Pre-Screenings for the Public at the Riverside Cinema & Barbican Cinema Wednesday 5th September, Riverside Cinema, 7pm Fires Were Started & Introduction by Professor Ian Christie Director: Humphrey Jennings, UK, 1943, 74 mins " No other British film made during the war, documentary or feature, achieved such a continuous or poignant truthfulness." Lindsay Anderson Covering twenty-four hours in London during the Blitz, Fires Were Started is the story of a day in the life of the Auxiliary Fire Service. On the same day that a new recruit joins up, warning comes in that a heavy attack is expected that night. Fires Were Started is disputably both fiction and documentary - it is a re-enactment, but of 'real' events, using actual A.F.S servicemen and women as its leading roles. An astonishingly intimate portrait of a besieged Britain. PLUS Punishment Park Director: Peter Watkins, USA, 1971, 88mins A rare opportunity to see this controversial film. Viewed as an indictment against America, Punishment Park was heavily attacked on its release in 1971 with Hollywood studios refusing to distribute it. At the height of protests over the war in Vietnam arrested protestors and political agitators are offered the choice between long prison sentences or three days in Punishment Park detention camp. Watkins utilises the drama-documentary technique to create a startling sense of reality that makes this film disturbing viewing. He used real protestors and activists to play the prisoners, a number of ex-law enforcement officers to play police and extensive, inventively guided improvisation during the film. With strong resonances to the current US policy in Guantanamo Bay, Punishment Park remains pertinent and prescient. Thursday 13th September, Barbican Cinema, 6:30pm The Thin Blue Line Director: Errol Morris, USA, 1988, 103 mins The Thin Blue Line is the re-enacted true story of the arrest and conviction of Randall Adams for the murder of a Dallas policeman in 1976. Billed as "the first movie mystery to actually solve a murder", the film is credited with overturning the conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood, a crime for which Adams was sentenced to death. The documentary presents testimony suggesting that the police altered, fabricated, and suppressed evidence to convict the man they wanted to be guilty, in spite of evidence to the contrary. The film also mesmerizes with repeated images and staged scenes flashed throughout and eyewitness accounts of the murder devolving into contradiction and confusion. With its use of expressionistic re-enactments, interview material and music by Philip Glass, The Thin Blue Line pioneered a new kind of non-fiction filmmaking. PLUS at 8.45pm CLOSE-UP Director: Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1990, 94 mins An entertaining and complex film in which documentary and fiction are intertwined, challenging traditional cinematic conventions, directed by the internationally acclaimed Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami. An unemployed movie fanatic pretends to a middle-class family that he is the famous director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. He subsequently finds himself charged with fraud. Based on a true incident the film takes on a further dimension as many of the characters involved play themselves, including Makhmalbaf himself and his impostor. Dramatic reconstructions alternate with documentary footage of the actual trial in which Kiarostami is allowed to submit questions. Screenings Friday 21st September Screenings Saturday 22nd September Screenings Sunday 23rd September Picture Credits (left to right): THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Peter Kosminsky, Laurie Sparham, courtesy of Channel 4 THE HAMBURG CELL, Antonia Bird, Phil Fisk THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Peter Kosminsky, Laurie Sparham, courtesy of Channel 4