Bringing People Together
ARTICLE: Power to Change - Frontline Club, Paddington, London UK
June 6th 2022, The Frontline Club, London
The Frontline Club is a media club in Paddington that champions independent journalism.
It was founded in 2003 by Vaughan Smith, a freelance video journalist and sustainable farmer, to honour colleagues who had died pursuing their work at the front lines of war. He realised that freelance and other conflict journalists had nowhere to meet in London, and wanted a place for them to “sit around the fire and tell stories.”
On Monday 6th June 2022 the Frontline Club hosted a screening of Power to Change with a panel moderated by Sahar Zand, a journalist and filmmaker who has fronted and produced a range of award-winning stories from across the world, for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, and Vice.
As fate would have it, there was a major public transport strike planned for the same day as the screening, but even so there was an excellent turnout and a good atmosphere as people gathered in the cosy bar area which has a permanent display of artefacts and memorabilia, and a photographic exhibition that includes iconic images from some of the world’s finest photographers.
The Frontline Club usually features documentaries that shine a light on conflicts around the world, but today the focus was on an issue closer to home: knife crime and serious youth violence affecting London and other urban areas of the UK.
Power to Change approaches this topic from a unique angle, not pointing fingers or apportioning blame, but looking at an individuals power to make the right choices, given the tools and encouragement to do so.
The film was followed by a lively audience Q&A. On the panel we were lucky to have Paul Bloomfield, trustee of the Desmond Tutu foundation, and Lorraine Jones, founder of Dwaynamics, along with Director Wendy Lewis.
Afterwards, everyone moved downstairs to chat and network. Errol then delighted the crowd with a series of his spoken word poems, a wonderful culmination to an inspiring and informative evening.
Photos by Nitesh Mistry (Mistry Arts Ltd).
