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.

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.

 

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.

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.

January 2012: Tillsammens (Together)

On Sunday 8th January we’ll be screening Tillsammens, a feel good comedy drama set in a Swedish commune in the 1970s.

One house; one revolutionary; two open straight marriages; three gay people (maybe four); three children; two carnivores and eight vegetarians; there’s only one way they’re going to make it… and that’s together (or tillsammens as the Swedish say).

As usual, we will also be showing a collection of the latest independent citizen produced short films and pieces from around the web.

Note for January 2012, this is screening on the second Sunday of the month (we thought we’d take New Year’s Day off!)

Doors open at 7pm, with shorts showing between then and when the main film starts promptly at 7.30pm followed by discussion.  The evening ends at just before 10pm, where 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).

Download and print a copy of Janiary’s flyer to display in your window or at your place of work, study or play.

November 2011: All Power to the People

On Sunday 6th November starting at 7.30pm, we present All Power to the People, the story of the Black Panthers, a prominent group in the Black Power movement: their origins, their grassroots community work, their willingness to confront police brutality and racism, and the extreme tactics used by the government to crush them.

Doors open at 7pm, film starts promptly at 7.30pm followed by discussion.  The evening ends at just before 10pm, where 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).

 

June 2011: RIP! A Remix Manifesto


RIP! A Remix Manifesto
Join OARC for a Sunday Screening on 5th June. Does sharing music make you a pirate? Should remixing our common cultural heritage be illegal? Doesn’t human knowledge belong to the world?

Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.

Trailer and downloads at: http://ripremix.com/