NOT IN OUR NAME
World Premiere , 19 Nov 2008, 7.00pm at the Genesis Cinema,

with Q&A with directors, Hazuan Hashim and Phil Maxwell
Special Guest: Tony Benn

Q&A session chaired by Brian Robinson (far left) of the BFI

On November 19th the Genesis cinema will host the world premier of ‘Not in Our Name’ - a 70 min documentary by East London filmmakers Hazuan Hashim and Phil Maxwell. The film explores the response of artists to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Watch the 3 min trailer below.

NOT IN OUR NAME - TRAILER 

Featuring veteran anti war campaigner Tony Benn and peace campaigners from around the world, the film opens up a rich visual landscape to explore the folly of the war.

Six years in the making Hashim and Maxwell wanted to take the anti war message to a wider audience through an examination of the work of a diverse range of artists against the war. The film includes footage from around the world, including Iraq and the USA.

Tony Benn
Tony has been involved with the Stop the War Coalition from its foundation. He provides much of the narrative for the film and is well placed to provide a detailed analysis of the events leading up to the war and the international opposition to it.

On 22nd February 2002 Tony wrote: Within the next few months a new war may be launched by America against Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein by military force and install a puppet government taking orders from Washington to look after their interests and gain control of the oil.

Our TV news bulletins will be full of pictures of US planes leaving the aircraft carriers and heading for Baghdad, foreign correspondents in flak jackets with video phones will be seen in front of burning buildings, the official spokesmen in the White House will be reporting of the humanitarian nature of the operation and intelligence briefings will be discreetly handed over to distinguished media commentators and broadcasters to "help them with their articles and programmes".

We may even be told that the International Community is supporting it when we all know that opposition worldwide is almost unanimous”.

Tony’s contribution to ‘Not in our name’ provides the viewer with a historical context for the events that have unfolded since the war began. He is a brilliant communicator who is able to instil hope into the campaign against the war. His message of peace and justice is based on the firm belief that the solidarity of millions of people against the war is far stronger than the menacing forces of imperialism.

Tony Benn (middle) with filmmakers
Phil Maxwell (left) and Hazuan Hashim
Photograph by Rachel Lichtenstein

http://www.tonybenn.com/publ.html

Featured artists

Deidre Gribbin
According to the Richard Morrison of the Times “If Deidre Gribbin ever writes another piece as haunting as Crossing the Sea, she - and we - will be lucky”. He continues: “To come across a new work that's carefully conceived for a mixture of different media - film, dance, theatre, a singer and a string quartet - is a rare and rewarding thing.

Based on 7th-century Chinese poetry, it tells the story of a woman waiting for her lover, who is fighting overseas. She recalls their happy times, and reads his letters. As the opera progresses it becomes clear that he will never return.

As in Wilfred Owen's poetry Gribbin's subject is the pity of war. Sadly, it's a timeless theme - but perhaps particularly pertinent to someone who grew up on the Falls Road in the 1970s. Gribbin and the Director Lou Stein discuss the relevance of this new one woman opera to contemporary times and argue that opera has to reflect contemporary concerns if it is to have any relevance in the modern world. The world premier of this astonishing and moving opera was filmed in Wilton’s Music Hall in East London.

Alison Wells, mezzo soprano on the stage of Wilton’s Music Hall during a performance of Crossing the Sea.

Deidre Gribbin during a rehearsal for her new opera.

http://www.deirdregribbin.com/
http://www.loustein.co.uk/

Leon Kuhn

Leon is a lifelong Socialist who’s parents were Jewish refugees who fled from the Nazis. His work as a visual artist satirises politicians and raises questions around imperialism, war and globalisation.

His work is well known in the anti war movement and provides vivid imagery which exposes the hypocrisy of American and British foreign policy. He advises visual artists to relate their work to events around them. This approach will give purpose to an artists work and enable engagement with the public and end the isolation of the artist.

http://www.leonkuhn.org.uk/

Seeta Patel
Seeta Patel trained in Medicine but she is much more at home in the theatre of dance. Through dance Seeta explores issues close to her emotions and is appalled by the war. At 26, she’s a name to watch out for in her chosen niche of South Asian Dance. She’s already made a name for herself in the Bharata Natyam (South Indian classical dance) style, and she and the choreographers with whom she collaborates are exploring ways of reworking the idiom for a contemporary dance audience.

Her work at The Royal Opera House over three nights this year is featured in the film and was a co-choreography with Kamala Devam from San Francisco.

Seeta is passionate about dance being relevant to contemporary audiences and played a leading role in ‘Find me Amongst the Black’, as part of the South Bank project based on the story of the Birmingham riots.

http://www.seetapatel.co.uk

Other artists featured in the film are Chris Barnett, Mavin Khoo, Rachel Lichtenstein, Tarek Salhany, Alice Sielle, Bob and Roberta Smith, and filmmakers Rainbow Collective (Hannan Majid and Richard York) and Alessandro Tinonga.