Documentary Archive

  • Producers JOHN BATTSEK (Restrepo) and CHARLES STEEL (The Last King of Scotland) chat about their new movie, FIRE IN BABYLON, a big-screen documentary charting the supremacy of the West Indies cricket team in the late 70s and 80s. **FIRE IN BABYLON is in UK cinemas from 20 MAY MMM: What order did the cricketers you interviewed come on board? Steel: They all played hard to get! It was about getting Clive [Lloyd] and Viv [Richards] on...

    John Battsek & Charles Steel – Fire in Babylon

    Producers JOHN BATTSEK (Restrepo) and CHARLES STEEL (The Last King of Scotland) chat about their new movie, FIRE IN BABYLON, a big-screen documentary charting the supremacy of the West Indies cricket team in the late 70s and 80s. **FIRE IN BABYLON is in UK cinemas from 20 MAY MMM: What order did the cricketers you interviewed come on board? Steel: They all played hard to get! It was about getting Clive [Lloyd] and Viv [Richards] on...

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  • Director ANDREW THOMPSON is used to filming in hostile environments, but that was no preparation for the risks involved in making his feature-length documentary MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN in Zimbabwe. The film follows Mike Campbell, a 74-year-old farmer who dares to take Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to an international court over the country’s ‘Land Reform’ policy. Set against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential elections, Mugabe and the White African is a powerful tale...

    Andrew Thompson – Mugabe and the White African

    Director ANDREW THOMPSON is used to filming in hostile environments, but that was no preparation for the risks involved in making his feature-length documentary MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN in Zimbabwe. The film follows Mike Campbell, a 74-year-old farmer who dares to take Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to an international court over the country’s ‘Land Reform’ policy. Set against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential elections, Mugabe and the White African is a powerful tale...

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  • Cuba, an isolated island of 11 million people, has dominated the world of Olympic boxing for the past 40 years, notching up 63 medals including 32 gold. Just how this impoverished country achieved such results was unknown outside Cuba until first-time British director ANDREW LANG gained unprecedented access to the Havana Boxing Academy to make his film Sons of Cuba. The hand-picked group of 10-year-old boys who attend the Academy eat, breath, and sleep boxing. Lang’s film...

    Andrew Lang (director-producer) – Sons of Cuba

    Cuba, an isolated island of 11 million people, has dominated the world of Olympic boxing for the past 40 years, notching up 63 medals including 32 gold. Just how this impoverished country achieved such results was unknown outside Cuba until first-time British director ANDREW LANG gained unprecedented access to the Havana Boxing Academy to make his film Sons of Cuba. The hand-picked group of 10-year-old boys who attend the Academy eat, breath, and sleep boxing. Lang’s film...

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  • In her latest feature documentary Dirty Oil, director LESLIE IWERKS goes behind the scenes of Canada’s oil sands industry to uncover the impact of Alberta’s ‘black gold rush’ on its residents. Narrated by Canadian actress Neve Campbell, Dirty Oil premieres in the UK on 15th March, before opening throughout the UK on the 19th March. MMM: How did you get involved with Dirty Oil? Iwerks: First of all, it’s a story that hasn’t really been...

    Leslie Iwerks (director) – Dirty Oil

    In her latest feature documentary Dirty Oil, director LESLIE IWERKS goes behind the scenes of Canada’s oil sands industry to uncover the impact of Alberta’s ‘black gold rush’ on its residents. Narrated by Canadian actress Neve Campbell, Dirty Oil premieres in the UK on 15th March, before opening throughout the UK on the 19th March. MMM: How did you get involved with Dirty Oil? Iwerks: First of all, it’s a story that hasn’t really been...

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  • Inspired by writer ERIC SCHLOSSER’s Fast Food Nation, new documentary Food, Inc lifts the veil on the food industry. Film journalist Jan Gilbert caught up with Schlosser during his recent trip to London where he chatted about veggie libel laws, the huge cost of legal bills, and Polish hog factories.         MMM: How much of an issue was finding funding to make Food, Inc Schlosser: Funding was a difficulty because we really...

    Eric Schlosser (writer, producer) – Food, Inc

    Inspired by writer ERIC SCHLOSSER’s Fast Food Nation, new documentary Food, Inc lifts the veil on the food industry. Film journalist Jan Gilbert caught up with Schlosser during his recent trip to London where he chatted about veggie libel laws, the huge cost of legal bills, and Polish hog factories.         MMM: How much of an issue was finding funding to make Food, Inc Schlosser: Funding was a difficulty because we really...

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  • British documentary filmmaker DAVID SINGTON has an enviable track record, with a host of producer credits for prime-time factual programmes broadcast around the world, a Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and a Grierson Award for Best Science Documentary to his name. Sington talks to film journalist Jan Gilbert about his film In the Shadow of the Moon, which won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and brings together...

    David Sington (writer-director-producer) – In the Shadow of the Moon

    British documentary filmmaker DAVID SINGTON has an enviable track record, with a host of producer credits for prime-time factual programmes broadcast around the world, a Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and a Grierson Award for Best Science Documentary to his name. Sington talks to film journalist Jan Gilbert about his film In the Shadow of the Moon, which won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and brings together...

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  • Leading British producer STEPHEN WOOLLEY has spent a lifetime steeped in movies, from tearing cinema tickets in 1970s London to producing a string of award-winning box-office hits including The Crying Game and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Film journalist Jan Gilbert catches up with Woolley to find out about Sounds Like Teen Spirit, an irresistible feel-good film which follows four young singer-songwriters from across Europe on their road to the Junior Eurovision finals....

    Stephen Woolley (producer) – Sounds Like Teen Spirit

    Leading British producer STEPHEN WOOLLEY has spent a lifetime steeped in movies, from tearing cinema tickets in 1970s London to producing a string of award-winning box-office hits including The Crying Game and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Film journalist Jan Gilbert catches up with Woolley to find out about Sounds Like Teen Spirit, an irresistible feel-good film which follows four young singer-songwriters from across Europe on their road to the Junior Eurovision finals....

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  • BAFTA-nominated British director JAMIE JAY JOHNSON has made short films about the MiniGolf World Championships, holidaying in his bedroom, and Eric the Eel, the slowest swimmer in Olympic history. But for his first feature film, Sounds Like Teen Spirit, he turned his attention to Junior Eurovision, the world’s biggest annual song contest for young people. Johnson talks to Movie Mundo about backing losers and shedding tears. MMM: With so many countries and contestants involved in...

    Jamie Jay Johnson (director) – Sounds Like Teen Spirit

    BAFTA-nominated British director JAMIE JAY JOHNSON has made short films about the MiniGolf World Championships, holidaying in his bedroom, and Eric the Eel, the slowest swimmer in Olympic history. But for his first feature film, Sounds Like Teen Spirit, he turned his attention to Junior Eurovision, the world’s biggest annual song contest for young people. Johnson talks to Movie Mundo about backing losers and shedding tears. MMM: With so many countries and contestants involved in...

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  • Director TERENCE DAVIES places Liverpool, the city of his youth, at the heart of much of his work, from his powerful Trilogy through his debut feature Distant Voices, Still Lives to the Palme d’Or-nominated The Long Day Closes. Since adapting Edith Wharton’s The House Of Mirth for the big screen, he’s been away from the director’s chair for eight years. Now he’s back in the spotlight with Of Time And The City, a visual ode...

    Terence Davies (director) – Of Time and the City

    Director TERENCE DAVIES places Liverpool, the city of his youth, at the heart of much of his work, from his powerful Trilogy through his debut feature Distant Voices, Still Lives to the Palme d’Or-nominated The Long Day Closes. Since adapting Edith Wharton’s The House Of Mirth for the big screen, he’s been away from the director’s chair for eight years. Now he’s back in the spotlight with Of Time And The City, a visual ode...

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  • In their teens, Toronto school friends STEVE ‘LIPS’ KUDLOW and ROBB REINER made a pact to rock together forever. The result was heavy metal band Anvil. Over the years they influenced a musical generation including Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. But instead of selling millions of albums like those bands, Anvil’s career took a nosedive into obscurity. Now in their 50s, the Canadian rockers are back with their thirteenth album and their first film, Anvil! The...

    Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow & Robb Reiner – Anvil! The Story of Anvil

    In their teens, Toronto school friends STEVE ‘LIPS’ KUDLOW and ROBB REINER made a pact to rock together forever. The result was heavy metal band Anvil. Over the years they influenced a musical generation including Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. But instead of selling millions of albums like those bands, Anvil’s career took a nosedive into obscurity. Now in their 50s, the Canadian rockers are back with their thirteenth album and their first film, Anvil! The...

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