Festival Event
Films You Never See
The 3rd Insight Festival 2011 brought together films and audiences from across the world for a weekend spectacular of screenings, discussion and debate. Filmmakers of all faiths and none presented work from around the world, exploring and challenging aspects of religion and belief.
Some Festival highlights…
The Insight Festival Lecture
This year’s Insight Festival Lecture was be given by critically acclaimed author and screenwriter, Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions, 24 hour Party People). Frank has worked with everyone from Michael Winterbottom to Danny Boyle, and discussed his approach to his work in the lecture titled Special Effect: The joy and pain of having a counter cultural set of beliefs.
To celebrate its partnership with the Insight Film Festival and the inaugural Framing British Muslims competition, Radical Middle Way was proud to present special screenings of two highly acclaimed, award-winning feature films as part of Insight 2011:
UK PREVIEW: KINYARWANDA
KINYARWANDA (Rwanda/USA, Dir: Alrick Brown, 2011) tells the story of faith in the face of unspeakable horror. It is 1994 and as Rwanda becomes a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis came together to protect each other. KINYARWANDA interweaves six different tales based on true accounts from survivors who took refuge at the Grand Mosque of Kigali and the madrassa of Nyanza.
This special preview screening was the first time the film had been shown in the UK. KINYARWANDA was the Winner of the World Cinema Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and most recently Winner of the Grand Prize at the Skip City D-Cinema Festival on Saitama, Japan.
The screening was followed by a special panel discussion on the contemporary challenges of representing faith in film, featuring filmmaker Deatra Harris and Founding Director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival, Imruh Bakari.
 A ROAD TO MECCA
A ROAD TO MECCA: The Journey of Muhammad Asad (Austria, Dir: Georg Misch, 2008) explores the life and legacy of one of contemporary Islam’s most engaging, fascinating and formidable figures. Born Jewish, but eventually converting to Islam, the film traces Asad’s spiritual journey, from the Arabian desert to Ground Zero, visiting the places where Asad lived and travelled. A ROAD TO MECCA challenges deeply rooted Western prejudices by revealing the distance between fundamentalist beliefs that support terrorism and the core beliefs of a profoundly humane religion.
A ROAD TO MECCA was awarded the 2008 Jury Award at the FIDADOC Film Festival in Morocco and the Best Cinematography Award at the 2008 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Films.
This special presentation was made possible by the generous support of the Austrian Cultural Forum UK.
 Film Programme
The 3rd Insight Festival 2011 received a record number of submissions, and with entries open internationally for the first time, this year’s screenings were more exciting than ever. Films included: Caretaker for the Lord – a bittersweet documentary about a crumbling church in Glasgow, Kosher – a comedy about a little Jewish boy who befriends a pig, and My Lad – a gripping drama about British Muslims in the North West of England, and many more…
 Workshops
BBC writersroom is always on the lookout for fresh, new, talented writers of any age and experience with an original voice and great stories to tell. On Sunday 4 December they hosted a session as part of the Insight education programme. Henry Swindell, New Writing Manager for BBC writersroom North, gave an informative and inspirational talk about getting into screenwriting. See workshops
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