University of Leeds presents The Rainbow Collective Film Festival
Amazulu The Children Of Heaven + Bafana
Velabahleke (Come with a Smile) High School in Umlazi township outside Durban may be the only school in the country that starts at 06h30am and finishes at 4pm and where students are racing to get there on time! Mbongeni Mtshali the principal, has created an oasis of excellence for hundreds of learners, and where students, staff and community are doggedly determined that they not "be slaves to their backgrounds"
60 mins
Bafana delves into the global crisis of street children, while offering a ray of hope in the form of Gerald and all his collegaues who are fighting to make a better future for the children in their care.
20 mins
The screening will be followed with a Q&A with the filmmakers.
Winner: Best Film Nantes British Film Festival 2008
'Amazulu is a powerful and inspiring narrative' - Durban International Film Festival 2006
'Phenomenal - this is what African cinema is all about' - Cambridge African Film Festival 2006
Film Festivals
Durban International Film Festival, 2006 ZInthengi Film Market, 2006
Cape Town Internation Film Festiva,l 2006
Closing Film Cambridge African Film Festival, 2006
Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival, 2007
SABC Africa On Screen Film Festival, 2007
Medimed, 2007
Mosaiques International Film Festival 2010
27/10 - 6pm Amazulu + Bafana, 28/10 - 5pm Students Showcase 29/10 - 5pm Films For Food: The Process + Tears In The Fabric, 30/10 5pm Mass E Bhat + Udita
27th Oct 6pm,
Worsley Medical LT (7.35)
There shall be a drinks reception hosted by CGD and RiDNet.
Students Shorts Showcase
28th Oct 5pm
CLOTHWORKERS NORTH CINEMA
We are incredibly proud to present a programme of short films made by students from our training programmes in the UK, Jamaica and Bangladesh over the past 8 years. For many years we have developed film training programmes with young people from under-represented and deprived communities, providing the skills, equipment and training they need to enter the industry as artists on their own terms, whatever their background.
As powerful and urgent as they are creative and beautiful, our students' films have been showcased at film festivals around the world, winning awards and forming platforms for local and international campaigns. They have been invited to galleries including the Tate and the Barbican while screening as for the purpose of youth advocacy at the House of Lords, the House of Commons the Equlaity and Human Rights Commission.
Stories from the inner city youth of KIngston, the homeless children of Dhaka and young film makers from around the UK can be seen together for the fist time in a remarkable programme of powerful and cinematic short films.
Directors of Jamaica's Studio 174, Abbas Nokhasteh and Rozie Chung, will be in attendance for this event and will take part in a Q&A session.
The event will be followed by a wine reception, hosted by Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures and the School of Media and Communication at the Terrace Bar, Leeds University Union.
Studio 174 Showreel, Jamaica Trailer - 'Reach' UK
Some images from our training projects with young people in downtown Kingston where we working with Studio 174. The project in Downtown get young people from the community to attend classes at Studio 174 where we teach them Film, Photography and Sound.
The other images are from the 'Lal Beguni Shwapno' projects. In this we did film workshops with street children. The children aged 9-14 wrote, storyboarded, shot, directed and narrated a series of short films about life on the street. The finished films have been used as campaign pieces in Bangladesh, the films have screened at various film festivals in the UK, they have been presented at street children conferences and also were screened on a loop at the prestigious Barbican Centre in London.
Films For Food screening
The Process + Tears In The Fabric
Films For Food was set up between us and Openvizor. Its a simple concept where instead of charging tickets to watch a film we asked the audience to bring a bag of non-perishable food which gets donated to the local food bank. Its been just over a year since we started this scheme and its raised over one tonne of food for foodbanks. We are pleased to bring the first Films For Food event in the north. The film we will be presenting is The Process + Tears In The Fabric . For more details on Films For Food click on the poster on the right.
Donations for this events will go to Leeds Food Bank
The Process is the human tale of a political story. Three lives, framed by bold cinematic observation and reflective criticism, reveal a new perspective on the ongoing Middle East peace process.
Director Joshua Baker
we hope to have the filmmakers at the screeninng or via Skype
"A REVELATORY, ENLIGHTENING WATCH" - JONATHAN MILLER, CHANNEL 4
Nominated One World Media Awards
Tears In The Fabric - In Savar, Bangladesh, Razia struggles to raise two grandchildren after losing her daughters in the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a disaster which claimed the lives of over 1000 garment workers. One year on, TEARS IN THE FABRIC follows Razia as, amidst the struggle of raising and educating her grandsons, she searches for resolution and answers through protest on the streets of Dhaka and amongst the rubble and torn fabrics of Rana Plaza. Tears in the Fabric offers a starkly honest and deeply moving view of the human cost of high street fashion
'Tears in the Fabric is a film that is not afraid to look grief squarely in the eye. And that is no small feat in a culture that can so easily go numb to the grim realities behind our consumption.' Julie Flynn Badal, Writer, The Huffington Post
Winner Best Short Film, Workers Unite Film Festival , New York, 2015
John Pandit of Asian Dub Foundation has worked for many years. He is a patron of Films For Food and whenever he can plays a DJ set at the events.
29th October 5pm
Business School Western LT (G.01)
Images from The Process, Tears In The Fabric and Films For Food events.
Mass E Bhat & Udita (Arise)
30th October 5-8pm Business School Western LT (G.01)
'An engrossing biography of resistance against repression, Udita is a mosaic of stories from an industry characterised by exploitation and industrial homicide'
Tansy E. Hoskins is the author of Stitched Up – The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion
'UDITA' follows 5 years in the lives of the women at the grass roots of the garment workers struggle. From 2010, when organising in the workplace would lead to beatings, sacking and arrests; through the tragedies of Tazreen and Rana Plaza, and to the present day, when the long fight begins to pay dividends. We see this vital period through the eyes of the unions' female members, workers and leaders.
75 Mins
Original score by John Pandit & Lou Beckett
'The film provides profoundly thought-provoking insight into the exploitative world of "fast fashion" and the devastating effects of Western consumerism on the lives of abused women workers' Laura Nicholson | Women and Hollywood Blog Indiewire
Mass E Bhat (72 Mins)
Among the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh is also rapidly developing. Mass migration from villages results in densely populated slums and crowded factories. Across the country, 7.9 million children work every day to support themselves and their families, forced to grow up at an incredibly early age.
The orginal score was composed by John Pandit & Lou Beckett both from Asian Dub Foundation. Also Rowen Perkins and Shama Rahman contributed to the soundtrack.
"Inspiring" The Time Colonist
"The cinematography is gorgeous... A stunning experience" CFUV.FM
Nominated Best Documentary & Sountrack East End Film Festival 2014
Festivals
East End Film Festival, London
Victoria Film Festival, Canada
Turkish Labour Fest, Turkey
Frontline Club, London
Ele Fest, London
Workers Unite Film Festival, New York
Cutting East Film Festival, London
‘Udita’ is not about the guilt of the Western consumer and the directors have left out the voice over, experts and observers who traditionally tell us what must be done. There are not just close ups of sad faces in dimmed lighting telling stories of abuse and broken dreams. What is left is female workers as active players who tell their own stories. And we follow them in their everyday lives at home, in the streets and at the union office. They are not waiting for their rescuers' Søren Henriksen, Danwatch
Sam Maher of Labour Behind The Label will be in attendance and will sit on panel the panel with us for the Q&A session after the film. We have worked with Sam in campaigning for the rights of workers for many years.
Whilst filming Udita/Tears In The Fabric we collected many video testimonials and photography with victims of the disaster. We made all the videos and more importantly images for free so that campaigners would be able to use it. Campaigners blow up poster images of them and protested outside the brands such as Gap, Children's Place, Primark and Benetton. These actions happened in Europe and America. Below are some images from the protests.
Pay Up campaign video that was made and released in 2014. The video was made with Labour Behind the Label, Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labor Rights Forum.