by adelayde -

November 2015: Black Sheep

Black SheepReturning to a local community centre near you this Sunday 1st November, OX4 Films a proud to bring you Jonathan King’s 2006 apocalyptic ovine comedy horror Black Sheep.  The film follows the family feud of New Zealanders Angus and Henry when they, some environmental activists and a more than liberal sprinkling of sheep get mixed up in Angus’ genetic experiments with disastrous consequences; there are 40 million sheep in New Zealand, and they’re pissed off….

This month we’re back on home turf in the Oxford Action Resource Centre aka OARC, which is upstairs in East Oxford Community Centre.  Doors open at 7PM and we’ll have finished the evening by 10PM.

Our recommended donation for the night is £3 for those of you who can afford it, £2 for concessions, or whatever you can afford to give (we’d rather you came than stayed away because you couldn’t afford it).  Donations go to support the work of OARC.

Help promote the night by downloading and printing our flyer/poster and displaying it in your window, your college, your workplace or your favourite local shop or café. See you there.

by adelayde -

October 2015: Europe or Die

2015-OctoberStarting back on Sunday 4th October with a new season for 2015 we’ve organised an evening of documentaries and debate around the current migrant crisis engulfing the European Union. We have two guest speakers (to be confirmed) coming as well as the VICE News Documentary Europe or Die (whih comprises of five separate films).

For this event we’ll be occupying the Bar Area of East Oxford Community Centre (where the Catweazel Club is normally held) and opening the doors at 6.30PM to start at 7PM sharp and finishing the evening at 10PM.

Recommended donation for the night is £5 for those of you who can afford it, £3 for concessions, or whatever you can afford to give (we’d rather you came than stayed away because you couldn’t afford it).

Help promote the night by downloading and printing our flyer/poster and displaying it in your window, your college, your workplace or your favourite local shop or café. See you there.

by adelayde -

Watch this space

Ah look it’s been a while since we last showed a film hasn’t it? Well yes after four solid years of film screenings we had a bit of a break; a gap year you could say.

But we’ll be back this very Autumn 2015 with some new films, a slightly new look and some new times. So do watch this space for an update soon.

by charlie -

September 2014: Drifting Clouds

We’re baa-ack! Umm. Wrong film. But OARC first Sunday screenings resumes on Sunday 7 September with  Aki Kaurismäki‘s darkly amusing Finnish classic Drifting Clouds. Here’s the blurb from IMDB:dc

Tram driver Lauri loses his job. Shortly later, the restaurant where his wife Ilona works as a head waitress is closed. Too proud to receive money from the social welfare system, they strive to find new jobs. But they are completely unlucky and clumsy, one disaster is followed by the next.

Says Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post:

True to his temperament, Kaurismaki has made another funny-sad movie about the tenuousness of life, in all its ambiguity and nonsensical symmetry.

We’ll hopefully have a chance to show some short activist films before the main feature too.

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

May 2014: Born in Flames

Born in flames poster

May’s film, Born in Flames, is a 1983 feminist science fiction film by Lizzie Borden that explores intersecting issues of classism, racism, sexism, and heterosexism in the post-revolutionary socialist democracy of the United States.

The film presents a group of queer black women who, confronted with the oppression of daily life under the racist heteropatriachy, decide to take their community organizing to the next level by engaging in an armed insurrection against the government.

While the film is over 30 years old, issues of party allegiance, racism within feminist organizing, and state repression remain as prevalent today as they did then. The film is a powerful challenge to any revolutionary who believes that sexism,racism, and homophobia will be abolished ‘after the revolution’.

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

April 2014: The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

April’s screening on Sunday 6 April is Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek’s look at how ideology is constructed by the media we consume.

From the Catholic underpinnings of the Sound of Music to the fascist political dimensions of Jaws, Zizek (often called the “rockstar” of cultural theory) uses Lacanian psychoanalysis to examine the messages embedded in the films we watch. Zizek is a contraversial and often entertaining character but is always engaging and often thought provoking.

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

March 2014: Czech Dream

czech-dream cover

Two Czech media students hire an advertising agency to launch a huge campaign for a new hypermarket called “Czech Dream”. The only thing is that the hypermarket does not exist.

Czech dream follows the students through the world of carefully-crafted advertising hype as they try to create a media spectacle and open their entirely fictitious hypermarket near Prague just before the Czech Republic joins the EU.

Ken Fox writes of the film:

Whether you decide that this project is a brilliant hoax that exposes how the rapid transition from communism to a free-market economy has created an ad-addicted, consumer-mad culture in the Czech Republic, or that it’s simply a cruel joke, one thing is undeniable: It’s a fascinating account, formulated and filmed by a pair of young Czech media students, of the way advertising and consumer manipulation can create a market for anything at all, even something that doesn’t exist.

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

February 2014: Wadjda

Wadja Film Poster

Our February screening, on 2 February at 19:00, is the first film to be filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia.

Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, it tells the story of  Wadjda, a 10-year old girl who lives in Riyadh in a conservative family. One day Wadjda sees a beautiful green bike that she falls in love with. But her mother won’t allow her to have it, fearing the repurcussions of her daughter owning a bicycle in a society where bikes are viewed as dangerous to a girl’s virtue.

So she decides to raise the money herself by various enterprises, and eventually by entering a Koran recital competition.

Bitch magazine says of the film:

Wadjda doesn’t rest on the accomplishment of being an international first—the film is excellent by any standard. It would be a great film even if it were the fourth film shot in Saudi Arabia or the hundredth. What’s refreshing about the film is it does not try to tell a moral story. Instead, it follows a young girl named Wadjda through her daily life, resulting in an intimate look at the kind of life that’s rarely seen.

You can watch the trailer on youtube

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

January 2014: Winstanley

winstanley: film posterWhat better way to recover from yuletide revelry than an evening at OARC watching our January film: Winstanley, which we’ll be showing at 7pm on Sunday, 5 January 2014.

It tells the story of the seventeenth century digger, Gerarrd Winstanley, who inspired perhaps one of the first (documented) land squats in the world, at Georges Hill in Surrey. The Diggers were radical levellers, who believed that the Earth was made a common treasury for all. You can read a fuller account of Winstanley’s life on diggers.org

The film, made in 1976, follows the Digger settlement telling the story of it’s struggle with the local landlords. It’s beautfully filmed in black and white.

Doors 19:00, film starts 19:15. See you there!

by charlie -

December 2013: Bladerunner

bladerunner

As the winter evenings draw in it’s time for another OARC First Sunday Screening and this month it’s a sci-fi classic — Bladerunner. And we’ll have vegan mince pies!

The film examines the nature of constructed reality and the relationship between people and machines.

Sunday 1 December at OARC. Mince pies from 7pm, main film starts at 7.30pm, strict 10pm finish, adjourning to The Star in Rectory Road for a refreshing beverage and further discussions afterwards.

Suggested donation £3, less if you’re skint. See you there!

Here is the blurb from IMDB :

In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specializes in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when four replicants escape from an off-world colony to Earth.

 

by charlie -

November 2013: Shell is hell — Poison Fire and Delta Boys PLUS food and discussion

We missed the first Sunday this month. But we’ve got a double bill (and vegan food and discussion!) on the second Sunday instead. We’ll be watching two documentaries about Shell in the Niger Delta, and talking about the issues raised together with an activist from the Niger Delta.

Fucking hell shell are fucking up the entire planet!

On 22nd October, three activists were arrested for the disruption of a Shell recruitment booth in Oxford city centre. They were fined £180 for criminal damage and obstruction of police officers. On the film night there will be a donations pot to raise money to pay the fines. For more info, read their story on Oxford Indymedia.

Poison Fire follows a team of local activists as they gather “video testimonies” from communities on the impact of oils spills and gas flaring. We see creeks full of crude oil, devastated mangrove forests, wellheads that has been leaking gas and oil for months. We meet people whose survival is acutely threatened by the loss of farmland, fishing and drinking water and the health hazards of gas flaring.

Delta Boys explores the untold stories of the Niger Delta militancy – rebels who band together in the face of corrupt government oppression in this oil-rich region of Nigeria – following the lives of two militants: Ateke Tom, the “Godfather” of the Niger Delta Vigilante Force, and Chima, a 21-year-old who left home to join the fight. The film also documents life in a tiny fishing village caught in the crossfire of the conflict. Mama, a 22-year-old,struggles to give birth to her first child with no access to modern medical care, while raids are launched from a militant camp across the river. The personal stories of Chima, Ateke, and Mama reflect a broader global struggle between entrenched power and corporate interests and an underserved population.

There’ll also be awesome vegan food!

by charlie -

October 2013: Land and Freedom

Poster from Ken Loach's Land and Freedom
Poster from Ken Loach’s Land and Freedom

OARC Sunday Screenings are back on 6 October, with Ken Loach’s classic tale of the Spanish Civil War, Land and Freedom.

The film tells the tale of a dissilusioned Liverpudlian socialist who decides to follow his principles and enlist in the international brigades to fight fascism. In Spain he discovers both solidarity and bitter political infighting.

As usual, we’ll be showing some short films from citizen journalists around the world from groups such as Indymedia, Reel News and Democracy Now from 7pm. Main film starts at 7.30pm, discussion of topics raised in the film afterwards and a strict 10pm finish, adjourning to The Star in Rectory Road for a refreshing beverage and further discussions afterwards.

by adelayde -

July 2013: Guerilla – The taking of Patty Hearst

July 2013: Guerilla - The taking of Patty Hearst posterSunday 7th July 2013
@ OARC
East Oxford Community Centre

Doors 7pm
Main feature 7.30pm
Close 10pm

£3/£2/£whatever you can afford

What better way to recover from the glorious return of the Cowley Road Carnival this Sunday than to flop into the comfy chairs at OARC to watch Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst, a documentary about millionairess Patty Hearst‘s kidnapping by the American leftist Symbionese Liberation Army, her subsequent joining of the group and involvement in bank robbery.  The classic example of Stockholm Syndrome, this is an enjoyable and informative look at what happened.

As usual, we’ll be showing some short films from citizen journalists around the world from groups such as Indymedia, Reel News and Democracy Now from 7pm.  Main film starts at 7.30pm, discussion of topics raised in the film afterwards and a strict 10pm finish, adjourning to The Star in Rectory Road for a refreshing beverage and further discussions afterwards.

Note also that there’s a Carnival event on at East Oxford Community Centre (where OARC is located) featuring lots of dub and other great sounds and carribbean food on sale.  We may have a little bit of difficulty with the door before the film, but one of the Sunday Screenings crew will be on hand to smooth your entry.  So if you have problems, just wait for someone or ring the OARC bell.

by adelayde -

June 2013: Farenheit 451

f451Sunday 2nd June 2013
@ OARC
East Oxford Community Centre

Doors 7pm
Main feature 7.30pm
Close 10pm

£3/£2/£?

Join us on Sunday 2nd to watch François Truffaut’s film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s distopian novel in which books are banned and the fire brigade starts fires rather than puts them out.

Starring Julie Christie, Oskar Werner and Cyril Cusack, Farenheit 451 looks at topics including resistance to conformity and the use of mass media and technology to control individuals, influencing society and suppressing individualism.  Farenheit 451 was published in 1953 and the film adaptation is from 1996, but the themes tackled and the questions raised are perhaps even more prevalent today than they were 60 years ago as through technology it’s now more possible to monitor citizens and control what they read and ultimately what they think.

We’ll be showing some short films from citizen journalists around the world from 7pm.  Main film starts at 7.30pm, discussion of topics raised in the film afterwards and a strict 10pm finish, adjourning to The Star in Rectory Road for a refreshing beverage and further discussions afterwards.

by adelayde -

May 2013: Into The Fire

BHQz1nLCIAEc3JyInto The Fire: A file about refugees and migrants in Athens, the financial crisis, and the Golden Dawn…

We’re pleased to be being joined by some of the film makers for the Oxford Premier of documentary Into The Fire with discussion and Q&A afterwards.  Before the screening they will be presentations of a number of projects: Network23 (who kindly host our blog), HacktionLab, BarnCamp and the new OxCred mutual credit scheme.

Sunday 5th May.  7pm doors for 7.30pm.  10pm close. East Oxford Community Centre.  Bar.  £5/£3

Into the Fire is a crowd-sourced investigative documentary looking at the situation of refugees and migrants in Greece, in the face of severe austerity measures and rising racism. Refugees flee their home countries on the search for safety. Due to it’s land border with Turkey, Greece is one of the main entry gates into Europe, but European legislation prevents them from moving on to other European countries.

Without housing, legal papers or support, they are faced with increasing and often violent racism. Attacks do not only target refugees, but any foreigner, including immigrants who have been in Greece for years. In spite of incendiary propaganda by the extreme right party Golden Dawn and a surge of murderous attacks, state and police seem unwilling to address the issue. Allegations of police sympathising with Golden Dawn are an open secret. The refugees address their plea for help to Greece and all of Europe: “Let us leave!”

Into the Fire is also an experiment in crowd-sourcing distribution and the film will be released on simultaneously on various websites and platforms around the Internet, including this one, on 21st April 2013.

Into The Fire Trailer and Into the Fire full film.

 

by adelayde -

April 2013: The Arab Spring

_1365789600_631An evening of films and discussions on the
continuing uprisings across the Arab world.

The Arab Spring: Sunday 7th April 2013 . 6.40pm for 7pm to 10pm

@ OARC – East Oxford Community Centre £3 (£2)

Not only will we show two award-winning documentaries, the inspiring and intimate Zero Silence and the powerful and stunning Shouting In The Dark, but we will finish with a selection of short films bringing things up-to-date and showing where these movements are today.

As we’re showing two films, the night starts at 7pm sharp, with doors opening at about 6.40pm, and the schedule for the night is:

  • 7:00pm: Zero Silence
  • 8:00pm: —interval—
  • 8:10pm: Shouting In The Dark
  • 9:00pm: Short films – the Arab Spring lives on
  • 9:30pm: Discussion
  • 10:00pm: End

Zero Silence

A film about the revolt of a young generation for whom silence is no longer an option.

Shot in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon, Zero Silence follows Lilia Weslaty, Wael Abbas, Hossam El-Hamalawy, Rebecca Saade and several other activists in their struggles against authoritarian regimes. The Arab world is experiencing a wave of unprecedented popular uprisings and street demonstrations against poverty, corruption, lack of freedoms, and unemployment. We think the Internet is playing an important role in the events that are currently unfolding in the region. However, while these digital media tools have been helpful, it is the power of the young people that will bring about change. The characters in our film show that courage is contagious.

Watch: Trailer – Teasers and snippets.

Bahrain: Shouting In The Dark

A mesmerizing and tragic documentary about the story of the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world.

February 2011, and the Arab Spring is in full swing. International TV cameras are lapping up events in Cairo and Tunis, celebrating the overthrow of one despotic regime after another. But out of sight, in Bahrain, another uprising is underway. Foreign journalists are banned from this island kingdom, but one undercover TV crew remained…

Watch: Trailer and interview: – Full film (warning, bit of a spoiler!)

 

by adelayde -

March 2013: Secret City

Coat_of_Arms_of_The_City_of_London.svgA film about the City of London, the Corporation that runs it, and its role in the economic crisis…

Secret City : Sunday 3rd March 2013 . 7pm to 10pm
@ East Oxford Community Centre £5 (£3)

The City of London is an anomaly in UK democracy.  With just 7,000 permanent residents and the lowest car ownership in the country, its own police force, its arcane system of self-government with its Lord Mayor, Livery Companies and Alderman, businesses that have the right to vote and it’s direct accountability to the Crown rather than Parliament, the City houses the one of the Globe’s key financial centres and the Inns of Court, the heart of the UK’s legal system.  The City is the place where banks, brokers, insurers and other money-makers enjoy their unimpeded ascendancy.

Clement Attlee once called the City ‘another power than that which has its seat at Westminster’, where ‘those who control money can pursue a policy at home and abroad contrary to that which has been decided by the people’.

The Occupy LSX movement, which arose in 2011, once again drew public attention to the unprecedented political and financial status the City enjoys; largely unchanced since William the Conqueror’s time.  Secret City will take us on a tour of key City locations by an Occupy activist, Liam Taylor and delve into the history and mystery of the UK’s most powerful centre.

We’re pleased to have the film’s makers, Lee Salter and Michael Chanan, coming to present the film and be involved in a Q&A session afterwards.

The night will be held downstairs in the bar where Catweazel Club is normally held, so there will be refreshments on tap and in bottle for the night.

Because of the larger overheads of the screening, we are recommending a donation of £5 (£3 concessions, or whatever you can afford) for this night only.

Help to promote the film by downloading, printing and displaying our flyer.  Thanks! :)

by adelayde -

February 2013: The Taqwacores

The TaqwacoresWritten by Eyad Zahra, The Taqwacores deals with the complexities of being young and Muslim in modern-day America…

The Taqwacores : Sunday 3rd February 2013
Doors 7pm . Shorts till 7.30pm . Ends latest 10pm
@ OARC, East Oxford Community Centre £3 (£2)

Yusef, a first-generation Pakistani engineering student, moves off-campus with a group of Muslim punks in Buffalo, New York. His new “un-orthodox” house mates soon introduce him to Taqwacore- a hardcore, Muslim punk rock scene that only exists out west. As the seasons change, Taqwacore influences the house more and more. The living room becomes a mosque during the day, while it continues to host punk parties at night. Ultimately, Yusef is influenced by Taqwacore too, as he begins to challenge his own faith and ideologies.  Download the poster for this event.

 

by adelayde -

January 2013: Soylent Green

Join us on Sunday 13th January when we screen the 1973 film Soylent Green starring Charlton (Chuck NRA) Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Edward G Robinson.

Set in now not faraway 2022, Heston plays Thorn, a detective prowling the overpopulated streets of New York in a distopian future where the world is overrun with people, women are known as furniture, fresh food is only available on the black market to the wealthy, and the solution to the world’s food problems is the substance known as Soylent Green.

We’ll be opening the doors at 7pm and showing some latest short films that we found on the Net, and the main film starts in earnest at 7.30pm.  As usual we’ll have available a selection of grass roots and citizen journalist DVDs on sale from over 12 years of Indymedia in the UK, as well as copies of the revolutionary booklet Tech Tools for Activism.

Doors 7pm . Main films start 7.30pm . 10pm Close

Recommended donation £3 / £2 concessions / whatever you can afford.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Cowley Rd, OX4 1DD

Download a copy of the poster and put it up in your bedroom.

by adelayde -

…and more screenings in 2013

We’re planning a host of exciting screenings of cult, media activist, citizen journalist, alternative films for your delictation between January and July 2013: seven glorious months in total.

So check us out in the near future when we’ve posted something about them.

by adelayde -

December 2012: Be prepared! The G8 is coming to town (again).

Sunday 2nd December 2012

The G8 will be coming to town, well the country again, next year.  We thought we’d show a retrospective of short films from previous G8 summits  and other past mass mobilisations, to help people prepare for what may be coming to our shores next year.

Covering three notorious previous G8 summits, Genoa 2001, Gleneagles 2005 and Germany 2007, the films are brought to you by a number of well respected video activist groups including Camcorder Guerillas, Reel News, Indymedia, Undercurrents and Beyond TV.

We’ll show a round up of the latest films from the streets from around the World up until the main screening starts, and discuss and debate some of the topics raised during the evening before adjourning for an ale at a local public house.

Doors 7pm . Main films start 7.30pm . 10pm Close

Recommended donation £3 / £2 concessions / whatever you can afford.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Cowley Rd, OX4 1DD

Want to help promote the night?  Stop G8 December 2012 Flyer?

by adelayde -

November 2012: Reel News special

Sunday 4th November 2012 brings us…

Reel News show reel – Remember Afghanistan and other films

(note change of film from previously announced*)

Doors 7pm . Feature 7.30pm . 10pm Close

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Cowley Rd, OX4 1DD

£5/£3 recommended donation (or whatever you can afford)

Replacing Even the Rain*, we’re pleased to be showing the latest reel of citizen journalism news from around the world from Reel News.  The films we’ll be showing are:

15 Million Afghans – The harsh economic reality of everyday life in Kabul, and the people’s growing anger at its government and their western sponsors.

When NATO came to town – Soldiers renounce the war on terror and throw their medals back at the NATO summit protests in Chicago.

United by Love – Divided by Teresa May -Home Office protest over new restrictions on family members of British citizens entering the country.

Making Ends Meet– Barcelona: new models of organising and protesting against the politics of austerity

Asturian Miners strike – Faced with thousands of job losses, the miners in Spain go on strike using the most militant tactics seen so far in the struggle against austerity.

Miners march to Madrid – The miners march for 18 days from Asturias, to be greeted by thousands of supporters in Madrid.

Doors open at 7PM and as usual we’ll be showing a selection of citizen journalist film shorts hopefully reporting from the streets about the financial crisis in Europe until 7.30pm.

Main Reel News showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised in the films.

Evening finishes at 10PM latest, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

Do help us to promote the monthly screenings, let people know about this web site and more imporantly tell them to come along!  Download the poster and stick it in your window.

 * we were originally planning to show Even the Rain.  We were contacted by the distributors, Dogwoof, who pointed out to us that a screening licence for the film would be £100.  As a small non-profit project we are unable to cover the costs as we only take donations on the night to go towards the running of the OARC community space.  Therefore we had to decline and show something else, meaning that Even the Rain doesn’t get seen.  You can buy it for the normal channels of course.

by adelayde -

October 2012: Gasland

Returning for our new 2012/13 season, we bring you…

Gasland: A film by Josh Fox

Sunday 7th October, 7-10pm OARC, East Oxford Community Centre £5/£3 recommended donation

“The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination…..

Doors open at 7PM and as usual we’ll be showing a selection of media activist and citizen journalist produced film shorts until 7.30pm.

Gasland showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised in the film.

Evening finishes at 10PM, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £5, £3 concessions, but nobody refused for lack of money.

Do please help us to promote the monthly screenings, download the poster for the Gasland screening, print it out and display a copy of it in your window, your place of study, your favourite café, your work, or anywhere you can.

by adelayde -

Films for Autumn 2012

We’re taking a break in August and September for our summer holiday, but not before we’ve shown the excellent documentary Catfish on 1st July, so Do join us for that.

We’ll be back on Sunday 7th October to show in our first film of our late summer / autumn season, Josh Fox’s excellent Gasland.  More info on this soon.

We’re always looking for indepedent, grass-roots or cult films to show at OARC and the Community Centre, so if you’ve got an idea for us, let us know.  We’re especially looking for those of you who are up for coming and presenting a film and helping to chair a debate afterwards, but it’s not essential, so don’t let that be a berrier to letting us have your ideas.  You can email us at oarcfilms at ox4 dot org, or you can simply post a comment to this article.

All the best, and see you in July, then again in October, and have a great summer in the meantime!

OARC Films.

by adelayde -

July 2012: Catfish – Think before you click

Sunday 1st July, 7-10pm OARC, East Oxford Community Centre £3 recommended donation

Catfish is a true story for the digital age. A documentary directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, it follows Ariel’s brother Nev as he builds a romantic relationship over the social networking site Facebook.  Reminding us of the old adage that in cyberspace no one knows you’re a dog, the twists and turns in this film are nail-bitingly surprising!

Doors open at 7PM and as usual we’ll be showing a selection of media activist and citizen journalist produced film shorts until 7.30pm.

Catfish showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised in the film.

Evening finishes at 10PM, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £3 (nobody refused for lack of money).

Do please help us to promote the monthly screenings, download the poster for this screening, print it out and display a copy of it in your window, your place of study, your favourite café, your work, or anywhere you can.

by adelayde -

June 2012: Pink Floyd The Wall – Thirtieth Anniversary Screening.

Sunday 3rd June, 7-10pm OARC, East Oxford Community Centre £3 recommended donation

First screened 30 years ago in Cannes on 23rd May 1982, Pink Floyd The Wall is Alan Parker’s film-adaptation of Roger Waters’ largely autobiographical concept album about a rock and roll artist who, having lost his father to WWII, been smothered by his over-protective mother, abused by his teachers and addled his brain on a cocktail of booze and drugs, show after show, party after party, estranged from his wife and increasingly isolated from the people around him, eventually descends into madness that leads him to fascism. In the culmination of the film, we see his own self-imposed introspective trial that leads him to tear down the wall he’s constructed around himself, a new day is possible as those who walk up and down outside the wall are revealed to him. The film features some excellent animation of cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, who was also closely involved with Parker and Waters in the design of the film. Oh, and yes, Sir Bob “all these anti-globalisation activists are idiots” Geldof is in it. It may not sound like a whole load of fun, and it is a tad harrowing at times, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth watching, and if you have, when was the last time you watched it?

Doors open at 7PM and we’ll be showing a selection of media activist and citizen journalist produced film shorts until 7.30pm:

Pink Floyd The Wall showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised in the film.

Evening finishes at 10PM, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £3 (nobody refused for lack of money).

Help to promote this film, download the poster, print it out and display a copy of it in your window, your work or anywhere you can.

by adelayde -

May 2012: Taking on Tarmageddon

6th May 2012 7-10pm East Oxford Community Centre £5/£3 + bar

Following October 2011’s screening of H2Oil, we’re pleased to be holding a screening and debate of the brand-new Taking on Tarmageddon produced by local independent film outfit Campbell Road Productions in partnership with Artists Project Earth, People & Planet, Film Oxford and New Internationlist.

Producing 3-5 times the carbon emissions associated with crude oil production, the largest industrial operation on Earth, the Athabasca Oil Sands is, according to UK Student campaigning group People & Planet, almost singlehandedly putting humanity on a collision course with runaway climate change – the point where damage becomes irreversible. Beyond this, the industry is killing wildlife, destroying boreal forest and increasing cancer rates in the indigenous communities who have always lived in the area.

We shall have guests from People & Planet and the UK Tar Sands Network who were involved in the making of the film as well as the film makers to talk about the film, the tar sands and their experiences.

Please note, this is a bigger event than normal and will be held downstairs at the community centre, where there is a bar ;)

Also the recommended donation for this event is £5 (this event only), £3 for students and those with on income support or the dole, and of course, if you’re totally skint, whatever you can afford.

Evening starts at 7PM and finishes at 10PM.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Help us promote the night: download the flyer/poster and display it in you place of work or play or hand out to your friends.

May 5 is International Stop the Tar Sands Day.  Check Oxford Indymedia for details of a local action near you, or Be The Media for UK news and updates.

by adelayde -

April 2012: Breaking the Fences

April 1st 2012 7-10PM East Oxford Community Centre £3 suggested donation.

Short films on freedom of movement, migration controls, and resistance.
A fundraiser to support action against deportation.

Doors open at 7pm and we’ll start by showing an array of 3-minute interviews with people involved in the “Arab Spring” uprisings and
movements – a preview of a future screening on the subject.

Our main feature (7:30pm-9:30pm, incl. interval) is an inspiring and
action-packed selection of short films focusing on the border regimes of
Fortress Europe and the movements challenging them.

We’ll end with an opportunity for open discussion, and wrap up around 10pm.

Proceeds from the night will be split between:
*****
Oxford Action Resource Centre:
http://theoarc.org.uk/
…providing space and resources for grassroots local activism
*****
and Stop Deportation Network:
http://stopdeportations.wordpress.com
…taking direct action to stop deportations.
*****
If you can’t come to the screening but would like to make a donation to
support action against deportation, find out more, or get involved, email
oxnb_reply@riseup.net.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £3 (though nobody refused for lack of money).

Help us promote the night – email a link to this page to your friends – and display it in your place of work or play.

by adelayde -

March 2012: Wake Up Call

Sunday 4th March @ 1900h

Information about obtaining the films and of coaches to London Rally on Wednesday 7th March.

After the heady heights of showing commercial films the last few months, March’s screening brings us to some gold old independent, grass-roots films when the film maker Anne-Marie Sweeney introduces us to Wake Up Call, a collection of three short films that show graphically why government plans will vandalise the NHS, fragmenting and privatising in a shocking attack on the core values of our health service and patient care to further the profits of global private health companies.

It’s not too late to act!

Presented in association with Keep Our NHS Public and Health Emergency and, as always, Oxford Indymedia.

Doors open at 7PM and we’ll be showing a selection of media activist and citizen journalist produced film shorts until 7.30pm.

Introduction by Anne-Marie and Wake Up Call showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised by the films.

Evening finishes at 10PM, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £3 (nobody refused for lack of money).

Help us promote the night: download the flyer/poster and display it in you place of work or play.

by adelayde -

February 2012: V for Vendetta

Join us in February, when we shall be showing the film V for Vendetta and discussing when it is right for the people to rise up in solidarity against governments that no longer represent them.  The shadowy freedom fighter known only as V uses terrorist tactics to fight the totalitarian state. V finds a potential ally in Evey, whom he rescues from the secret police. The film, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, explores issues of power, repression, and resistance. V’s Guy Fawkes mask has become the symbol of the Occupy Movement and the Anonymous hacker collective.

Doors open at 7PM and we’ll be showing a selection of media activist and citizen journalist produced film shorts until 7.30pm:

V for Vendetta showing starts at 7.30PM sharp after which we shall table a discussion on the various themes raised in the film.

Evening finishes at 10PM, at which juncture we may ajourn to a local ale house for continued discussion and refreshment.

OARC, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD

Donations £3 (nobody refused for lack of money).