recommendations. That’s what MUBI wants to be: unpretentious, like the person who knows a lot about cinema, is super passionate about it and who is gonna recommend you good films. That’s who we are. We think films are important, we feel the history of cinema is important and we are going to keep on talking about those things in a way that everybody feels included in the conversation. The platform itself offers a lot of options for your viewing experience to be rich and complete.

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CH: In 2010 Paolo Cherchi Usai gave a speech now known as the Lindgren Manifesto where he declared 14. points that ought to define the Film Curator of the Future. If you were to put together your own manifesto what would your archetype of the film curator of the future be like?

CM: My own manifesto?? What I could tell you are a couple things I have learned over the past years: you have to think about the audience, and the audience comes first. It’s tricky because by saying the audience you are already generalising. I am all against that, but the most important thing to take into account as a curator is to understand that the audience goes first - even before your own taste. A lot of the films I feel compelled to programme I don’t necessarily say that I like them myself but it doesn't really matter. It’s not about what I like or don’t like, because as a programmer, some films just impose themselves on you and in the end it’s more about what I think people should have the opportunity to see and form their own opinion about. So yeah, the audience goes first.

That then opens up a can of worms because it leads to a lot of other discussions about who the audience is and what “audience” means. The second point of my two-point manifesto connects to this. I believe small audiences are just as important as big ones. So say for example when programming a Straub/Huillet film. You’re programming for small audiences, and you know that, but at the same time you can give people access to films they have been reading and hearing about for a very long time and haven’t had the opportunity to see. Even though that group might not be as big, they are a loyal, devoted, cinephile audience who is going to be there every week for the new Straub/Huillet film - and to me this group is just as important.

CH: Lastly, where do you see MUBI’s place in the digital post-cinema universe of our future?

CM: I think we are developing in a lot of different directions. It is very difficult to predict things in this landscape that keeps changing every day. If you would have asked me this question two years ago I wouldn’t have been able to anticipate MUBI Go or that our production and distribution would go in the direction it does today.

What I do know is that we believe in the cinema experience. We exist in the online world but we really think that the communal, shared cinema experience is not going anywhere. I think the next step for us would be to have our own cinema, and be able to run the space ourselves. The other thing we want to explore more is something we are already putting into motion, which is original content. I believe that two to three years from now, there will be a lot of projects which will be entirely or partially financed by MUBI as we would like to have our stamp in the creative process as well. Most importantly, we want to keep supporting the work of filmmakers that we love and think should keep making movies.

Interview recorded in Soho, London, 24.04.2019

It was that time of year again, when the pleasant english industrial city of Sheffield turns into a hub of non-fiction extravaganza. With over 180 documentary films shown this year, Sheffield Doc/Fest certainly stands as an extraordinary UK film festival celebrating all forms of non-fiction films.

This year Sheffield Doc/Fest’s gem-packed screening schedule showcased a broad selection of shorts reflecting the different strands of the festival. After giving our square eyes some days to decompress, here are 3 of the best shorts we had the chance of seeing this year:

UK Docs

Disconnected - Alice Aedy (2018 - UK)

This short explores the implications of loneliness and isolation amongst young people in the UK. With a Minister for Loneliness appointed for office in the UK this past year, the struggles of British citizens have become more apparent. As this documentary points out 1 in 4 young UK citizens admits to feeling lonely and isolated some or all the time.

Disconnected examines this through intimate testimonies provided by voicemails left anonymous callers on an answer machine. We become witness to their personal experiences of loneliness annad isolation. These intimate and raw statements provide the voice over on calmly disquieting shots of urban UK landscapes. Reflecting one subject’s experience of feeling lonely despite being surrounded by so many people, Alice Aedy’s film creates an eerily beautiful atmosphere of urban desolation. Disconnected serves as an honest and empathetic warning on the actual realities of isolation so many of us face in this hyper-connected digital world.

Unconventional Docs

Fordlandia Malaise - Susana de Sousa Dias (2019 - Portugal, Brazil)

Comprised of archive footage and meticulously constructed aerial shots Fordlandia Malaise shines light on a strip of land in the Amazonian Rainforest representing a failed utopia of Anglo-American colonialism. In 1928 Henry Ford appropriated this piece of the rain forest to create his perfect factory. The project failed not long after is was established, however many of the indigenous people who were transported there remained.

Abandoned industrial complexes have become laced with myths and indigenous histories of people who themselves were never given the room to leave their own traces. Examining the present through past memories, Fordlandia Malaise exposes us to a post-colonial dystopia. Sousa Dias’ film raises questions about persisting global inequalities through the study of a disconnected singular place.

International Docs

America - Garrett Bradley (2019 - USA)

A mesmerising ode to the history of black cinema with clear contemporary urgency. America challenges the idea of black cinema as a trend or new movement, instead emphasising the ongoing contribution made by African American filmmakers and artists. As research has shown, over 70% of silent films made between 1912 - 1929 have been lost. Instead of aiming to construct a narrative through the fractions which remain, Bradley has created a modern day continuation of the early silent day era films. America stands with no dialogue - it is carried by a beautifully enigmatic ambient soundscape and masterful black and white cinematography.

Bradley succeeded to create a short which archives the past through the present; preserving the past from erasure whilst posing current questions about current day representation of African Americans. This short stands as a cultural testimony solidifying the history of those whose cultural contributions have been pushed into oblivion.

Garrett Bradley’s America won this year’s Doc/Fest Short Award, to check out all other nominees click here.

After being dropped from the program a decade ago, the IDFA Shorts line up returned to Amsterdam for the festivals 30th anniversary.

When we created Cheap Cuts back in 2015, we did so because we felt there were so many short documentaries that had limited screening opportunities and we often tagged onto narrative programs or were put online. The interest in short documentary seems to have grown quickly over the past two years and more and more events dedicated to the genre are appearing.

IDFA reintroduced its short section with a Shorts Day programme screening 15 docs. Further shorts were included with feature screenings and we went along to the Paradocs screening, which saw 4 more unconventional shorts screened at the wonderful Eye Film Museum and cinema. One that we particularly enjoyed was Transitions by Auréle Ferrier. Beautifully shot with stunning sound design, this short pushed the boundaries of documentary and toyed with reality in its cinematic tour of a deserted Nevada backdrop.

Two highlights from our brief weekend in Amsterdam were The Distant Barking of Dogs and Señorita María: Skirting Around the Mountain. The latter being a tale of the wonderful María, a farmhand working in a rural mountainous Colombian village. A touching portrait documentary of identity and acceptance.

The Distant Barking of Dogs is a truly stunning piece of filmmaking from Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont. Deservedly picking up the award for First Appearance, this observational doc at times felt like a narrative piece and Wilmont successfully draws you deep into the lives of those in the village. Each shot appears carefully selected and formed together to tell the story of a small family unit in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. The film perfectly captures the touching relationship between ten year old Oleg and his grandmother, whilst also showing the equally endearing cousin Yarik. Amongst the missile strikes two young boys, both excited and terrified by the war around them, continue with the everyday boredoms and temptations of rural childhood.

Watch Trailer - Distant Barking of Dogs

And the winners are: TELL ME!

FLOATING FILM FESTIVAL

Where: St. Katharine Docks

When: 4th-10th December | Screenings start at 7pm during the week whilst on Saturday and Sunday there will be two screenings at 2pm and 7pm.

Tickets: £13-£26

Available Here: http://www.skdocks.co.uk/whats-on/christmas-floating-film-festival

The Floating Film Festival is back for Christmas! in the same outside location as the summer event, St. Katharine docks will host an array of Christmas and festive themed films this winter. This week-long festival will showcase the top movie favourites popular at this time of year, including Home Alone, Elf, and A Miracle on 34th Street. Unlike its summer counterpart, guests are invited to snuggle down on bean bags with cosy blankets and heaters to shelter from the cold. Winter warmers including hot chocolate, mulled wine and a variety of delicious snacks are on offer to ensure you experience the perfect festive night out. Be sure to visit on Thursday 23rd November and watch their wonderful Christmas Lights get switched on!

HERNE HILL FREE FILM FESTIVAL

Where: Various locations in the Hearn Hill area

When: 7th-20th December

Tickets: Free entry for all films (On a first come first serve basis)

Part of the community group that organises free neighbourhood film festivals to encourage community involvement through film, The Hearne Hill Free Film Festival is hosting a Christmas special in December. It will be screening nine films in total, some with a festive theme for the occasion. The screenings will be taking place in a selection of wonderful local venues in and around Herne Hill. Films such as, Elf, Krampus and Paris, Texas will be shown, as well as a night of Festive Family Shorts which will be screened at Judith Kerr Primary school on the 9th. This is the festivals 5th year and this year prides itself on working with the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank to make as many happy Christmases as possible for people in the local area. Donations for the homeless including food will be welcomed at any of the screenings. More info available on their website: http://www.freefilmfestivals.org/about-us/

WINTER FILM GUIDE | SOUTHBANK LONDON

Where: BFI Southbank

When: Throughout November and December

Tickets: Available here http://www.southbanklondon.com/Winter-Film-Guide-2017

(Prices vary for different events)

If festive to you means a line-up of incredible filmic talent, then BFI Southbank is the place to be this winter. As the cold starts to set in and London begins to transform into a winter wonderland the South Bank offers a fine film collection spread across its storied venues. From the Good at Being Bad collection which chronicles the films of Gloria Grahame to Russian Film Week set to start from the 19th November, the South Bank is to host countless films to get stuck into during the lead up to Christmas. Be sure to check out the Underwire festival before it ends of the 26h Nov as well as the Being a Man festival which runs from the 24th-26th Nov and is set to screen the The New Man, a heart-breaking and hilarious doc about what it means to have a child and be a parent today.

BACKYARD CINEMA

WINTER NIGHT GARDEN | SNOW KINGDOM

Where: Winter Night Garden cinema is located on Clapham Common, South London, as part of the Christmas festival ‘Winterville’ based on Clapham Common.The Snow Kingdom cinema is located in Borough, South Londonas part of the Italian market – Mercato Metropolitano.

When: November-January

Tickets and Info: Available online https://www.backyardcinema.co.uk/winter-night-garden/

Backyard cinema started out as a homemade project in the back garden of its founder Dominic, it is now one of the most recognised and sort after cinema experience. This Christmas Backyard Cinema is to host 2 incredible festive events and when it comes to Christmas spirit they won’t disappoint. The Winter Night Garden will be located on Clapham Common as part of the Christmas festival Winterville. The snow Kingdom cinema will be located in Borough as part of the Italian Market, Mercato Metropolitano. Both events will screen Christmas favourites old and new including The Wizard of Oz. Home Alone, The Great Escape and Elf. Both events will also screen brand new releases such as Beauty and The Beast starring Emma Watson and Despicable Me 3. Book now as tickets are selling out fast!

FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL

When: London screenings 2ndNov- 10th December

Where: Ciné Lumière, JW3 Cinema, Regent Street Cinema and Watermans Art Centre (Brentford)

Tickets: Available Online http://frenchfilmfestival.org.uk/FFF2015/wp/

The 25th Edition of the French Film Festival started on Thursday 2 November at London’s Ciné Lumière. It runs throughout November and December and takes place in many venues across the UK screening the crème de la crème of Francophone cinema including an impressive collection of documentaries and shorts. Although not strictly festive themed this festival is a must go for cinema lovers this winter.

When I first moved to London, I started to familiarise myself with the area I lived in and recognised the diversity and vast array of different communities existing side-by-side within the district. However, there was one that I started to become more acutely aware of. The first thing I noticed about this group of people were the large fur hats the men wore. I recognised the ‘Payot’, the curled side-locks worn by young Jewish boys and some men, a distinguishing feature in the Jewish Orthodox society but I had never seen these hats before. And so, when the documentary One of Us popped up on Netflix New Releases with the image of a man wearing the same hat, I was naturally drawn to it as a reflexion of a community I had been seeing more and more of since my move.

This hat that had caught my eye was in fact a ‘Shtreimel’ and is worn by Jewish men of the ultra-orthodox faith, particularly members of Hasidic Judaism. So why the was this image being used as the cover for this new Netflix original? One Of Us as I found out is a documentary film directed by observational filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Racheal Grady. Two filmmakers that also brought us the 2006 American documentary film Jesus Camp, now turn their focus on three ex-Hasidic Jews trying to leave their ultra-orthodox community. In a remarkable example of documentary filmmaking, One Of Us successfully creates a portrait of three individuals as they struggle to break free from the only world they know.

As the film begins the beautiful cinematography is exemplary, documenting the New York City skyline backlit by a burning pink glow. Again, Hasidic Jewish men in the traditional ‘Shtreimel’ is the focal point, as is the row upon row of white headscarves and ‘Scheitels’, a wig or half-wig worn by married Jewish ultra-Orthodox women, a particularly powerful image of religious commitment and faith. Although remarkably picturesque, what this shot cleverly manages to do is set up a significant dichotomy. The image of New York and the symbolism of freedom and expression this city embodies, highlights the dark realities of an ultra-orthodox religion accused of extreme laws and controlling regulations. This opening scene therefore is a perfect visualisation to precede the following real accounts of the abuse one woman faced within the Hasidic community and the laws within it that controlled her.

We are introduced to Hetty, an ex-Hasidic Jewish woman as she attends ‘Footsteps’ a support group for ex-Hasidism. Her voice is heralded over facial identity, focusing on the powerful narratives of women and the abuse they have encounted within the community. As the group’s leader asks the question “where is the choice?” it becomes clear that the focus here, is on women and their position as wife and mother within Hasidism and how choice for these women has been taken away from them.

As the documentary continues we are introduced to Ari, a teenage boy who has also made the decision to leave the ultra-orthodox community. In filming the point at which he gets his ‘Payot’ cut off, the film captures a huge symbolic act and creates a compelling visual image. It is shocking in its bravery, documenting the decision Ari has made to remove himself the Hasidic religion. This iconic feature of his hair signifies his Orthodox religion and as these locks are cut off, the physical act of shedding that religion is addressed.

The three almost form a triptych, a beginning, middle and end to the hard and tumultuous process of leaving a religion that is so strict in its segregation and ostracization of non-Hasidic faith. Overall a diverse and multi-layered documentary is created, marking the division between the Hasidic and secular world; the fantasy vs reality within a community that has created its own ambulance, police force and school systems. Yet as the film refers to time and time again, this decision made by all three was never about religion, it is about something much more.

This is a beautiful film, eloquent, mature and heart wrenchingly emotional. The directors succeed in creating a portrait of the negative side of an ultra-orthodox religion without its degradation to the point of no return. It recognises that the ostracization stems from the Holocaust and the mass genocide Jewish people faced, and for them the only way to build their community back up was to block the secular world out. The individual stories of Etty, Ari and Luzer are a powerful insight into a world that is difficult to leave.

,OUR LAST TANGO

BERTHA DOCHOUSE: FINISHES THIS THURSDAY 5TH OCT!

12A / 85 mins

DIR. GERMAN KRAL

‘Their explosive relationship brought the world a new dance’

Originally premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 as well as at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Japan and the Berlin International Film Festival, this semi-dramatised documentary finally graces the British screen showcasing across the country from 22 September. Written and directed by German Kral and produced by Wim Wenders, Our Last Tango tells the life and love story of Argentina’s most celebrated tango dancers Maria Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes. A film about two dancers becoming international stars and making the Argentine tango famous around the world, this documentary is also an intimate commentary on the pairs personal relationship and their painful separation which tore them apart. Now in their 80s and no longer on speaking terms, Kral films these two tango greats as they discuss their past and the dance that changed their lives.

,BRITAIN ON FILM: BLACK BRITAIN

BARBICAN CINEMA: 8/10/2017 16:00

12A / 91 mins

A series of archive films, Britain on Film: Black Britain explores the vital history of Black Britain throughout the 20th century. Footage spanning from 1901 to 1985 provides an amazing opportunity to enter a world that explores stories of migration, community and the struggle against inequality. All the films are from British archives and help celebrate and uncover a black British culture and life on screen. Films in the programme include Hello! West Indies (1943) a short which introduces West Indians serving in Britain during World War I and Black Police Officers (1966) a documentary about views from a midlands street about a then controversial issue; ethnicity in the police force. Check out the Barbican website here https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2017/event/britain-on-film-black-britain-12a to book tickets and find out what little-seen footage is on offer.

,THE ROHINGYA PEOPLE: 'A SLOW BURNING GENOCIDE'

FRONTLINE CLUB: 25/10/2017 19:00

DIR: SHAFIUR RAHMAN

'The United Nations has stated that the Burmese military has been driving Rohingya Muslims out of the Rakhine state, killing civilians and burning their land to the ground. Around 400,000 Rohingya people from North Western Myanmar have become refugees in the space of two weeks'

The wonderful Frontline Club will be screening this short doc by journalist Shafiur Rahman. A panel discussion featuring Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Dr Azeem Ibrahim will open a discussion on this crisis after the screening. This is a hard hitting documentary with lasting images and harrowing tales from those affected. Not one to miss.

,THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON

NETFLIX: AVALIABLE 6/10/2017

RUN TIME: 105 mins

DIR. DAVID FRANCE

A Netflix original The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) is a powerful documentary by Academy Award Nominated director David France. His new documentary, an entry into the Tribeca Film Festival Documentary Competition, centres on self-described “street queen” Marsha P. Johnson. A legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. After Marsha’s body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992, her death was recorded as a suicide. However, Marsha’s close friends and the S.T.A.R alliance have firmly rejected this proposal. France constructs this documentary as a whodunit, which casts activist Victoria Cruz cast as a detective to solve the mystery of her unexplained death and celebrate the lasting political legacy of Marsha P. Johnson.

,THE GREAT WALL

MUBI: 17 DAYS TO WATCH

RUN TIME: 71mins

DIR. TADHG O’SULLIVAN

‘The film’s central idea, that walls of all kinds are everywhere erected to protect power and exclude the powerless, is a timeless one’ MUBI is renowned for showcasing incredible and ground-breaking films, old and new. It is forever updating and changing its content meaning films have a shelf life of around 4 weeks before they are removed and a new film is put in its place. This month it is exclusively showing Tadhg O’Sullivan’s The Great Wall (2015) from September 21- October 21. Tadgh states that he found inspiration for this film from Kafka’s ‘The Building of the Great Wall of China’ using this short story as the films narration. He saw it as a perfect lens for this subject which documents the intensifying migrant crisis in Europe. A pertinent documentary, The Great Wall investigates the barriers to entry erected by E.U. member states: concrete, wire, and electronic surveillance. The film flows from the Mediterranean coast inward to metropolitan seats of power, offering political insight through the juxtaposition of modern imperial authority and desperate migrant poverty.

Now that summer is officially over the onslaught of outdoor cinema events have begun to die down. From Jaws to Dirty Dancing these fresco film nights popped up everywhere around London this year. We’re massive fans of making a big evening out of watching a film and now that the nights are getting colder check out these indoor events that can give us our film fix. Here is just a few examples of what the London film scene has to offer this autumn.

NIGHT SPOT CINEMA

Where: Various locations

When: Throughout the year

Tickets: starting from £10

Booking and Info: http://www.nightspotcinema.com/

Nightspot Cinema host an incredible array of film and music centred events. They offer the experience of a different kind of party, stating that the audience if given the chance to ‘watch films that make you buzz then dance all night to the

sounds on screen’. The choice of film at each event are either about music, famous musicians or have renowned musical scores. You are then asked to immerse yourself into the party that follows which is themed around the music and style of each film. Most of the nights are held at the trendy East London venue Archspace, which is a hotbed of secret showcases and pop up gigs. Future events for Nightspot Cinema include Miss Sharon Jones! the 2016 documentary which looks at the life of a great funk and soul queen. This will be followed by a guest DJ set from Don Seveni whose music will take you on a journey through Daptone Records, born out of the success of the great Miss Jones.

IndieFlicks Short Film Screening

Where: Café 1001, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL

When: The 1st Wednesday of each month

Tickets: £6

Booking and Info: https://www.designmynight.com/london/bars/shoreditch/cafe-1001/indieflicks-short-film-festival

In the back room of a café this independent film night shows a selection of shorts from around the globe. Situated in the vibrant and diverse area of Brick Lane the location of this event makes it a great spot to experience London and its culture whilst getting to watch great films. The café itself serves food and booze and considers itself a café come club with DJs and live acts every night. IndieFlicks is designed to build a platform for creatives and film lovers to meet, collaborate and be inspired by the work being showcased. The shorts being screened are from same programme of films which run simultaneously with Indieflicks in other cities, creating a large national audience. You will vote for your favourite short film on the night, having questions answered by special guests and finishing with a Feature short chosen by a panel of judges. Drinks available from the bar all night!

LEYTONSTONE POP-UP CINEMA

Where: Leytonstone Library, Church Lane, E11 1HG

When: 04/10/2017

Tickets: £5 (£4 concessions)

Booking and Info: http://www.leytonstonefilmclub.com/

This pop-up cinema was started and is continued to be run by a group of volunteers from Leytonstone film club. The club itself was launched in 2008 and made its debut film screening at the Leytonstone Festival with the Leytonstone born director Alfred Hitchcock’s early silent film The Lodger (1927). Every Autumn this pop-up returns with film screenings held on the first Wednesday of every month. This event is particularly relevant to this list as the film choice for November is the docu-fiction Close-Up (1990) by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. The film tells the story of the real-life trial of a man who impersonated film-maker Mohsen Mahmalbaf, conning a family into believing they would star in his new film. An amazing film about human identity it has been considered by many as a masterpiece of world cinema.

5 BEFORE 5 @ BERTHA DOCHOUSE

Where: Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick, London, WC1N 1AW

When: Throughout the year

Tickets: £5

Booking and Info: http://dochouse.org/

The UK's First Documentary Cinema, Bertha Dochouse is offering £5 cinema tickets before 5 at any of their screenings. Based a Curzon Bloomsbury it is the first cinema dedicated to documentary films and events. Before the Bertha DocHouse screen, DocHouse spent thirteen years championing documentaries in the form of a year-round documentary film festival. This saw them screening films once a week at various cinemas across London, primarily through our DocHouse Thursdays strand and accompanied by discussions and Q&As. Their mission is to ‘promote the very best independent, international documentaries at all levels, to develop new audiences and to support and nurture new generations of independent documentary film makers’. This is a great outlet for amazing documentaries and inspiring film-makers so go and check it out!

IMAX 3D @ THE SCIENCE MUSEUM

Where: Science Museum, Exhibition Road South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD

When: Throughout September

Tickets: £11 (concessions £9)

Booking and Info: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/imax

This one is for the film fanatic who also loves science. The Science Museum is offering a great selection of documentaries screened in IMAX 3D this September. IMAX has been described as offering a unique experience that differs from watching a film at a conventional cinema. It gives you the feeling that you aren't merely watching a film, instead it's as though you're actually there and in the case of these science docs that means inside the human body, fighting for survival in Antarctica or plunging into the depths of the sea. A highlight of the selection has to be the American Documentary A Beautiful Planet (2016) narrated by Academy Award Winner Jennifer Lawrence. It explores the Earth as seen from the International Space Station and provides a truly unique vantage point to witness humanity's impact on the natural world. An incredible cinematic experience on one of the biggest screens in the UK.

We’re really pleased to be working alongside some wonderful people again this year. Joining us for the first time this year are the Documentary Drive team, an online magazine dedicated to the art of documentary film.

Documentary Drive was ‘founded on the belief that stories matter, as do the filmmakers who tell them and how they choose to do so’ says Alison, co-founder of the magazine. Documentary Drive features comprehensive reviews of short and feature-length documentary films, gives insight into how they came to be through in-depth interviews with the filmmakers behind them.

The winners of Cheap Cuts 2017 will have the opportunity to be featured in Documentary Drive with a review of their winning film and an interview. If you aren’t familiar with the magazine, click here to find out more.

http://www.documentarydrive.com/cheapcuts-callforsubmissions/

We’ve also teamed up with two great film festivals, both working hard to promote independent cinema. The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival launched this year and showcased a mix of feature and short length documentary films from across the globe. Cheap Cuts judge, Ross Bolidai, won the Wildcard Award with his film Coalville Gold this year. Cheap Cuts 2017 winners will be able to submit their films to Melbourne Doc Fest for free, saving themselves $40. Nice one.

Just across the water from MDFF is Arohanui Film Festival in New Zealand. Showcasing new, entertaining, original and adventurous films from around the world on the big screen at Future Te Aroha, a former bra factory that has been converted to a multi purpose non-profit facility for community and cultural use. Winners of Cheap Cuts 2017 will also be able to submit to this festival for free too.

Cheap Cuts: What made you go on this trip?

Matthew: To be honest, at first it sounded a bit like free holidays for me. Documentary was something that I had always linked more to facts, so I thought the process was more restrained because it has something to do with real life, while fiction always represented total freedom of imagination and being creative. It was the year of the Arab spring and we went to Egypt and then travelled all the way to Palestine where the team were the first English players to play. They try to use football as something to cross borders and connect through the love for football. So some of these English players had never been outside Europe and suddenly they are in the middle of Tahrir Square.

How was this experience for you as a filmmaker? How did you go about filming these events?

It was a really exceptional and intense experience for me deciding who to film among those masses of people and which strands to focus on. We also filmed with any type of camera that we could get our hands on for free, because the climate was so tense nobody would lend us good cameras.

So we just got those old cameras, which still used those mini DV tapes. Egypt would not let any footage out shot on Tahrir Square and Israel would not let anything go out about Palestine. When we were trying to get the footage over the borders, we had to smuggle the tapes through the player’s football socks. There was a lot of emotional investment that went into it. During that process, I just realised how amazing I found documenting the journey of these footballers. I looked at their physical experience as footballers and also their inner lives as many of them became really politicised through the events. We also went to refugee camps. It was this emotional journey and the events linked to them. I realised that I could be creative within the genre and that pushed me to go into documentary filmmaking.

What came after that?

When I came back, I just thought I would on to do a little travelogue for the guys and for their memories. But a lot of the footage we captured was very powerful and really deserved a proper editing. So we turned it into a documentary, which became Over the Wall (2012). This ended up to be broadcasted quite a lot through different TV channels and got distributed in 6 or 7 countries, and film festivals as well. That was the first documentary I did.

What did you get up to after Over The Wall?

After Over The Wall, I took part in a BFI scheme ‘Doc Next Lab’. Here I paired up with a mentor and had a budget to produce a couple of short documentaries. In this scheme I did two short docs.

What were they about?

The first one was On Site (2013), which was a bit more experimental and got screened at Cannes. This was shot on a building site in one continuous shot on a crane and in the voice over you hear builders talking about their aspirations and dreams and their thoughts on London and life in general.

The second one, Hair and Now (2013), got picked up by BBCFresh and was shown on BBC3. That one was shot in a barber shop in Hackney where I just asked young black kids about their opinions on different issues. I was particularly interested in the way this crowd felt about the changes in Hackney and gentrification. Lots of people that had been living there for decades are now pushed out of their neighbourhood. It is about these kids and what they thought about these changes. I was also interested in hearing what they had to say about government policies, the Queen or the police. Both are quite similar in the way that I want to look at people’s perspectives.

What made you change from more reportage style of filming in Over The Wall to switch to an experimental style?

I guess that was my background in fiction film. I always loved those continuous tracking shots in films like Cuba or Goodfellas. I also just wanted to explore new ways of documenting reality and challenge myself as well.

Do you see a big difference between fiction and documentary?

I do not like to generalise too much. But when it comes to documentary I just love how this element of truth lies at the very core of it. That is why I tend more towards it, but I also very much welcome the beauty of cinema coming into the way documentary is shot, which is something that really came up in the past years.

What truth are you looking for in your documentaries?

I just like to humanise people that have become stereotypes. Like for Hair and Now, I wanted to give a different image of young black males after the riots in 2011. Following the riots in London, young black males had a bad reputation and belonging to that community myself, I felt like challenging the stereotype that had been created around these kids. I wanted to give those guys a platform to be able to speak and to say what concerned them instead of other people projecting things on them. Within all documentaries, I think it is important to allow people to speak for themselves and empower themselves through that process. I think it is also interesting to look at the complex and various layers that shape identity and the importance of that. Documentary can help a lot with that by educating on people’s different opinions and identities.

How do you see specific in the process in doing a short documentary as opposed to a feature doc?

I think the challenge in doing a short documentary, especially nowadays, is that everyone has a very short attention span and so it is important to create an interesting and grasping narrative from the very first second. With feature documentaries, people are already sort committed to watching a full story. They already made the decision to know more about a subject. In short docs, you have to convince your audience more. Apparently, in the first 3 seconds the drop off rate is at 80 per cent. You need to know how to keep the attention. Also, the pacing is trickier on a shorter project.

What came after that for you?

I made a film for The Guardian, which is called Summoned to the Desert (2014) about African migrants in a detention centre for illegal migrants in Israel. They were in the desert in this open facility, so you were free to go but you had to sign in every couple of minute. Every time you wanted to go somewhere, you had to go through the desert and by the time you would have actually reached something, you had to sign in again with the centre. They are kind of left in this limbo situation. I also did the short documentaryRight to Run (2014) about the marathon in Palestine and another one about the Favela World Cup in Brazil, which documented the tournament in the favelas that happened alongside the actual World Cup for people that did not have the means to access the actual one.

I also have been working with charities like Justice where I shot little videos explaining the UK legal system and the Back Project, which uses the excess resource of bicycles in this country, fixes them and gives them to migrants as a mode of transport.

How did you feel about being a judge with Cheap Cuts?

I have never been a judge. I loved the experience and I love watching them. It was hard to decide which ones worked. I think the story is key to keep you engage and they way that it is shot and edited is important to me too.

What attracted you about Cheap Cuts Film Festival?

Nowadays it is getting harder to make a documentary. The equipment is available but budgets are getting smaller. I admire filmmakers that can make films on a tight budget and with little equipment and that is a type of filmmaking that should be celebrated. It is currently not given the limelight it deserves.

How did you like the festival?

I loved the festival. There was a great mix of films and events and the venue was buzzing. It was a really sunny day on Saturday and we thought that it might make fewer people turn up. I should never have doubted the power of short documentary – it’s pleasing to see there is a real appetite for it and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It restores the faith that not only are there wonderful festivals out there like Cheap Cuts screening amazing low budget docs but people will even sacrifice rare sunny days in April to see them!

Besides their artistic dedication to social justice, they took their projects even further when playing an active role in campaigning with TRAID, War on Want or Childhope and setting up training programmes in Bangladesh and Jamaica that teach kids, adolescents and women to express themselves with a camera. Their experience in actively using their films to make a difference makes them the perfect patrons for this year’s Cheap Cuts Festival. During their workshop ‘Documentary for Social Change’ [grab your free tickets here] on Sunday, they will take us through the details of their social projects. In this article, we took the opportunity to know more about their beginnings.

How did you get into filmmaking?

HM: At the film school in Leeds. I was doing a business administration degree before, but did not enjoy it. And I started showing an interest in this film degree, which was headed by Richard’s mom. She was the class leader. I was working at the film and photography museum and in an art house cinema. I just had this interest in film and went to this interview and Richard’s mom gave me an unconditional offer right away. That was in 2001 just around the time 9/11 happened.

RY: My dad was an editor in the early 70’s. In his later years, he went into teaching to the Leeds Art College. He and my mother then set up a film unit within the art school with some old kit to work with the kids. That department then gradually became the film school, which Hannan and I attempted later on. Because of my family background, I worked on the student’s film at a very young age. Every time the shoots were over, I just did not want to go back to school. [Laughs] I just wanted to see how the editing was going. I just followed the whole process until we received calls at home from the school asking: ‘Where is Richard?’ After that, I went to a community school.

How did you guys meet?

HM: We started to get to know each other in the editing suits at school while doing our student films. We were short in time and tried to get everything done under tight deadlines. So we just edited night and day and Richard was just in the booth next to us working on his third year project. We just hung out and invited him to see our progress and vice versa. That’s where our friendship started. We were interested in each others films.

RY: We just saw each others work and then came this project on South Africa. My mum had set that up and she picked a couple of graduates to go to South Africa and shoot a feature documentary funded by the university. Hannan was doing documentaries at the time and I was more working on drama, fiction and experimental stuff. The idea came up that Hannan and I should be directing together. So we then spend a year I think…

HM: A year for the two films. Bafana (2006) and Amazulu (2006). We were going back and forth a lot.

RY: A year from the idea until shooting itself. We set up the distribution while we were making the film. Ster-Kinekor, a chain of independent cinemas, wanted to show more South African films and started to be interested in our project. We had a distribution deal right away, which gave us a lot of confidence. It also made us think about it in a really cinematic way.

HM: We also got involved with film festivals there so we knew that this was going to get out.

What was the project in South Africa about?

HM: The idea was to go and shoot in this school in a South African township in Durnham?

RY: My mum is from South Africa and was involved in projects over there with a footballer from Leeds United. The school was really special. In these townships, schools are usually pretty empty because the teachers are having trouble to keep kids interested in attempting the classes. No one wanted to go to a school in Velabahleke. But the school we were working in was always full of happy students and did really well in the national school rankings. Their headmaster was just amazing and successfully ran this school in the middle of the township. He managed to get 95-100% pass rates on the exams. So he was actually scoring higher then some of the richer schools.

HM: And this was post-apartheid as well.

How was it then to shoot a whole feature doc there at such a young age?

RY: It was just this incredible place and experience. You have to imagine there is this red brick building on top of the hill and the kids wear those blue and yellow uniforms. The township in brown, rust and mud colours surrounds the school where everything is just in these primary colours. It was just this world this headmaster had created. This experience really influenced us in the type of visual filmmaking we were aiming at.

HM: Richard and I spend a lot of time before that time talking about film. I came with my documentary background and Richard came from film. So we would try to fuse this together to make Amazulu. If I look at it now, I can see how it had a really filmic look about it for a documentary. What really help was that the environment was so loving and friendly and positive which came from the teachers and the kids. The headmaster and all the young people were really supportive. You have to imagine: you just walk through these corridors and in each class you had the kids singing. In this environment and with our style in our heads, everything just came together really nicely and it started to all make sense. As Richard says, it became about transporting the audience into that moment and show how it felt being there from our perspective.

RY: Troy Inman was also the cinematographer on the project and he was also hugely influential for us. He is a photojournalist and a wild life photographer. His images really come from reality, from what happens just in front of him.

HM: Yes… of all those ways of making shapes. Here we also learned the importance of really working together with our team because every night we would go through the rushes together and discuss what works with the whole crew. When we later came together as director those previous discussions where hugely important in the way we came to decide about what works and what does not. I would really recommend that to every filmmaker.

How did your first films shape your later work in Bangladesh?

HM: If I look at it now, all of our films have this mix between distance and closeness in common. The camera has a sort of observational distance, typical for documentary, to the action but, at the same time, everything seems always really close. There is a certain intimacy to the people and the situation. I think that aspect of our films really came from that time in South Africa working with the school and these young people.

RY: I would also add that feeling of being pulled along. Amazulu really set us up for the style that we came to use in our later films. We always felt like rather then just shooting people we always invited them to introduce us to their life our to a situation

HM: Yes. We would connect with people and understand their background in the school and through that relationship they would take us to the township and show us their homes. We are also really interested in those little moments, which make our films also very episodic.

Your films focus a lot on children and young people… Is that part of the intimacy you create?

RY: It is really about education. Everywhere you find poverty, one thing always comes through: the importance of education. Where education is accessible, you can use it to alleviate poverty. Everywhere we go, there is always a way in which young people are being held back and are not given opportunities. These kids are always in this working environment and, if they could go to school, it would not take long for them to go much further. When we were doing the films with the kids to talk about their birth certificates, it was also interesting to see how they were giving on the knowledge that they had to other kids and how they started to think about their own kids. That spirit can shape a whole community.

HM: They start to explain to you how they and their whole family can get out of poverty. If they get educated, they can start educating their whole family. That is how we as a community can bust the cycle. Our films are really looking at education and the right to education.

What came after that for Amazulu?

RY: After the film had its run in the cinema’s it was spotted by the Ministry of Education which then showed it at conferences for teachers that were struggling in there own schools. We saw that our film had an impact and a life that went much beyond the festivals and the cinema or TV screenings.

HM: It became part of an education for teachers and then these teachers show it to their students who are also inspired by it. It started making a difference and did not just sit on a shelf. That was just an amazing, blessing experience for us to see that our film is doing this.

RY: It also established what we were aiming at doing in our later projects in terms of campaigning.

So how did you move then to your Bangladesh projects?

HM: I went back to Bangladesh after my studies with a Sony A1 camera. As I had been away for so long, it really struck me how many children worked around the city, in the factories, in the tea shops, in the food stands, just everywhere. Even in the villages. So I just filmed a couple of images and started to talk to child labourers or parents. I showed it to Richard and we came to the idea of making a bigger project.

In 2008, we went there together for a month, from there on we started working on Mass E Bhat (2014). The film took about 6 years from start to finish. In the meantime we gave out some material to Aljazeera, TRAID, War on Want, training purposes and campaigning.

RY: The footage kind of worked before the actual film came out.

HM: We took the opportunity at the time with the relationships we had built to go into a garment factory and shoot for two hours straight. That was quite unique at the time, because most footage would be more under-the-sleeve type of shots. We could really shoot it cinematically.

RY: We really had that access to the factories and to the people. So we agreed to give it on under the condition that we were able to keep on using the material for campaigning purposes. So it was really important to us to keep on supporting the movement of garment workers and unions there at the same time as making shorts and making our feature doc.

MH: What really pushed us was to see how a film like The Machinist was able to educate people about the situation in Bangladesh and more importantly make it clear to people that the differences are not that big when you see these people’s life. You can see how they care about their family, how they brush their teeth and you can see that they are not that different but their working conditions definitely are. It became a tool to engage people into what the garment industry is really about.

How do you prepare for your docs?

HM: We don’t like to over think things too much, because you can have an idea about doing something in a kind of way but the reality of it will always change your initial plans.

RY: Exactly. You can think very intellectually about it beforehand but in the end it does not work out that way. The only thing we ask ourselves is how would these people represent themselves, if they had the equipment and the skills to make a film about their life. It is not helpful if you go too much with your own idea or your own agenda into a film.

What gives you the energy to push a film over so many years?

HM: It is just to help people push their cause. When Rana Plaza happened, we just really wanted to go there and capture what was going on and use that footage to help the campaign give the victims the compensations that they deserve. Here again, it is really about thinking how to support people in their struggle. It was by far the hardest shoot we did. The whole community was just in a very tough situation. But in the end after all those years, everything came together in Udita and Mass E Bhat and in so many of our training projects as well.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FILM

RY: And also we wanted to just give a proper overview over the situation. The news at the time were only interested in how this affected Europe and how this made Europe feel rather than to engage really with what this community was feeling and what they had to say. We really want to give a voice to the people there and gain their trust in that we are there to help.

Was this part of your reasons to get into teaching and training?

HM: As a filmmaker you always think that your film is your legacy, but for us all of those teaching programmes and projects are our legacy. This includes the campaign videos that help these movements as well.

RY: If we end up with one of these kids going through university studying art or film because of the programmes that means more than any documentary in the world.

HM: There it is so important that you set up something permanent where you teach in a way that those programmes can go on even without you being there.

RY: A the kids are still filming now and with those films they speak for their community and they meet lawyers or officials from the government and explain like experts what it means to live in the environment they live in. And the same goes for our projects in Jamaica with Studio 174 where we spend a year and a half to set up this programme that teaches young people without a degree to get into making films like in an art school. Those young guys than are taught to give this knowledge on so now they teach other kids.

What interested you in Cheap Cuts?

HM: Both, Richard and I, have a long history of working in festivals where we would work, exhibit, curate for Amnesty International or other things. We love film festivals. Especially short films and that is really what excited me about this programme. It is a really great time for short documentary at the moment. Before your short would only be seen through festivals. Because of the boom online, you can show your film everywhere.

RY: For me, when I was young I would love to go to short film festivals. It was a major influence to me to become a filmmaker myself. All of those young filmmakers there presenting their stuff and then among all of that you could really see the potential of some people and it was exciting to spot that new talent.

Tariq has just finished his NFTS studies with his short documentary Forest Gate Girls (2015). Starting off as an engineer, it would take a couple of years for his ambitions in documentary to take shape. However, his interest in video documentation started very early as a young man with a ‘tiny Sony camera.’

What did you record with your camera at the beginning?

Simple things. In Libya, during Gaddafi times, it was quite a luxury to be running through the streets with a video camera. One is always paranoid about someone asking you what you are doing or who you working for. The state just controls everything. So, if you are documenting something, even as silly as people having a coffee in the streets, someone will question you… which also has its thrill, of course.

How did you get involved in the documentation of Libya’s revolution in 2011?

I was more of an outside observer until the hours when rebels or revolutionaries came to approach or liberate my hometown Tripoli. I had all my cameras ready then; packed and fully charged. Before that, anyone who would film publically or secretly, would have to live in a very heightened state of security. When you have a fully paranoid state, there is only one outcome when they catch you filming. You will be deported or arrested, which is just the beginning of it.

I filmed from 2011 onwards until I left for London. During that time, I built up a huge archive of material that was disseminated to public broadcasters like France24, BBC or Aljazeera. I did not have any structure or story. I ended up just filming: observational and without a narrative. After the revolution, I formed a collective called 212 Group. Here we gave people training in filming with DSLR cameras to document the events. I was very eager to show them how to film in the moment without much material and to edit as they go instead of piling up rushes with hours of material. Sometimes, we would bring in other organisations like Internews to teach the journalistic technique of structuring and framing news and interviews. It was a very pragmatic style of teaching. From there I turned the collective into a tiny production company called INTAJ.

How did you go about filming those events?

At the time, my first instinct was to just film, film and film. Our collective became quite known, because at the time there was actually very little local and international media coverage of what was happening. It was hard to get into Libya as fighting was taking place in and around Tripoli. Telecommunication was disabled, so with little to no internet connection you had to really work hard to get stuff published. So, it was really about finding what was relevant. But, at the same time, I tried to never discriminate against the involved parties. I did not point my camera as a political tool to be biased, to support one person or another. We wanted to stay as neutral as possible. Now, thinking about it, that was probably an impossible undertaking. Back then, it was just simply important to me to document as much as I can. To document really the immediate things that no one else was really focusing on.

How did you feel about the political and social tensions involved?

The nature of these events is really particular. I just recently re-watched some of the material. It almost feels like someone else witnessed those events, because there are so many complicated and mixed emotions involved. Another interesting thing is that… At the beginning, when you are filming, you are super excited for change and what will come next. When you watch it again, with a different state of mind, you start noticing things: signs that where already pointing towards later events. In some of the interviews, I found a lot of little hints that, looking back, make you think: ‘Actually, you had all the signs!’ You start to see that it was not really going the way you thought it was. It is funny, one’s own interpretation of events.

What do you consider is neutral filmmaking?

It is a false premise, of course. Nowadays you have all of those observational or fly-on-the-wall documentaries without an apparent opinion or agenda. I used to think that it actually exists. But when you are filming you make decisions. You make decisions on what you film, what it is you seeking and what the conclusion is you want to draw. As you are editing there are things you leave in and others that you cut out. You are giving it a shape to take you from point A to point B. And that is more what filmmaking is. You take me and lead me a certain way and it is for me to decide what I think in the end. Asking questions is leaving room to think for the audience, but in the end you were trying to take them exactly there. So the revelation of the past years has really been for me to stop being nervous about presenting myself and getting my own voice and style. All of those things were quite challenging for me, because I always thought that having a camera was a convenient thing to shelter myself and not talk about myself. In reality, the best stories are always inspired by your own experiences.

So how did you move from a reportage/journalistic into a more narrative-driven documentary type of filmmaking?

I started by doing three little documentaries, portraits really, and then I moved towards my first bigger project called The Cave. I wanted that change of style and that was why I moved to London for the NFTS Masters programme. Here, I can take more time to see what it is that I am looking for. In Libya, everyday something new was happening.

So how did you get the idea for The Cave (2014)?

There was a little religious community on my university campus in the US and they would gather around for their rituals and to tell their stories. But other religious students shut themselves out completely and stopped listening to music. I always kept on asking myself the question of why music in particular and why it is that music is forbidden in certain schools of thought. I wanted my documentary to revolve around that question. During my research, I was pointed towards Rumi’s Cave in Kilburn, which is a little collective hub for musicians, poets and artists that gather for performances to escape their own community. Here, I met Faisal and decided to focus the whole film on his story. He just had this amazing presence and voice. Here I learned how important the character is for the narrative that you want to build. For me it was his openness, his energy, the way he cared about things and his charisma that was crucial to the story. I wanted to show him in the Salafi community he grew up in where music is rejected. At Rumi’s Cave, he is comfortable to sing and express himself. The film is really about him performing in front of a big audience against what is expected from him in his community. So he is battling his own self-doubt while finding his own identity.

Faisal from 'The Cave'

What question did you explore in your second documentary Forest Gate Girls(2015)?

I wanted to explore a subject from current affaires and, at the time, the public discourse engaged mostly with teenage girls leaving the UK for Syria and Iraq. That just interested me. I asked myself what would make a British-born Muslim girl leave everything she knows, her family and friends, for those places. They do not speak the language. So what could push those buttons? I wanted to know the reality behind it, because a lot of the media coverage was quite sensationalist. There was no room for investigation and questioning the subject. With all the public interest, bigger broadcasters already covered a lot of avenues for documentation, so I decided to put my focus on schools where it had happened. I ended up in an all girls school in Forest Gate. It took a while for the teenagers to get comfortable with us filming there. There was still a reluctance to talk, as the climate was tense. The council would call in regularly to see if any girls where missing or expressing a motivation to leave. We started just filming what happened on a specific day, a conflict or argument, and from these events we started following certain characters more closely.

Forest Gate Girls

After making this film, what is the answer you discovered for yourself towards your initial question?

I think it always revolves around identity. I have had this conflict in my head for years. In 2001, I was in my university in the U.S.A. and September 11th happened. Being in the United States as a Muslim student at that time, I just became really interested in identity, in how people see themselves and how others perceive them and their culture. These students are going through a similar process. The main focus of the film is always how the girls see themselves and how they think society sees them.

They feel quite comfortable in their own little community in East London but if they had to go to a college further down the road they would feel insecure and paranoid. They would ask questions like ‘Am I ok dressed like this or talking like this or being like this?’ They would then talk about how they never mingle with anybody. These girls are under tremendous pressure. Being a teenager is confusing enough, let alone having your identity being dissected on a daily basis in the media.

As you are interested in the subject of identity in your documentaries, what is ‘identity’ for you in general and as a filmmaker?

I am just really intrigued by how we construct identities. On the surface, we always consider each other as different in the way we live and behave. We always consider someone else as the ‘other’. There is always this construction of an ‘us’ and a ‘them’. And this seems to be very prevalent nowadays. But this identification is really dependent on where you are geographically. For me, I always experienced being an ‘other’, because of the way I grew up in the U.S. and in Libya. My identity always changed according to whom I was talking to. I like investigating a cultural identity through how the respective community is perceived, what the reality is and how it thinks it is perceived. This explanation is very simplified. The goal is to see what the basic human similarities are and to deconstruct what makes ‘other’. We all want the same thing, but on the surface we create unnecessary differences. Exploring that further is what interests me. I hope that my own, nomadic identity and my different perspectives on culture can be a bridge for people. I am always drawn to subjects where I feel that they are misunderstood because of cultural differences. I then hope to open doors to shape a new understanding of certain themes.

There is this saying that “Documentaries are creating the smallest window with the biggest view”. I just like to focus on a small story to shed as much light on a bigger issue as I can.

What interested you in Cheap Cuts Film Festival?

I was really interested in the concept of focusing on short documentaries. I mean today we live in an age with many new media arising. So many short documentary platforms emerge and outlets, like The Guardian, really build on this evolution. I also could really relate to those Cheap Cuts’ principles to move away from equipment. I realised for myself that equipment does not make a good documentary and that it takes good storytelling. It is the process of making the film more than the expensive camera. That the festival is available to everyone without financial requirements is also really important.

What do you expect from a good short documentary?

Here, the festival’s concept plays again a major role. I judge the films based on story telling, selection of characters, style and structure. It is never about how good the camera or the sound equipment. The best are just the ones that keep you interested no matter what it is about.

I spent a very long time – years! – searching for this documentary, so my glowing review is probably slightly skewed by the fact that, when I was watching it, I had a pleasant overriding feeling of a mission accomplished. Regardless, I can vouch for the fact that this is the perfect documentary, despite sounding really boring on paper. (Although sometimes I find that those are the best ones…)

‘Go Baby Go’ – A supportive husband cheering for his wife during the competition.

You know how in America people enter endurance competitions that involve standing and touching a car for as long as possible, to try and stay the longest and win said car?

Yep, this is about that!

Except the characters in this film are competing for a pretty cool truck, which makes it ever so slightly less crazy. The competition seems to attract a wide variety of characters, including a car-touching-endurance (is that what you call them?) expert, who has won previous competitions and has all the intensity of an Olympian athlete. There is also a devout religious lady and a deer hunter. And we watch them over days, in a parking lot, slowly losing their minds from sleep deprivation and exhaustion. If it sounds weird and intense, that’s because it is.

Having googled it, I also learned that this film has since been turned into a Broadway musical, but this is a documentary film festival and not a musical website. If you like to settle for the obscure choice, I strongly recommend you to watch the documentary. You can now stream it from their website too, and I promise you it is well worth paying for.

If you are not convinced yet, watch the trailer here!

Iris’s university thesis film My Kosher Shifts (2011) won the top prize at OpenCity doc film festival. In her Ph.D. research, she studies her own technique of the ‘abandoned camera’ in closed communities and teaches twenty-five students. Her new film Women in Sink (2015) has screened at LSFF, IDFA, AFI, Karlovy Vary and Visions du Reel.

What is the story behind your debut, My Kosher Shifts?

During my Master’s studies in documentary practice, I worked as a receptionist at an ultra-orthodox Jewish hotel in North London and I had really intimate, interesting conversations with people. So for my final project, I decided to make my film about my interactions with people there, to present a different perspective or gaze on orthodox Jews than the films I usually watched about this community.

How was your approach different?

I wanted to film my interaction with the hotel’s guests, not in the typical interviewing style. I did not want to interview them, as I realised that the strength of the interaction was in the fact that it is natural, and was happening while I was serving people at the front desk – booking them a cab, giving them their key and then … we speak. I asked myself: ‘How do I capture just that?’ If I bring a cameraman, or a sound engineer, or if I hold the camera, it would change the dynamic. So I brought my camera to work, asked people if they agree to be filmed, and many of them said yes. The camera was on a tripod in the office, behind me, I pressed ‘record’ and returned to the reception desk. Many of them forgot about the camera and sometimes even I did. We started just being and communicating. I think that is the strength of the film. It feels very casual and authentic.

How was the film received?

I got very positive reactions at my university, so when I heard about the OpenCity festival, which had the My Street Competition, I decided to submit my film there. The film won the first prize. I realised how amazing it is to have your film received by audiences and so I started going to festivals. I had received so many different reactions and I loved it. I loved the Q&A, I love the fact that there is the film you made but it has a whole new life when it reaches audiences. I think a film is born with the audience, not before. So I said to myself ‘OK! I filmed myself interacting with people, and people find it interesting and entertaining then… I definitely have to keep exploring that.

Why did you decide to make this your research area for your P.h.D.?

I wanted to see if what happened with My Kosher Shifts was something that could re-happen somehow. I wanted to do a Ph.D. and I did not know what about, and I tried to find a topic but I was not passionate about what I came up with. When I bumped into a professor that I was considering to do my Ph.D. with, he told me to stop looking around: ‘What you did before should be your Ph.D.’

He suggested that I should use the same technique to depict different communities. So I decided to focus my research on that, and I defined the key elements of the technique, which will be tested with different communities and different documentary conditions.

What were those key elements?

I have to work in a place, because I want to immerse myself into the community in a way… Then the location… which is a business. So it is not my comfort zone, nor the subject’s comfort zone. If you take someone to a production site or a studio, you are more in charge. If you go to someone’s house, it is the person’s comfort zone. So I wanted that neutral space… and the fact that it is random people. I do not know them before. I do not do any research. It is not an interview; it is a conversation. We chat. I open myself up a lot. And, finally, the ‘abandoned camera’, meaning that there is no camera operator. All these elements together are there to reduce the awareness of the people and of myself to the craft of filming. So that was the idea.

‘Abandoned camera’ technique

How do you find exploring your work in a Ph.D.?

It is practice based, so at this stage I am working on the films and the written thesis will be a reflection on the process of filmmaking. I think that there is a gap in the literature because you mostly have film scholars who look at the finished film. There is not much on the entire process, which is much bigger than what you see in the end. I thought that could be interesting. Also, in a more selfish way, having two people working with me on my practice: one experienced filmmaker and the other a scholar. It is a kind of green house for me to grow, because I haven’t felt ready yet to be a filmmaker. I still feel like there is something that I need to explore first. So, for me, it was perfect.

How do you feel about being in the films yourself as a subject to the camera? Do you go inside the action with certain intentions or is it totally improvised?

In the first film, I was more naïve. I did not think that the film was going to screen at festivals. When I used the same method for my second film, Women in Sink, I was more aware of the camera and my presence and had the potential film in mind. So my own performance in the film is more self-aware than the subjects in it, I guess. But I am still, while filming, washing women’s hair, so it is still more casual than it would be, if I held the camera. In terms of my presence, I am actually thinking about including myself more as a character in my next project, because my films are not only about the people that I am documenting, they are about the people and me; the interaction. I am definitely a character in my films.

How did you prepare your second film Women in Sink?

I knew that the first community I wanted to do, after My Kosher Shifts, was the Arab community in Haifa – my hometown, with which I never had any real opportunity to communicate with. I never interacted with Arabs. It is very separated in Israel. It goes by religion. So you mostly have Jewish schools, Christian-Arab schools and Muslim-Arab schools with the exception of some democratic schools. I knew that I wanted to work in a place and I was thinking a lot about which business would allow me to have the time and space to talk to people again. And then, one day, it came to my mind – washing hair. I love the fact that it is women only and that there is a certain intimacy. That I can touch Arab women, wash their hair, which I thought could break the ice. So I went to Israel to find a place and I discovered Fifi’s Hair salon.

Fifi’s hair salon – Haifa

With which agenda did you go into the film?

I wanted to hear from the women about the frustration of living in Israel as an Arab. I ended up in a mixed hair salon of Arabs and Jews. At first, I wanted the film to be about Arab women only, not Jews, and I filmed conversations with Jewish women thinking that I was not going to use them. The materials of Jewish women ended up to be very good for the film; they were very political, they asked me ‘Why are you making this film?’

and I explained how I never met Arabs as we were separated in Israel and then it turned into a political conversation quite organically. In the end, it became a multitude of voice put together.Regarding the Arab women, the women that I crossed, they were Christian Arabs who felt more linked to the state. They have been mixing with Jews for many years and live in Haifa, which is some sort of a bubble of coexistence, compared with the rest of Israel. So even though I wanted to have more political Arab women criticising Israel, I have learnt that it is not for me to decide; I also tell people who watch the film that it is not a study and that I am not representing the Arab or Christian-Arab community, only the people that I met. A lot of the voices in Women in Sink were grey. Neither extreme left, nor right. A lot of films look for the extremes, because it sells more and it’s sexier. I was a bit disappointed at first, but now I think that it can be actually quite controversial to show the non-extreme, that grey area, and realise how my film upsets both sides of the political map.

What is your next project about?

I am now working on a documentary in a settlement in the West Bank, which has 800 families. I found a few places to work there. I need to do another film with my technique for my research and I believe that this could be an interesting topic.

How do you feel about your new role as a judge for Cheap Cuts?

I am super excited about it and very honoured. I love watching documentaries from different parts of the world, and I am a big fan of short ones. I tend to have different opinions than others and when a film is not working for me, I sense it right away.

What expectations do you have towards a short documentary?

Make me feel something. Make me laugh, or cry, make me think. Shake me. Communicate with me. A lot of films can be beautiful, but they do not make me feel something. For me, it is all about the content and not about the beautiful HD. It should be existential, trigger a reaction and say something about the world we live in.

What are the best documentaries you recently watched?

The top three would be Silvered Water, a first-person documentary about Syria, which is one of the strongest films I’ve ever watched. Love, Don’t Cross that River, an example of how a pure observational film about a small story can be as powerful and rich as fiction, and Twilight of A Life, is a tiny film yet it is so emotional and philosophical.

#IrisZaki #Haifa #Palestine #Israel #Documentary

Phil Fish – Creator of ‘Fez’

I am not a big gamer, nor a computer-programming expert. The potential of videogames to be like canvas is something that I assumed might be possible, but didn’t know. Without glamour or arty obscurity, this crowd-funded Canadian documentary on three indie videogame programmers perfectly uncovers the artistic expression behind a videogame.

Whilst giving a brilliant introduction into the history and the dynamics of the indie gaming scene, the film focuses on the personal accounts of the underdog videogame developers Phil Fish [FEZ, 2008], Jonathan Blow [Braid, 2008], and Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes [Super Meat Boy, 2010]. It quickly becomes a poignant documentation of the hardships of creating games independently under the pressure of a multi-million dollar industry. For the art in the gaming, the developers explain in the most comprehensive way, how videogames are constructed and where the artistic input of the makers comes in. Going over the different methods of self-expression and the moral and philosophical principles of game making, these guys, perceived conventionally as ‘nerds’, reveal themselves as true artists in their visions. It becomes clear that they are dedicated to immerse their players into a world that goes beyond the entertainment value of pressing a few buttons.

Anyone who supports the plead of videogaming to become a recognised art form, will have sympathies for those artists sacrificing their lives to lift their craft to new heights, while dealing with a profit seeking industry.

The film won the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award at Sundance in 2012. It can be streamed here for gaming experts and amateurs alike.

Not ready to commit? Watch the trailer here