At The Festival Saturday 22nd September 1000 The Government Inspector Dir: Peter Kosminsky, UK, 2005, 106 mins This film is an important example of drama documentary inspired by investigative journalism. It has led to furious debate about the right to represent recent events in dramatic form. Perhaps as much as the deaths on the battlegrounds of Iraq, it was the suicide of Dr David Kelly that brought the Blair government to task over its participation in the war. The outcry following the death of Kelly, a Ministry of Defence adviser, led to the Hutton report. Kelly's name was leaked as the source of the controversial BBC report on the 'sexing up' of the Iraqi weapons dossier. However by sticking to his narrow remit, Lord Hutton cleared the government and blamed the BBC. Peter Kosminsky sat through the inquiry and interviewed 120 of the players to create the script for this powerful dramatisation of the events leading up to Kelly's suicide. The Government Inspector is a powerful antidote to official whitewash and a provocative account of the tragic effects of the battle to control who writes history. 1230 Hillsborough Dir: Charles McDougall, 1996, 102 mins On 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, severe overcrowding led to the deaths of 96 men, women and children. Over 400 fans were injured, and thousands traumatised. First screened in 1996, this award-winning production recounts that day and the immediate aftermath, through the experiences of three bereaved families. It exposes the appalling insensitivities they endured and their ongoing struggle to achieve justice after the negligence of the South Yorkshire Police. Founded in investigative journalism, Hillsborough dramatises court transcripts and documents new evidence, which debunks police statements. Hillsborough overtly takes the families' point-of-view, punctuating the unfolding drama with the later statements to-camera of Hillsborough relatives (as played by actors). 1445 Tina Goes Shopping Dir: Penny Woolcock, 1999, 60 mins Penny Woolcock's uniquely powerful film caused a furore when it was first shown. This gritty but comic drama is about life on a Leeds housing estate. Tina is a single mum who steals-to-order for her own 'shopping' business. Her drug-addict boyfriend Aaron is planning the theft of a cow so he can sell the meat, and Tina's father, Don, is the mobster in control of the local drugs trade. Tina Goes Shopping is based on real stories of survival in the marginal economy of housing-estate life. The characters are not professional actors, but residents of the local estates, who improvise each scene from a rough script based on their lives. 1630 The Road To Guantanamo Dir: Michael Winterbottom, UK, 2006, 95 mins Through a series of interviews, dramatised scenes and archive news footage, Road To Guantanamo delivers a powerful critique of the dangerous disregard of the Geneva Conventions by the United States and its allies. The Road To Guantanamo recounts the true story of four British Muslim men who visit Afghanistan just as war is breaking out in late 2001, and end up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as prisoners of the U.S. Government. Held by the Americans initially at Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan, they face physical abuse and mistreatment. Transferred to Camp X-Ray, the holding block at the time for detainees on arrival at Guantanamo, the men are locked in open-air cells resembling dog kennels. Both there and at Guantanamo's Camp Delta, they are interrogated by CIA, FBI and military personnel and held for nearly two years without charge before being released. 1830 The Hamburg Cell Dir: Antonia Bird, UK, 2004, 100 mins The Hamburg Cell is a devastatingly powerful work exploring the motivations of the men who carried out the attacks against the US on September 11th. The script is based on exhaustive research from declassified material, investigation files, court transcripts, personal interviews and unpublished correspondence. The film is fully-dramatised and tells the story of the three men (Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Ramzi bin al Shibh), whose role in the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the course of history. From their initial meetings as students in Germany, the film traces the process of their radicalisation and eventual recruitment to al-Qaeda, which culminated in the appalling events of September 11, 2001. 2045 Bloody Sunday Dir: Paul Greengrass, 2002, 110 mins Riveting docu-drama recounting the circumstances surrounding Bloody Sunday, 1972, when British soldiers shot dead 13 civilians taking part in a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. This event was a turning-point in the history of the Irish troubles, catapulting the conflict into a civil war, driving many young men into the ranks of the IRA, and fuelling a 25-year cycle of violence. Paul Greengrass' controversial film was shot in verité style, using non-actors in many of the smaller roles. The events of the fateful day are dramatised and told through the eyes of two men - the Irish politician and civil rights leader who organized the march, and the British military officer sent to quell it. Pre-Screenings 5th & 13th September Screenings Friday 21st 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