News & Events

Here we aim to keep you updated on shoots, videos, great new reads, meetings, workshops, events and screenings. It’s been five years since we started this inspiring project with hundreds of volunteers putting in thousands of hours and at last we have a great documentary feature film as well as this portal.

We have some more great videos too, with excellent lectures from the Glasgow Beyond a Boundary conference, a terrific launch video filmed at the Oval featuring Selma James, several filmed legacy lectures, an introductory video, an on the streets filmed survey and numerous Liverpool Black Jacobins conference videos, all featuring. Thank you so much to eveyone who has contributed to date.

Having screened in Chicago in the summer, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that our film on C.L.R. James has been invited back again to the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) in New York, due to popular demand! Our film will screen on Saturday 1st December at 1pm. Tickets are available on the festival website here.

Every Cook Can Govern has just screened at Cornell University (see info here) and featured at Sembene: The Film & Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, PA’s 10th International African Film Fest. You can see a clip of our film in the festival preview here.

Many of you will know that ArtMattan Productions and the Facets Cinematheque are presenting the 16th Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival on June 8-14-with a selection of thought provoking foreign and independent films, that will have their premiere screening in the Windy City. So we are very pleased that they will be screening our documentary on C.L.R. James, Every Cook Can Govern, at 6.30pm on Monday 11 June at the Facets Cinémathèque (1517 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago). More details are available on the festival website here. Tickets are $15 for Opening Night and $10 general admission.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that our film on C.L.R. James has been selected as part of the 25th annual African Diaspora International Film Festival being held in New York City from November 24 to December 10, 2017. More details are available on the festival website here.

Join us on Saturday 11th November at 4pm at the BMECP Centre (10A Fleet Street, Brighton, BN1 4ZE) for the Brighton premier of Every Cook Can Govern. This free screening will be followed by a Q&A with Co-Director Ceri Dingle. Please note, this screening looks set to fill up very quickly, so book now to avoid disappointment. Places are easy to book here. Refreshments will also be available.

This is a rare opportunity to have a workshop with the film’s director and consider: James belief in agency, his love of Shakespeare, Marxism, movies and cricket, his revelations on the slave revolts, anti-colonialism and opposition to World War 2. To add to this, Ceri Dingle will also talk about the making of an historical documentary, crowd filming, the use and abuse of history, reinvigorating conceptions of man as history maker and film as a learning tool. This workshop will take place in Exeter (Room TS3 Alexander Building – New North Road, EX4 4LA) and you can book your tickets here.

Scott McLemee, cultural critic and C.L.R. James scholar, interviewed Ceri Dingle for Inside Higher Ed, on how Every Cook Can Govern was brought to fruition. Read the full interview here.

We’re delighted the Lancashire Premiere will take place on Sunday 10th September at 5pm at Texture, 67 Lever Street, M1 1FL followed by a Q&A with producers Fraser Myers and Marisa Pereira. Given CLR Jame’s life-changing time in the area this is fantastic news. Seats are easy to book here. 

On Friday 18th August at 7pm, we’re hosting a free screening of Every Cook Can Govern at the WORLDwrite centre in Hackney, London E5. There will be a Q&A afterwards too with Ceri Dingle (Co-Director). Please note, this screening looks set to fill up very quickly, so book now to avoid disappointment. Places are easy to book here.

We are delighted that Every Cook Can Govern was nominated for a Learning on Screen award by the British Universities Film & Video Council. Though it didn’t win, the judges praised our film ‘for the incredible range of content explored and its excellent use of archive material.’ The full judges’ comments can be found on their website here.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s annual literary festival, will be screening Every Cook Can Govern at 1pm on Thursday 27 April in the AV Room of the National Library in Port of Spain. The screening will be free and open to the public. More details are available on the festival website here.

The first screening of Every Cook Can Govern in South Africa will take place at the University of the Free State on Thursday 20th April at 6pm. RSVP to conradiems@ufs.ac.za

On Saturday 8th April at 3pm, we’re hosting a free screening of Every Cook Can Govern at the WORLDwrite centre in Hackney, London E5. There will be a Q&A afterwards too with Ceri Dingle (Co-Director). Please note, this screening looks set to fill up very quickly, so book now to avoid disappointment. Places are easy to book here.

Come along to the WORLDwrite centre in East London on Thursday 2nd March 2017 at 7.30pm for a free screening of Every Cook Can Govern. To book a place, please fill in the form here.

We are absolutely thrilled our film has been selected to screen for its USA premiere at this major festival in Los Angeles which runs from  9^th-17^th February 2017.  More details are available on the festival website here.

We’re delighted the film will screen at the University of the West Indies on 27^th January 2017 and are honoured that Professor Robert Hill, Literary Executor of C.L.R. James will introduce the film and event. For more details click here.

At last a Hackney premiere! We are thrilled to be screening the film at the Hackney Picturehouse on Sunday 20th November at 8.30pm. There will be a post-screening Q&A with Directors Ceri Dingle and Rob Harris. To book your tickets, please visit the Hackney Picturehouse website here.

Brixton Library are screening the film with an introduction by Ceri Dingle (the film’s Co-director), on Friday 11th November at 7.30pm. For further information about this event, please contact Brixton Library on 020 7926 1058 or email BrixtonLendingLibrary@lambeth.gov.uk

We’re delighted the Kent Premiere will take place on Tuesday 8th November at 6.30pm at Canterbury Christ Church University, Powell lecture theatre (Pg09), North Holmes Road, Canterbury, CT1 1QU followed by a Q&A with Co-director Ceri Dingle. The event is free-entry but please click here to book your ticket.

Then on Tuesday 1st November at 7pm the film will screen at the GLA in Committee Room 5, Lower Ground Floor, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, SE1 2AA. This event is free and open to all, but space is limited so booking is essential. To reserve your free place, please email Richard.Reddie@london.gov.uk

The first Scottish screening will take place at the Radical Book fair on Friday 28th October at 3pm at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 30-38 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh, EH6 8RG. The event is free-entry, for more information, please click here.

Then we are screening the film at Queen Mary University in the Arts One Building, Lecture Theatre, Mile End Rd, E1 4NS on Wednesday 26th October at 6pm with a tremendous Q&A panel including Ceri Dingle (the film’s Co-director), Robbie Shilliam (Professor in International Relations) and Bill Schwarz (Professor in English). This event is free and open to all, but the organisers have kindly arranged for a collection on the door for our charity. Please click here to reserve your free place.

Our first university premiere is next, hosted by London South Bank University with a Q&A with Co-director Ceri Dingle on Wednesday 26th October 2016 at 1.30pm. Venue details:Elephant Studios Cinema (Room L294), London Road Building, London Road, London, SE1. This event is open to the public and free, but space is limited so booking is essential. Click here to reserve your free place.

We’re delighted the next major screening of our film is at the Battle of Ideas festival at the Barbican on Saturday 22nd October at 13.30. Professor Selwyn Cudjoe will introduce the film. Click here for screening details. There are amazing debates either side of the screening (including From Black Panthers to #blacklivesmatter: race in America, Decolonising education: is the curriculum ‘too white’?, Soweto to #RhodesMustFall: the changing face of South African resistance, Trump: the rise of The Donald, to name just a few of the 90 sessions taking place with 400 speakers). It’s worth coming to see the film and investing in a weekend ticket. For full details and tickets click here.

We are delighted that our documentary, Every Cook Can Govern, has been selected to feature along with a panel discussion at the 2016 Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. Click here for more information.

WORLDwrite is delighted to be screening Every Cook Can Govern at the Ritzy in Brixton on Wednesday 17^th August at 6.15pm. There will be a post-screening Q&A with Directors Ceri Dingle and Rob Harris, which will be hosted by writer and lecturer Dr Graham Barnfield. To book your tickets please visit the Ritzy website here.

We are delighted that the East Midlands Salon is screening Every Cook Can Govern on Tuesday 21st June at 5.30pm at One Friar Gate Square, 8 Agard Street, Derby, DE1 1D. Tickets are available on Eventbrite here. Hope to see some of you there!

WORLDwrite is delighted to present the Tottenham premiere of Every Cook Can Govern in partnership with The Selby Trust. We hope you can join us on Friday 10th June at 7pm at The Selby Centre, Selby Road, Tottenham, London, N17 8JL, for a unique chance to see the film. The event is free-entry but please ensure you book your seats here.

If film lights your fire or you just want to help out with the promotion of this major documentary on the life of an extraordinary figure, then this meeting could be exactly what you’re looking for! To ensure our film makes a world-wide impact, we need volunteers to brainstorm ideas to promote the film. Come along to our centre on Thursday 26th May at 7.30pm for a free screening followed by a brainstorming promotion session, where your ideas will certainly count. Please visit our Team London page to sign up. We’d love to hear from you!

As our launch screening of  Every Cook Can Govern got booked out straight away, we have arranged a second showing and would be thrilled to see you there! This is the first feature-length documentary to explore the life, writings and politics of the great Trinidad-born revolutionary C.L.R. James who died in Brixton in 1989. We hope you can join us on Saturday 23rd April at 12pm at Rich Mix (a terrific cinema!) in Shoreditch for a second chance to see the film. This is not a free event as the cinema hire is really expensive but we are subsidising tickets by paying half the costs which is all we can scrape together, but hope this will mean you can afford to join us there and bring family and friends. Please book your tickets here.

This is the first feature-length documentary to explore the life, writings and politics of the great Trinidad-born revolutionary C.L.R. James who died in Brixton in 1989.  The film interweaves never before seen footage of C.L.R. James with unique testimony from those he knew, alongside interviews with the world’s most eminent scholars of James’ life, work and politics.

From colonialism to cricket, from Marxism to the movies, from slavery to Shakespeare – James’ ideas, we learn, were shaped by a voracious love of reading and belief in mankind as history makers.  James devours the Western canon and celebrates the contributions of so-called ‘Dead White European Males’ to the best of what has been thought and said. He remains an uncompromising anti-colonialist and anti-Stalinist, unafraid to criticise the failures of his own mentees, including Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President

This is just to say happy New Year to our friends and supporters. C.L.R. James Project volunteers are now at the edit stage of what promises to be a very comprehensive feature documentary. We have hours and hours of amazing interviews and footage and we will shortly be announcing a big one day watch-a-thon to go through the first lengthy rough cut for everyone’s thoughts on honing it down, so watch this space! This little video outtake of the ever helpful and incredibly knowledgeable writer on C.L.R. James, Christian Hogsbjerg, is just to say CHEERS!

With only a few final interviews to shoot we are now at the edit stage of what promises to be a very comprehensive documentary on the life, works and impact of C.L.R. James. We are also thrilled to have been offered exclusive access to an interview with C.L.R. James in San Fernando, Trinidad filmed in the 1980’s and never previously screened! During this long interview, C.L.R. reflects on his life and works and even reads from his masterpiece, The Black Jacobins.

We will be discussing the interview transcripts at the crew meeting this coming Wednesday 28th October, 7.30pm at the WORLDwrite centre and reviewing sample clips we’ve been sent. The transcripts are available to read here and do email us if you can make it to the meeting.

Sadly the production team who shot this interview want paying for the footage and can’t afford to just let us have it. This is rather scary as we’re skint. So if you think this project is worthwhile, please chip in with a tenner or more on our JustGiving link here. We are determined to make our film tip-top and with this footage and your support to help pay for it, we can. Can you afford a big donation, £1000 or more? We’ll make sure you feature in the movie credits and invite you as a VIP to the premiere. You’ll never regret it.

We are thrilled that Rob Harris, the C.L.R. James Project Coordinator, has won an Oscar style honour and award for his remarkable work as a WORLDwrite volunteer!

With more than 20 major global youth exchange programmes, over 800 Citizen TV reports and 11 unique documentaries all made with thousands of young adults in the last 21 years, the charity has plenty to celebrate. We hope you will celebrate with us by voting for programmes, contributors and reporters you think deserve Oscar status for their remarkable work. There are 14 categories and you can decide who gets a medal here. Don’t forget to give us a birthday treat too! Just visit our JustGiving page here. We think 21 years of putting people first deserves it and our C.L.R. James documentary in the making needs you to dig deep.

Filmed Public Lecture & Portal Launch: C.L.R. James and opposition to WWII

Wednesday 8th April, 7.00pm at HATCH, Homerton E9 6AB

An alternative lecture on C.L.R. James and other writers’ opposition to WWII with James Heartfield, lecturer, journalist and author of Unpatriotic History of the Second World War.

In a 1940 pamphlet entitled My Friends: A Fireside Chat on the War, C.L.R. James rejected entry into the Second World War and parodied Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats “My friends, why does the President want us to fight?…..Tell me, Mr. President, what democracy do I defend by going to fight Hitler? Hitler is a vile criminal and should be driven off the face of the earth. But I have no democracy and the democracy I haven’t got Hitler didn’t take from me. I know all those who have been taking away democracy from me and my people……..all of them aided by you, President Roosevelt……”

To discuss this rare and principled opposition by C.L.R. James and other writers, we are delighted to be hosting this filmed public lecture on Wednesday 8th April at 7.00pm at the exciting new venue HATCH, Homerton, a 1 minute walk from Homerton station.

We are also launching our C.L.R. James knowledge portal on the night and serving complimentary platters and snacks.

Tickets cost £7/£4 and as spaces are limited, it is wise to book as soon as possible. Please note that the entrance fee will help towards venue and film costs for this exciting event.

Tickets can be booked online via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/filmed-public-lecture-portal-launch-clr-james-and-opposition-to-wwii-tickets-16285204485

James Heartfield, a lecturer, journalist and author of Unpatriotic History of the Second World War, will be interviewed on C.L.R. James’ opposition to World War 2 and the abolition of slavery debate. This is part of our multi-media project on the life, works and impact of C.L.R. James. Please email us right away if you would like to be behind the camera, but you will need to complete an online application form here.

If you are interested in becoming a C.L.R. James volunteer and Citizen TV maker, this introductory evening is for you. On the night we’ll give you an overview of our work, explain our next volunteer-learner package and answer your questions. This meeting is a must for everyone wishing to volunteer and you’ll need to apply in good time as places fill up quickly. Click here to apply.

An existing crew has been meeting monthly for the past two years to familiarise themselves with C.L.R. James work. At this meeting we will be discussing books written by various individuals on C.L.R., who could make great subjects especially for a shoot in the USA. Volunteers will be introducing these and suggesting possible questions. Meeting attendees and active volunteers will get priority places on all shoots, so email us if you are interested in attending this crew meeting.

Our feature length documentary is running at full speed and the crew are now filming key people for the final film. We need volunteers to transcribe several major interviews which will be used by the post-production team to select from and weave the final film together. This work will also help you become familiar with this documentary project and a lesser known hero-for which many shoots are yet to come. Please email us if you can help out.

At this introductory meeting we will be discussing some of C.L.R. James’ key works with new volunteers keen to catch up and get on board. This meeting may also be useful for older crew members as a ‘refresher’. Please email us if you can attend.

We aim to complete our C.L.R. James documentary by late summer 2015, but there is plenty to do! There are key subjects to shoot, research to do, copyright to obtain and this knowledge portal to complete. If you are available for the whole day or a few hours, please let us know and we’ll rope you in to great effect. Email us if you are available on these dates as we really need all the help we can get.

This is an intensive training day where you will learn the basics of camera-work, lighting, sound, to be able to shoot actual pieces for the final C.L.R. James film. Meeting attendees and active C.L.R. James volunteers will get priority places. Please email us right away, to see if there are spaces, but you will need to complete an online application form here.

An alternative lecture and discussion on factors which lead to the end of slavery. Were C.L.R James and Eric Williams right? Despite its profits, was slavery an inherently unstable system and outdated mode of production? With slaves dying like flies and rebellion on the cards was abolition ultimately a matter of economics? What role did moral objections play and what did William Wilberforce really have to do with it?

In his seminal work Black Jacobins C.L.R. James tells us “Despite the names that were to become so famous….we must beware of thinking that the ‘Friends of the Negro’ represented a force.”

Eric Williams in his book Capitalism and Slavery tells us “The commercial capitalism of the eighteenth century developed the wealth of Europe by means of slavery and monopoly. But in so doing it helped to create the industrial capitalism of the nineteenth century, which turned round and destroyed the power of commercial capitalism, slavery, and all its works. Without a grasp of these economic changes the history of the period is meaningless.”

This fascinating discussion will be introduced by journalist, lecturer and author James Heartfield.

Please arrive in time for drinks and complimentary snacks. This event will take place at the exciting venue, known as Chats Palace,  (42-44 Brooksby’s Walk,London E9 6DF. see map) a 5 minute walk from Homerton station.

Tickets cost £7/£4 and can be booked online via https://clr-alternative-lectures.eventbrite.com. As spaces are limited, it is wise to book as soon as possible.

See you at the event!

This is a key interview for the final C.L.R. James film with Dr Christian Høgsbjerg, an historian and teacher based in the UK, which has specialised his research on the life and work of C.L.R. James. For background see CLR James in Imperial Britain, where Hogsbjerg chronicles the life and work of C.L.R. during his first extended stay in Britain, from 1932 to 1938. Hogsbjerg will come and visit us at WORLDwrite, Hackney, to share his many insights into James. Please email us right away if you would like to be behind the camera, but you will need to complete an online application form here.

This is a filmed workshop at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) with two talks, one on Mangrove 9, the conflict between the police and the black community in Notting Hill at the start of the 1970s, followed by one on the Brixton Riots in the 1980’s. There are a few places available for those joining the C.L.R. James crew. Those attending will need to be at the Black Cultural Archives (1 Windrush Square, Brixton, SW2 1EF) at 1.30pm. Please email us, to see if there are spaces.

We aim to complete the C.L.R. James documentary by late summer 2015, but there is plenty to do! There are shoots to plan, research to do and copyright to complete. Meeting attendees and active volunteers will get priority places on all shoots, so email us if you are interested in attending this crew meeting.

On this weekend we will go through all the film and archive material (C.L.R. James speaking in interviews, newsreel footage of events during his life and historical montage reels) which we have collected to select clips that may be good for our documentary. This footage we hope will enhance the story we aim to tell and bring his works and their context to life. Click here to view the schedule for the footage we’ll be showing. We’ll be screening from 10am to 9pm on Saturday 20th and from 10am to around 6pm on Sunday 21st at the WORLDwrite Centre in Hackney. Whether you can attend for a few hours or all weekend, email us so that we can set up accordingly.

On Wednesday we will be arranging our very final shoots, which include presenting in beautiful London locations, and terrific interviews. Please do attend the meeting so that you can get involved, shoot, or star in our fantastic documentary.

We aim to complete the C.L.R. James documentary by late summer 2015, but there is plenty to do! There are shoots to plan, research to do and copyright to complete. Meeting attendees and active volunteers will get priority places on all shoots, so email us if you are interested in attending this crew meeting.

We need your help NOW for our big event-in August 2015. It will be 21 years since the launch of WORLDwrite and to mark the occasion we are hosting a twenty first birthday party, with guest speakers and screenings. A highlight of the evening will be the WORLDwrite Awards Ceremony, where we will honour star volunteers and guest contributors from the last two-decades. We are looking for volunteers to work on and set up the Awards night. Please email us if you can help out.

If you fancy a bit of history, a taste of ‘revolutionary’ heritage, or just want to find out about this documentary project as a one off, this meeting at the WORLDwrite Centre is for you! Come along, meet some of the crew, get the latest project news and then decide what you’d like to do to help out. If you would like to join our C.L.R. James crew & can attend the meeting please email us.