Bringing factual features to the capital’s cinemas each week, the DocHouse Thursdays season continues at the Prince Charles with the first UK screening for Semper Fi: Always Faithful, followed by a satellite Q&A with directors Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon. Their hard-hitting picture follows veteran US marine turned activist Jerry Ensminger’s quest for justice after his daughter died from leukaemia in 1985. A decade later, it was revealed that drinking water at the military base the family used to call home was polluted with carcinogens.
Next Thursday’s outing takes place at both the Kilburn Tricyle and Brixton Ritzy. Boasting the tagline ‘2 Friends. 8 Bombs. 1 FBI Informant’, Better This World is a disturbing look at how a pair of youthful Texan anti-war protesters found themselves facing domestic terrorism charges. The Tricycle event includes a discussion with British filmmaker Brian Hill, who helmed last year’s Channel 4 exposé Confessions Of An Undercover Cop.
There’s a double bill at Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios and Hackney Picturehouse on March 22, comprising contemporary California punk/stoner profile Dragonslayer, which scooped a Best Documentary gong at SXSW 2011, plus the short film Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul.
This month’s programme concludes at Rich Mix on March 29 with a preview of Radiohead-soundtracked festival favourite The Island President, which trails now-deposed Maldives leader Mohammed Nasheed as he battles against the global warming-induced rising tides that threaten to sink his nation. Stay tuned for tQ’s full verdict when the film opens nationwide on Friday March 30, and be sure to check the DocHouse website for more information.
