LIDF has partnered with Ricker Restaurants to make sure your conversation about film does not end in the cinema.

Great Eastern Dining Rooms and Cicada will give LIDF ticket-holders offers on cocktails, dinners and group bookings during the festival. All you have to do is show a valid ticket for any of the events during the festival and you are eligible for a discount. So, after seeing a film, make sure to head over to one of these restaurants to discuss, debate and enjoy a nice drink or two.

GREAT EASTERN DINING ROOMS

Great Eastern Dining Room is one of London’s trendiest restaurants and bars situated in the highly fashionable area of Hoxton. It is a fabulous looking venue with a modern, minimalist style, serving top notch pan-Asian food.

54 – 56 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3QR
Tel. +44 20 7613 4545

CICADA

Cicada, the first of the Ricker restaurants, which has been open since 1996, is near to Smithfields Market in Clerkenwell. The restaurant, bar and private dining room have all been recently refurbished. The mix of strong design, fun and consistently inexpensive pan-Asian food make it a winner all round.

132 – 136 St. John Street, London, EC1V 4JT
Tel. +44 20 7608 1550

*Offer valid for LIDF ticket holders/ members.offer refers to house cocktail only and is subject to availability & change.

Record-breaking opening weekend for the LIDF. From the sold out ‘Senna’ to ‘Salam Rugby’ and Steven Soderberg’s ‘ And Everything is Going Fine’ on Sunday night the festival was lively, joyful and animated by some great panels. A big thank you to all the directors who took part and the many other contributors.

I am Agha | Atif Ahmad, Kiran Mushtaq, M.Umar Saeed | 2010 | 7min

Two years ago the Filmmaking for Social Change project was set up to enable young Pakistani filmmakers to produce documentaries which raise awareness of the negative impact of violent extremism, conflict, social exclusion and poor governance. The films have since been screened to appreciative British audiences  at the LIDF09 and LIDF10. To date 16 documentaries have been produced by 45 young filmmakers through hands-on training workshops. These documentaries focus on stories of individual lives affected by bomb blasts and riots in Pakistan, the effects of extremism on arts and culture, interfaith harmony, and poverty in Pakistan.

LIDF Media Forum Karachi is the next stage in the project. A symposium and screening that will debate, celebrate and explore issues facing documentary filmmakers in Pakistan and beyond, and their part in encouraging social change and active citizenship. It will mark the launch of the Filmmaking for Social Change roadshow – an extended period of public screenings and debates across Pakistan that will showcase the films made during the project. Films that tell the stories of Pakistan’s citizens – how they live and work, the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the future.

28th February, 9.00 – 18.00
Avari Towers, Fatima Jinnah Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

The forum will focus on:

• A presentation by the students of their Filmmaking for Social Change films;

• A celebration of the best of international documentary film presented by the LIDF;

• Knowledge-sharing, and synthesis of emerging practice and the latest thinking on film as a tool for social change;

• The role played by the media in creating the opportunities for citizens to participate, interact, give rein to free and constructive expression, and demands for accountability;

• An appeal to Pakistani filmmakers, broadcasters and NGOs to engage with the LIDF and strengthen international collaboration in the documentary field;

Final programme

09.00: Welcome
09.15: Keynote address
Patrick Hazard: Filmmaking and Social Change
09.45 – 11.15: Films from the project (Part 1) + Q&A with the students
Break
11.30: Films from the LIDF
12.30: Presentation by Abrar Hassan (Morango Films): The Role of the Independent Media
13.00: Lunch
14.00: Films from the project (Part 2) + Q&A with the students
15.30 – 16.00: Films from the LIDF
Break
16.30: Presentation of certificates by Masood Hamid (DAWN) to the student filmmakers followed by informal breakout discussions and networking
17.00: Round table discussion and audience Q&A: Film and Social Change – Babar Sheikh (Filmmaker), Aisha Arif Khan ((Faculty, Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi and Indus Valley), Patrick Hazard (LIDF)
17.45-18.45: Q&A session between Patrick Hazard and the press
18-45-19.30: Refreshments / Informal meet and greet with the press

Spaces are limited. To reserve a place  or write to [email protected]

Valetina Monti | 2009 | Italy | 62min

Afghanistan radio has traditionally been the voice of authority – there is no tradition of radio as a democratic, participatory medium that can be used to satisfy the needs of local communities – until today.

23 year old Afghan journalist Humaira Habib is founder and editor-in-chief of Radio Sahar, the first independent community radio station born after the fall of the Taliban regime and entirely run by women. In a unique example of a new democracy building process in Afghanistan, Humaira and the girls of the radio fight every day for the rights of Afghan women.

Focusing on the young Afghani idealists who are trying to make a difference in a country where the very basic principles of democracy were completely destroyed, award-winning filmmaker Valentina Monti explores the value of freedom of expression and information and reveals that Afghanistan is a very different country from the stereotype created in the Western media.
+ Q&A with director Valentina Monti and Patrick Hazard, Director LIDF

Barbican, Cinema 1, 18:30
9 February 2011

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 (subject to availability)

BOOK HERE

Roberto Orazi | 2009 | Italy | 61min

Winner of the prestigious Premio Ilaria Alpi 2010

A shocking inquiry into the global human organ trade that lures vulnerable donors into illegal operations with false promises of jobs or money, then smuggles their organs via criminal networks to corrupt medial officials and clinics.

H.O.T. exposes the mediators, the organ hunters and smugglers, talks to surviving donors, and interviews the surgeons who claim they know nothing of the crimes they commit.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with leading transplant consultant Geoffrey Koffman and Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation, Sally Johnson, and chaired by Patrick Hazard, Director of the LIDF

Geoffrey Koffman
Geoffrey Koffman is a consultant transplant surgeon of 25 years experience and Head of the Renal Transplant Units at Guys Hospital and Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital, London. He has served as Secretary of the British Transplantation Society, and supervises the largest living donor programme in the UK.

Sally Johnson
Sally joined NHSBT in September 2008. Previously she was Programme Director responsible for achieving clinical reconfiguration across four South East London Acute Hospital Trusts. Before that she was CEO of Enfield Primary Care Trust for six years. She has also led reviews of seven Ambulance Trusts in South East England and of the NHS contribution to the 2012 Olympic Games.

20 October 2010, 18:30
Cinema 1

Tickets: £8.50 online / £10.50 full price; Members £6.50 online / £8.50 full price; Concessions £7.50
subject to availability BOOK HERE

DocSpot: Shout (15*) + Q&A + Exhibition

20:45 / This powerful portrayal of youth and growing up and a forgotten part of the Middle East conflict won the Best Film of the London International Documentary Festival 2010

Born in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, best friends Ezat and Bayan journey across the UN monitored no man’s land to study in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Leaving behind their village, friends and family, the two young men at first enjoy the freedom their new home affords them; however, they soon learn that the city is a place where sides must be picked and words carefully chosen.

The Netherlands 2009 Dirs. Ester Gould & Sabine Lubbe Bakker 75 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

+ Q&A with director Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Chris Doyle (Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding) and Shaza Shannan (British Syrian Society)

Chris Doyle – Director of The Council for Arab-British Understanding. As the lead spokesperson for CAABU and as an acknowledged expert on the region, Chris is a frequent commentator on TV and Radio. He gives numerous talks around the country on issues such as Palestine, Iraq, Islamophobia and the Arabs in Britain. He has had numerous letters published in the British and international media.

Sabine Lubbe Bakker is a dutch film maker with a passion for the Middle East. Having orginially trained in political science, she has been in the motion picture industry since 2005. ‘Shout’ is her first feature.

Shaza Shannan is currently the Head of Cultural Committee at British Syrian Society and the Vice Chair at CAABU – she organises events focussed on Middle Eastern issues. She is the Business Change Manager at British Council and also holds a position teaching arabic at SOAS.

20.45, 29 September 2010
Barbican, Cinema 1

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 / Under 15 £5.50
subject to availability. BOOK HERE