A MOVIE festival dedicated to “what film can be, how it can be seen and what kind of discussions it can begin” will premiere next month in Scotland’s biggest city.
Glasgow will host the inaugural Radical Film Network Festival and Unconference from April 29 to May 2, with satellite events across the country.
The programme will include a number of screenings and community events aimed to “showcase a diverse range of work in alternative exhibition spaces” throughout Glasgow, with spin-out screenings scheduled in venues throughout Scotland.
These include the homes of city “personalities and film lovers” and a “nomadic” street installation exploring migration issues.
WHO IS BEHIND IT?
THE Radical Film Network (RFN) was established in 2013 when activists, academics, filmmakers and programmers from the world of radical film met in London to discuss its future development and sustainability.
Since its humble foundations, popularity for the cause has soared and now the RFN is affiliated with 98 organisations in 19 countries across four continents. Some of these organisations consist of artists’ studios, distributors, film festivals and exhibition venues.
Following a lower key conference in Birmingham in 2015, this year’s event will be co-ordinated by David Archibald, a film lecturer at Glasgow University and academic journal writer on radical film, and by Frances Higson, an award-winning producer who has worked with actor and director Peter Mullen on films including Orphans and The Magdalene Sisters.
Higson also directed United We Will Swim ... Again, which tells the story of protests against the closure of Govanhill Baths in Glasgow, the biggest community occupation of a civic building in UK history.
WHAT CAN I GO TO SEE?
THERE’S a lot to choose from, with a multitude of different events taking place. The opening “unconference” and orientation will be held at Glasgow University on Friday, April 29, when radical film enthusiasts will be welcomed with tea, maps, and brochures to get them prepared for the weekend ahead.
Meanwhile, Dr Lars Kristensen from the University of Skövde in Sweden will lead an open group cycle from Glasgow Bike Station in Finnieston after a presentation on the progression of radical cycling culture.
At the Glasgow Women’s Library on Saturday, April 30, is an event looking at the history of feminist documentaries, archiving and filmmaking charting the progress of the women’s movement. The east end centre is the only one of its kind in the UK, boasting a massive collection of materials and artifacts that celebrate the history and achievements of women.
On Sunday, May 1, there will be a Love Music Hate Racism concert at Glasgow Queen Margaret Union with instrumental three-piece Machines In Heaven and special guests.
Another key event involves the screening of a film about the indigenous Misak people of Colombia, who seized back their lands from the state – and a discussion on how this could apply to urban Scotland.
TELL ME MORE
THE Misak tribe were robbed of large chunks of their home during Spanish Colonial rule before devising their so-called “Life Plan” to take back the territories in the 1980s and live off the land. The Life Plan is the concept that residents should have a say over what happens within the community and not the state, an idea which has now spread to other Latin American areas.
Now more than 20 years since they started to reclaim the lands, the Misak community has all of its former homeland back and has created its own seat of learning, Misak University.
To reclaim their land, the tribe used similar occupation tactics used by Govanhill residents in retaliation to the closure of the public baths in 2001. Protesters occupied the building for 147 days before police removed them and the facility, now a community hub, is back in local hands, with plans to reopen to swimmers in 2018.
Speaking in the documentary about her people’s struggle, Misak leader Liliana Muelas said: “We don’t want a development plan. What we want is a life plan.
“And what is life for us? It is territory, our languages, our own customs, our oral traditions.
“The state brings its development plan model with its specific projects and we say, ‘No Mr State, that is your model.’”
For more information, visit http://radicalfilmnetwork.com/
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