DocHouse Thursdays

From September, join us on DocHouse Thursdays to see why truth is more fascinating than any fiction.


DocHouse has joined forces with the Rich Mix, the Tricycle and Riverside Cinemas to bring the very best in award-winning international documentary to your doorstep. Screenings will also include exciting one-off events: director Q&As, panel discussions, workshops and/or short films.


There’s a new strand every month, launching in September with ‘David v Goliath’: three films that focus on individuals who dare to take on the Goliaths of social exploitation. The documentaries offer independent insights into major global issues, from street violence to deforestation and the bloody side of mobile phones. The season opens with Steve James’ award-winning The Interrupters and a lively panel, followed by Up in Smoke and Blood in the Mobile later in the month.


THE INTERRUPTERS, Riverside Studios, 8th Sept 7.30pm. Followed by a panel discussion.
Steve James / 2011 / USA / 125’
Special Jury Prize – Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011


If The Wire’s urban tapestries were real, they might look like this **** - Total Film
A breath-taking account of efforts to end the epidemic of violence in Chicago’s impoverished black communities. Acclaimed director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) follows the ‘violence interrupters’ who have curbed their own troubled pasts to try and protect their neighbourhood. We follow the impassioned representatives from the CeaseFire Project as they battle against the relentless bloodshed of modern gang culture to provide an option of real hope.


UP IN SMOKE, Tricycle Cinema, 15th Sept 8.30pm. Followed by a director Q&A.
Adam Wakeling / 2011 / UK / 70’
Special Mention – Sheffield DocFest 2011


Slash and burn farming is an environmental catastrophe on the rise. Around 250million domestic tropical farmers use the technique that gives a year’s fertile soil, which then washes away with the next year’s rains, perpetually forcing growers into fresh rainforest. Deforestation accounts for more carbon emissions than all international transport, and slash-and-burn accounts for around half of that. But there is an answer. Cornish scientist Mike Hands has been working with a sustainable solution in Honduras for the past 20 years. We follow his struggle to break the devastating cycle and challenge international agricultural agencies.




BLOOD IN THE MOBILE, Rich Mix, 22nd Sept 8pm. Preview screening followed by a director Q&A.


Frank Piasecki Poulsen/ 2010/ Denmark/ 85’


Justice Award – Cinema For Peace Festival 2011


We can’t live without our mobile phones, but their production has a dark and bloody side. Minerals used to make our mobiles come from mines in the Eastern DR Congo, funding a brutal civil war responsible for around 5 million deaths, atrocious child labour and some 300,000 rapes in the last 15 years. It’s a war that will continue as long as armed groups can trade the minerals. Director Frank Poulsen travels to Congo and gets access to its largest illegal tin-mine, where enslaved children dig for days in narrow tunnels. He then tries to confront Nokia, the world’s largest phone company. Are they implicated in trading 'conflict minerals'?


COMING SOON… October’s films are in association with Black History Month, with special screenings of cutting-edge documentaries exploring Africa’s past, present and future.


PRICE: £9 (£7 concession).


DOCHOUSE: The UK Centre for Documentary in the Cinema. DocHouse has been supporting and promoting independent documentary films and filmmakers for a decade, with screenings of outstanding international documentary films, masterclasses and events with leading documentary filmmakers, training courses in association with the NFTS and Dochistory events held in partnership with the BBC. www.dochouse.org


RIVERSIDE STUDIOS CINEMA: Riverside has been working with DocHouse for many years and it's a pleasure to see the audience's appetite for documentaries grow. Now we're joining forces with two other independent cinemas to offer the pick of international documentaries on a regular basis. It's official - Thursday is Docday on the London cinema circuit! Shira Macleod, Cinema Director, Riverside Studios. Box Office: 0208 237 1111 www.riversidestudios.co.uk


TRICYCLE THEATRE & CINEMA: We’re delighted to be part of DocHouse Thursdays, working in collaboration with Riverside Studios and Rich Mix to provide a platform for the fantastic programming of DocHouse. The Tricycle always strives to present work which exposes injustice and responds to contemporary political issues and we look forward to introducing our audiences to this series of compelling documentaries. Nicolas Kent, Artistic Director, Tricycle Theatre. Box Office: 020 7328 1000 www.tricycle.co.uk


RICH MIX: We look forward to starting this exciting partnership with DocHouse and two fellow independent London cinemas - The Tricycle and Riverside Studios. DocHouse Thursdays will enable us to give interesting and diverse documentaries the platform to tell their, often untold, stories to new audiences. Jane Earl, Chief Executive, Rich Mix Cinema and Arts Centre. Box Office: 020 7613 7498 www.richmix.org.uk