What’s On In Docs this November
The poet Thomas Hood wrote about this month in 1844: ‘No sun – no moon! No morn – no noon!…No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! – November!”. Whilst we can’t guarantee the weather, we can promise that there will be lots of great documentary events this month. In addition to events in the UK, we have also highlighted IDFA in Amsterdam. Whicker’s World Foundation will be at IDFA for the entire duration of the festival: if you wish to meet and talk to us about our documentary awards, please email info@whickersworldfoundation.com Meanwhile, check out the best of documentary events in this month’s What’s On in Docs pick of festivals, screenings and more.
Thursday 2nd November
Screening: Unrest, London
Jennifer Brea is an active Harvard PhD student about to marry the love of her life when suddenly her body starts failing her. Hoping to shed light on her strange symptoms, Jennifer grabs a camera and films the darkest moments unfolding before her eyes as she is derailed by M.E. (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). In this story of love and loss, newlyweds Jennifer and Omar search for answers as they face unexpected obstacles with great heart. Often confined by her illness to the private space of her bed, Jen is moved to connect with others around the globe. Utilising Skype and social media, she unlocks a forgotten community with intimate portraits of four other families suffering similarly.
Unrest world-premiered January in the documentary competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for editing. It has gone on to win further awards worldwide. It has a companion VR piece which premiered at Tribeca and won the Jury Award for best VR at Sheffield/DocFest.
Tickets are free and further information about the screening can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/film-screening-unrest-tickets-38727931285
Location: John Snow Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London, WC1E
Thursday 2nd to Sunday 19th November
Festival: Doc’ n Roll, London
The UK’s Music Documentary Festival returns for its fourth London edition with an extended programme on subjects as diverse as Joe Cocker, Ella Fitzgerald, Syl Johnson, Link Wray, Tangerine Dream, John Coltrane, Eurythmics and Manchester’s clubbing scene. This year’s festival will feature world, European, UK and London premieres, filmmaker and artist Q&A’s and live music events. The festival’s events are taking place at seven venues across the capital.
For more information about ticketing info and prices, check the festival website: http://www.docnrollfestival.com/
Friday 3rd November onwards
Screening: 78/52, London
This in-depth documentary is a must-watch for Hitchcock fans and filmmakers. Few scenes are referred to as frequently in film studies classes and few scenes have had more influence than ‘the famous shower scene’ in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. 78/52, which refers to the number of set-ups and shots in the scene, devotes 90 minutes to analysing, breaking down and interpreting this memorable three-minute scene. 78/52 examines Janet Leigh’s terrified facial expressions and the blink-and-you-miss-it camera work, not just within the context of the film but also with an eye toward America’s changing social mores – revealing how one bloody, chaotic on-screen death killed off chaste cinema and eerily predicted a decade of unprecedented violence and upheaval.
Screenings are at The Bertha DocHouse Screen, Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick, London, WC1N 1AW. Tickets cost £9 (£7 for Concessions).
More information: http://dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/7852
Wednesday 8th November to Sunday 12th November
Festival: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York
Aesthetica hosts films, guest programmes, industry sessions, networking events and masterclasses. One of the masterclasses includes “Creating a Must-See Documentary” on 10th November which is hosted by Leila Monks, Co-Founder of Antidote Productions. Antidote has produced Professor Green: Suicide and Me and YouTube Revolution. The full prices for festival passes are £16 for one day, £30 for two days and £48 for all five days of the festival. There are also concessions for seniors, students, under-14s and families.
For further information, visit: http://www.asff.co.uk/tickets/
Thursday 9th November to Sunday 26th November
Festival: The UK International Jewish Film Festival, Across the UK
The UK International Jewish Film Festival celebrates its 21st birthday this year with a vibrant and creative line-up of more than 70 new international films, including documentaries. There will be 115 screenings on offer at 18 cinemas across the UK as well as special events, panel discussions and Q&As with leading directors, producers, actors, journalists, academics and others. Among the documentaries being screened across the UK are films about Jerry Lewis, David Ben-Gurion and the struggle of a Chinese women from Kaifeng to be accepted and acknowledged as a Jew and a descendant of the lost ten tribes.
To see the full list of screenings and see what is on near you, visit the website: http://ukjewishfilm.org/festival/21st-uk-international-jewish-film-festival/
Wednesday 15th November to Sunday 26th November
Festival: IDFA, Amsterdam
IDFA, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, was founded in 1988 and has become one of the largest documentary festivals in the world. IDFA takes place over the course of 12 days at a variety of locations in the Dutch capital. IDFA is dedicated to the exhibition and promotion of ground-breaking creative documentaries. It offers an independent and inspiring meeting place for audiences and professionals to see a diverse and high-quality program that draws on a wide range of cultural backgrounds of the filmmakers. In addition to screening hundreds of documentaries, IDFA is host to numerous forums, debates and workshops. Whicker’s World Foundation will be in Amsterdam throughout the duration of the festival and we would love to talk to you about our documentary awards. If you wish to meet with us, please email info@whickersworldfoundation.com
The film program and schedule will be online on November 2nd and online ticket sales start on November 6th. For more information about the festival and the documentaries being screened there, visit IDFA’s website: https://www.idfa.nl/en/
Thursday 16th November to Sunday 19th November
Festival: Kendal Mountain Festival, Kendal in Cumbria
Kendal Mountain Festival is an award-winning event that is currently in its 17th year. It is the main festival for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK. It attracts thousands of outdoor enthusiasts as well as media specialists, athletes, artists, photographers, adventurers, explorers and inspirational speakers. It boasts the world’s largest lecture programme on outdoor content along with many art exhibitions and book events. At the heart of Kendal’s rich programme is the International Film Competition which attracts premieres from all around the world, including documentaries. It has been called the ‘Oscars of outdoor filmmaking’. Over 100 films will be screened and there are twelve coveted awards up for grabs. If that’s not enough to fill your time there’s also the ever popular ‘Kendal Mountain Film Academy‘ and the ‘Film Summit’ (supported by Channel 4 TV) which welcomes 200+ industry professionals to an insightful programme of debate and presentations.
Full information can be found here: http://www.mountainfest.co.uk/
Thursday November 23rd
Awards Ceremony: Audio Production Awards, London
Now in their ninth year, the mission of the Audio Production Awards is to recognise and celebrate outstanding achievement in audio and radio production, both on-mic and in production. Entries for all 19 categories have been judged by an independent panel of judges drawn from across the audio sector. This year, Whicker’s World Foundation is proud to be sponsoring the award for Best Creative Documentary/Feature Maker. This award category celebrates an exceptional understanding and use of sound to convey a story or emotion. The shortlisted finalists have created beautifully creative and challenging audio in the form of a podcast, documentary or short feature form. They are:
Adam Fowler (Overtone Productions Ltd)
Cathy Fitzgerald (White Stiletto Productions)
Claire Crofton (Freelance)
Hana Walker-Brown (Freelance)
Luke Doran (BBC Radio 4 / 4 Extra)
Peter Sale (Freelance)
The awards will be presented at a Gala Night at the BFI Southbank with over 400 guests in attendance including judges, students from local universities and us. The awards will be preceded by a reception from 6pm, with the main ceremony in the flagship NFT1 Auditorium at 7.30pm.
For more information on the awards, please visit: http://www.audioproductionawards.co.uk/
Location: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Rd, South Bank, London SE1 8XT
Saturday 25th November to Sunday 26th November
Festival: London Labour Film Festival, London
The fifth edition of the London Labour Film Festival will be held at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square. The London Labour Film Festival provides quality entertainment with social awareness. Their focus this year will be films that explore the theme of Modern Slavery. Sex My British Job is a documentary that will be shown that has helped expose the exploitation of undocumented illegal migrants held prisoners by loans sharks and forced into the underground sex industry.
To see the festival schedule, visit: http://londonlabourfilmfest.com/
Location: Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BY
Throughout November
Screenings: The Divide, London, Belfast, Manchester, Glasgow, Peterborough, Darlington and Lewes
The Divide tells the story of 7 individuals striving for a better life in the modern day US and UK – where the top 0.1% owns as much wealth as the bottom 90%. By plotting these tales together, the film attempts to uncover how virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled by one factor: the size of the gap between rich and poor. By weaving these stories with news archive from 1979 to the present day, The Divide creates a lyrical, psychological and tragi-comic picture of how economic division creates social division. The film is inspired by the critically-acclaimed, best-selling book “The Spirit Level” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.
For the full list of screenings, visit: http://thedividedocumentary.com/screenings#more
Written by Jayne Thorpe and Curtis Gallant