Guardian Doc Sundays – Members discount

• By Katharine
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Guardian Doc Sundays brings together some of the most compelling feature length documentaries from around the world, in a double bill every month with a new Guardian commissioned short documentary.

Doc Heads members receive 50% OFF the ticket price using our discount code. If you are a member, sign-in to access the code. If you’re not a member, why not sign up now

The season starts with Pretty Radical, and the remarkable feature documentary Maidan.

Maidan chronicles a civil uprising against the regime of president Yanukovych which took place in Kiev, Ukraine in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong, in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between the protestors and riot police. Maidan is a portrait of an awakening nation, rediscovering its identity. Watch a clip here.

Pretty Radical is a new Guardian commissioned short documentary, about 19 year old Paulina, who has recently joined Poland’s far right movement.

Maidan will be followed by a panel talk with the Guardian’s Luke Harding, Andrei Terkhov, James Meek and hosted by the Guardian’s head of Documentaries, Charlie Phillips.

Andrei Terekhov is a writer from Kiev who actively participated in the Maidan.

James Meek is an acclaimed writer and journalist, currently a contributing editor to the London Review of Books. He lived in Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s

Maidan

Launch of Rankin competition

• By Katharine
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Merry Christmas!

We’re very excited to announce we are working with Rankin Film Productions to offer the chance for filmmakers to win a new commission for HungerTV.com

Today we’re launching an open call for UK filmmakers to send in their short documentaries (up to 15 mins) – any subject, any style, just no more than 5 years old.

Together with RFP, we will choose ten films to be screened on HungerTV for 2 weeks in February 2015. One filmmaker will win a £5k commission to make a new film, with Docheads support, that premieres on HungerTV later in the year.

Want to enter?

Submission dates: 18/12/14 – 23:59 GMT, Sunday 25/01/15

Send a link to your film to rfpassistant@rankin.co.uk (together with any password, if password-protected), plus up to 100 words about yourself + up to 100 words about your film. If the film has screened elsewhere, please provide details (exclusivity is not a requirement to enter).

By entering, you agree that you’re happy for your film (if selected for the Top 10) to be posted via HungerTV non-exclusively, and allow the film to remain on HungerTV indefinitely (minimum of 12months)

To find out more come to our Christmas event – Thursday 18th December, from 7pm at Monty’s Brick Lane, London.

The Overnighters hits UK cinemas

• By Katharine
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Fantastic film “The Overnighters” hits UK cinemas this weekend and we have two tickets to the Saturday 1st November screening (Plus Q&A with the director) for Docheads members. Simply login to see the code and email info@docheads.org by midday 31st October to enter.

Synopsis

In the tiny town of Williston, North Dakota, tens of thousands of unemployed hopefuls show up with dreams of honest work and a big paycheck under the lure of the oil boom. However, busloads of newcomers chasing a broken American Dream step into the stark reality of slim work prospects and nowhere to sleep. The town lacks the infrastructure to house the overflow of migrants, even for those who do find gainful employment.

Over at Concordia Lutheran Church, Pastor Jay Reinke is driven to deliver the migrants some dignity. Night after night, he converts his church into a makeshift dorm and counseling center, opening the church’s doors to allow the “Overnighters” (as he calls them) to stay for a night, a week or longer. They sleep on the floor, in the pews and in their cars in the church parking lot. Many who take shelter with Reinke are living on society’s fringes and with checkered pasts, and their presence starts affecting the dynamics of the small community. The congregants begin slinging criticism and the City Council threatens to shut the controversial Overnighters program down, forcing the pastor to make a decision which leads to profound consequences that he never imagined.

A modern-day Grapes of Wrath, award-winning documentary The Overnighters engages and dramatizes a set of universal societal and economic themes: the promise and limits of re-invention, redemption and compassion, as well as the tension between the moral imperative to “love thy neighbor” and the resistance that one small community feels when confronted by a surging river of desperate, job-seeking strangers.

Next Docheads on 30 October

• By Katharine
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Our next event will be on Thursday 30th October, at our regular Monty’s venue.

Join us for “The Base” (Nora Jaccaud), “My Ride” (Jessie Ayles) “A Short film about Massage” (Julie Hill), “Your Country Needs Youth” (Fat Rat Films) and “Awkward” (Adam Brichto)

Entry is £2 for non-members, and FREE for members. Why not become a member now

Attacking the Devil Screening & Panel Debate

• By Katharine
• 11 Comments

The Centre for Law,Justice and Journalism and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism invite you to the screening of Attacking The Devil: Harry Evans and the last Nazi War Crime on the 23rd October at City University London. This documentary, which won the Special Jury award at this year’s Sheffield International Documentary Festival, tells the story of the Sunday Times Insight team’s investigation of the thalidomide scandal. The screening will be followed by a discussion with its director Jacqui Morris and Bruce Page and Elaine Potter – both of whom were members of the Insight team and appear in the film.

The screening is the first in a series of films about journalism, organised by the Centre for Law Justice and Journalism and curated by Christopher Hird, visiting Professor at City University London , and chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Timings

• Doors Open: 5.00 pm
• Film starts: 5.30 pm
• Drinks: 8.00 pm
• Panel Discussion: 7.15 pm

Sign up for the event directly here. Tickets are free, don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity.