New RAH! Podcast Episode: Manchester Crime and Justice Film Festival (and Transcript)

This episode explores Crime and Justice in the 21st Century by looking at the upcoming Manchester Crime and Justice Film Festival which will be taking part from the 18th March to the 4th June.

In particular we will explore:

• What is the role of film in changing or reinforcing perceptions?
• How can we give voice to marginalised groups?

Featuring:

Kevin Wong and Gavin Bailey about the full festival program.

Charlotte Gislam and Rebecca Wyne Walsh about their film choices for the festival and how film can expose the grey areas in crime and justice today.

Siobhan Pollit from Back on Track about the charity’s partnership with the Film Festival and their work in giving voice to marginalised communities.

Read along while you listen! Find the full episode transcript below.

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the RAH! Podcast belong solely to the speaker, and are not necessarily reflective of the views of Manchester Metropolitan University, or to the speaker's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

(scroll down for episode transcript) 

Check out the full Manchester Crime and Justice Film Festival Programme

Crime and Justice Learning Fair

Date: Wednesday 18th March 2020

Time: 1pm – 5pm

Location: Geoffrey Manton Building

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Doing what ‘it says on the tin’ the Fair will provide opportunities for criminal justice professionals, volunteers and service users to find out more about what we all do in an informal and relaxed environment.

I Believe in You (1952)

Date: Wednesday 18th March 2020

Time: 5pm - 7.30pm

Location: LB01, Number 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Our opening movie is a forgotten 1952 Ealing Classic with a title that captures the essence of the lead character - the sympathetic probation officer played by Cecil Parker, looking out for a troubled young man and woman played by Harry Fowler and Joan Collins.

American Psycho (2000)

Date: Wednesday 25h March 2020

Time: 5.30pm - 8pm

Location: LB01, Number 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Based on the 1991 Brett Easton-Ellis novel, this cult movie charts the life of wall street banker and serial killer Patrick Bateman and has been described as a neo-noir satirical psychological horror film.

Student Choice: Shoplifters (2018)

Date: Wednesday 1st April 2020

Time: 5.30pm - 8pm

Location: LB01, Number 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Chosen by PhD student Charlotte Gislam. Shoplifters (2018) gives audiences a different perspective on crime families. The Shibatas, living in the outskirts of Toyko, gain no status through their crimes, which are motivated by desperation. The film examines right and wrong, found family, and which crimes are worse than others.

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Date: Saturday 25th April 2020

Time: 11.30am - 3.30pm OR 1.45pm - 5.30pm

Location: Greater Manchester Police Museum

Tickets: £3 - Available on the Online Shop

In partnership with the Greater Manchester Police Museum. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play police officers attempting to solve a series of mysterious deaths in a West Country village. Includes tour of Greater Manchester Police Museum.

Fan’s Choice: Twelve Angry Men (1957)

Date: Wednesday 6th May 2020

Time: 17.30pm - 20.00pm

Location: LB01, Number 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Chosen by fans from last year’s festival. In this classic American courtroom drama, twelve men deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing them to question their own morals and values.

Le Trou (The Hole) (1960)

Date: Thursday 14th May 2020

Time: 17.30pm - 20.00pm

Location: LB01, Number 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Directed by French legend Jaques Becker and hailed as a masterpiece by Francois Truffaut, Le Trou is based on a novel by an ex-con, and in turn, on a real-life escape from Le Sante prison in Paris.

La Isla Minima (Marshland) (2014)

Date: Wednesday 20th May 2020

Time: 17.30pm - 20.00pm

Location: Instituto Cervantes

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

In 1980, Madrid homicide detectives Pedro Suarez and Juan Robles are sent to a 'backwater' town on the Guadalquivir Marshes in Spain's 'Deep South' to investigate the disappearance of two teenage sisters during the town's festivities.

Prisoner’s Choice: In the Name of the Father (1993)

Date: Thursday 21st May 2020

Time: 17.30pm - 20.00pm

Location: No 70 Oxford Street

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

In partnership with education organisation Novus and HMP/YOI Thorncross, In the Name of the Father was chosen by learners at HMP/YOI Thorncross. A man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.

Closing Event: Rex Bloomstein Documentaries

Date: Thursday 4th June 2020

Time: 15.00 - Crime and the camera; 17.00 - A Second Chance

Location: No 70 Oxford Street

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

We are very pleased to announce that acclaimed documentary film-maker Rex Bloomstein will be closing this year’s festival with two special events. In Crime and the Camera, Rex will show excerpts from his considerable body of work, explain the motivations behind his features and the recount challenges of filming difficult subjects. In A Second Chance, Rex will explore the transformative power of work for those who genuinely want to change. The film tells the heart-breaking and uplifting stories of both serving and ex-prisoners struggling to turn their lives around.

RAH! Podcast – Episode 015: 'Manchester Crime and Justice Film Festival' Transcript 

RAH! Opening Jingle

Ellie Beal: Hello, and welcome to the RAH! podcast at Manchester Metropolitan University. My name is Ellie Beal. This episode will explore crime and justice in the 21st Century by looking at the upcoming Manchester Crime and justice Film Festival, which will be taking place from the 18th of March to the 4th of June. In particular, we will explore:

·        What is the role of film in changing or reinforcing perceptions?

·        And how can we give voice to marginalised groups?

First, I'll speak to Kevin Wong and Gavin Bailey about the full Festival programme.

Kevin Wong: Okay, so I’m Kevin Wong, the name of the first really is to provide an alternative take on crime and justice in the 21st century, using film as a way to explore that.

Ellie: Then I'll speak to Charlotte Gislam and Rebecca Wynn Walsh about their film choices for the festival, and how film can expose the grey areas in crime and justice today.

Rebecca Wynn Walsh: The antihero as the hero, protagonists who are by and large the bad people but who you are also asked to identify with. Brings up a lot of interesting questions about what is wrong and who gets to make that decision.

Ellie: Finally, I’ll speak to Siobhan Pollitt from Back on Track about the charity's partnership with the film festival and their work in giving voice to marginalised communities.

Siobhan Pollitt: Hi, I'm Siobhan Pollitt. I'm the chief exec at an independent charity called Back on Track. And we work with people who have convictions, problems with drugs, alcohol, mental health and homelessness.

Ellie: You can join the conversation on Twitter by hash tagging #RAH_Podcast.

 

RAH! mini jingle

 

Ellie: I'll be talking today with Kevin Wong and I'm also joined by Gavin Bailey. So I just wanted to talk to you guys today a little bit more about the history of the festival, which is reasonably recent. It was – began last year and you’re into your second year.

Kevin Wong: The idea of the festival really is to provide a way of engaging with the general public around issues related to crime and justice. But using film as a vehicle for exploring that and for maybe getting at some of the more hidden problems or issues around criminal justice, which generally are not dealt with or – or discussed in the general media.

Gavin Bailey: A film from many, many years ago, potentially decades ago that you’re really kind of enthusiast about, and you can be thinking, why isn't everybody seeing this?

Kevin:  First opening movie, which will be on the 18th of March and also, that's the same day as we have our crime and justice networking and learning fair. The brief that we've tried to give to people when they've chosen the movie is about giving an alternative take to crime and justice in the 21st century, right, and to get behind some of the issues which tend not to receive the kind of exposure that we might see, you know. And and some ways there isn't - there doesn't seem to be the space for that sort of public discourse around crime and justice and whether maybe - that we as researchers working in this area would like to see it tends to be - Yeah, I suppose very generalised. It tends to be kind of terribly emotive - and that's what kind of fuels a lot of the discussion around crime and justice. And I think the - the film festival is a space for ideas to be explored and to engage with the public in a way that – that - that can involve them in that discussion.

So the second movie being shown is American Psycho, this movie was chosen by our, kind of, sociology colleagues, Dr Jenny van Hooff and Dr Mike Salinas. They're planning to use it as a way of exploring some of the things around masculinity, consumer culture, and one that I'm kind of interested in, which they’ve described as the - the eradication of emotion from dating.

The one after that is one of our - our students - student choices, Shoplifters.

Ellie: A nice contrast that as well isn’t it, something like Psycho which is you know, masculinity, capitalism and Americanism, and then that film which much more about kind of poverty, domestic sphere.

Gavin: It’s really interesting, you know, how people survive at the bottom

Kevin: So then we're taking a bit of an Easter break. Hot Fuzz which is a kind of a comedy and it's being hosted by the Greater Manchester Police Museum which is based in the Northern Quarter. You get the movie you get a sort of Q&A with Katie and Helen who work at the museum as curators, okay, at the museum.

Gavin: With all the all the other films it feels like you know there’s deep kind of sociological meaning in something like Scum and American Psycho, whereas Hot Fuzz?

Laughter

Ellie: Where does the Devonshire criminal sit within this spectrum?

Gavin: And it’s incredibly silly!

Kevin: It’s okay actually! Oddly enough, I do think that it does explore issues around policing. Then Neil has written this book – has written a book about Hot Fuzz will be talking from a kind of film studies point of view about Hot Fuzz.

Ellie: It's quite - like it's, like quite, kind of, self-reflective, isn’t it? Like it’s using - it’s kind of playing with genre and English genre and crime and justice -

Gavin: Yeah

Ellie: And stuff like that. So it’s giving all these sorts of nods to, you know, Bergerac and you know those types of kind of, you know, programmes we used to watch when we were kids that were all set in the country.

Gavin: Yeah

Ellie: And Midsomer Murders, yeah all of that sort of stuff is kind of being nodded to isn’t it?

Gavin: Midsomer Murders, absolutely. You know, the least safe place to live anywhere in the country is obviously a little village somewhere.

Ellie: Yeah kind of pastoral prime.

Kevin: Then the then after that, what we're planning to do is - another key partner Novus, so they are an organisation that provide education in prisons. So what we're going for, is we're going for a Prisoner’s Choice Movie. Novus have liaised with HMP YOI Thorn Cross, which is a prison for young offenders near Warrington in Cheshire. And they’re going to run a workshop with some of the learners in the - in the prison and to ask them to choose the movie between themselves. And then the theme really is about well, if you were to choose a movie, what movie takes you away from the prison. And hopefully – we are hoping that they'll also give permission for one of the learners to be released on temporary licence, to actually come to the event to actually talk about their reasons why.

Ellie: We're kind of connecting with the outside world again, isn't it? Yeah. Sharing movies.

Kevin: Yeah that’s right, yeah. So the next movie we're showing after that is Twelve Angry Men and that's been chosen by Professor Shadd Maruna. And then the - the next movie is a – is a foreign movie, a foreign language movie, Le Trou which is -

Ellie: Not heard of that one

Kevin: is a sort of prison escape movie, I think. That's the base of it anyway. It's been chosen by Professor Mike Nellis from Strathclyde University.

And then another foreign language movie is - it's been so chosen by the Instituto Cervantes.

Gavin: Marshland in English

Kevin: Yeah that’s right. Yes Marshland yeah.

Gavin: Two missing girls.

Kevin: And so the final – the final kind of final event. We also have a double event there, which involves Rex Bloomstein, who is - well, I mean we’ve sort of described as a veteran for documentary filmmaking.

Gavin: There was the premiere of a new documentary called A Second Chance, which is about the Timpson programme for prisoners to kind of get trained while inside -

Ellie: Learn new skills.

Gavin: In order that they can then get a job when they come out.

Kevin: The film follows some of those people who've gone through been supported by the Timpson programme.

Gavin: That has kind of expanded into a longer event, where there's also – Rex is going to talk about his long career in making films about prisons.

Kevin: That film will be introduced by Sir Martin Narey and Sir Martin Narey used to be the former director of prisons, and former director of Chief Executive National Fender service. What's interesting is that in 1981, Martin actually watched the Rex Bloomstein documentary about Strangeways, which in fact, you know, what’s called Manchester prison now. Right. And it was after watching that movie that Martin was sort of prompted to consider a career or to work in the prison service. That's the closing sort of double bill -

Ellie: Right

Kevin: For the for the festival.

Ellie: Sounds like a fascinating programme.

 

RAH! mini jingle

 

Ellie: So we're going to be talking to Rebecca Wynn Walsh and Charlotte Gislam - winners of a competition to choose a film for the 2020 segment of the festival next year and a 2021 segment as well. So we're going to be talking to these guys. Hello.

Rebecca Wynn Walsh: Hello.

Charlotte Gislam: Hello!

Ellie: Welcome. Welcome.

Charlotte: Thank you for having us!

Ellie: That’s no problem at all! So let's start with Charlotte then. Tell us a little bit about then - the film choice that you made for the festival and why.

Charlotte: Yes, so I've chosen to present Shoplifters, which is by Hirokazu Koreeda, which came out in 2018, which is based in Tokyo. I've got a real interest in Asian cinema. There's a lot of different traditions. It started become quite interested in how the family was being presented, like to be part of the family is to be within this unit, and to be included in this cool crime committing stuff. A family, bound by crime, but maybe not as illustrious, as you'd see in, like, the Godfather, which is what Shoplifters is. It's a film that looks at how these - each individual member, who are - who are not bound by blood, but are bound by the crimes that they commit, are drawn together. And I just thought it was a really, really interesting exploration into how crime is seen on the poverty line, so to speak. There isn't any authority or more crime, essentially. You don't see police officers, for example, throughout the entirety of the film. They just don't exist. Which allows them seemingly to get away with quite a lot of shoplifting and a lot of petty crime. But yeah, they're there on the breadline. And there's a lot of issues in terms of making ends meet and - and just surviving really, which is what draws them towards the crime committing.

Ellie: Let’s talk to Rebecca about her film that she chose, which is – this is for the 2021 Festival.

Rebecca: I don't think my film could be more different than Charlotte’s if it tried. So it's a kind of what I would consider to be a classic example of 1970s New Hollywood cinema directed by Sidney Lumet.

Ellie: And it’s Dog Day Afternoon

Rebecca: Dog Day Afternoon, yes sorry! So Al Pacino leads this kind of hapless gang of criminals to take hostage and rob a bank. It's so interesting because it's very far from this concept of Ocean's Eleven. These guys do not know what they're doing. They make a mess of absolutely everything. They set off the fire alarm. They need to go find help for hostage who has asthma. They're just ultimately very kind people who need money. So it starts off as quite this socially conscious drama. And then, in a turn of events that's so far from what you could imagine this film would be about, it suddenly becomes a film not about class, but about gender and sexuality, and kind of social groups that are existing on the fringes of a society that's changing, and that doesn't know how to deal with the changes. So even though it is from the early 70s, it's very resonant now. And it handles some kind of dense issues about gender identification, sexuality, class struggle, that are very pertinent still today.

Ellie: And it sounds like there actually is quite a lot of contrast between that sort of film in the 70s and say something like Ocean's Eleven. Where perhaps the - the criminal as a kind of glamour figure, somebody who is sort of, in some way, pushing back against a form of society, like the casino, or the uber rich but is, in fact, actually also deeply connected to it.

Rebecca: Yeah, almost the criminals and Ocean's Eleven, they are part of the uber rich world, they succeed because they blend in so well with that. Whereas in Dog Day Afternoon, the very point is they’re at odds with any kind of social structure and it’s these people, the misfits of society, and where do these people fall when they do fall through the cracks?

Ellie: And this seems to be the two things that connect these two films. Yeah, isn't it? That they’re talking about underclass or a maligned class in some way? And one of the things that this festival aims to, I guess, address, you know, questions around crime and justice, what do we consider to be a crime? Is there parts of the film that you think are kind of trying to tackle that problem?

Charlotte: Yes, definitely. Koreeda actually has done an interview where he speaks about why he tackles crime and kind of the way he does in the film. So he's interested in the way the Japanese society sees crime as an individual kind of thing, that it’s committed by an individual, that if you deal with the individual and you put them away, then you've dealt with the crime and it's sorted. Rather than it being something that's a level of societal kind of issues, that there - there's some structure that leads people to do these crimes to survive.

Ellie: Are there elements of that that are being examined in Dog Day Afternoon?

Rebecca: I think there are definitely elements of that to be seen. We come to learn that their motivations are based on wanting to make lives better for their loved ones. There is a danger that you should always be aware of, in terms of, films exists by and large in a closed narrative. There's a villain and there's a hero. It's easy to watch a film and leave it feeling satisfied with the end and - and not wanting to pursue the ideas that are introduced any further. So I think what comes out as a benefit from having a full Crime and Justice Film Festival, rather than just a screening, is that you're thinking about these films in dialogue with each other. It's encouraging people to think about these films in a wider context, and why it's so important to make films about crime and justice, but to talk about them, and to talk about what they're - what the real world reference are, that are making these films so relevant.

Ellie: Yeah, because at least one of the reasons why the festival is kind of latched on to this idea and tried to create this festival is that, you know, we often discuss crime and justice in terms of black and white. And that actually, these films show us, you know, those sort of grey areas interconnectedness between, often the justice system and criminality is often, you know, much deeper and darker and more embedded than we'd often like to admit ourselves.

Rebecca: Yeah, I mean, I think a big proponent of - of the grey areas, I guess, that are becoming more and more relevant when we talk about crime and justice is the growing popularity or kind of the ubiquity now of the antihero as the hero in film and television. Protagonists to are, by and large, the bad people, but who you are also identify with, brings up a lot of interesting questions about what is wrong and who gets to make that decision.

Ellie: Yeah, and I guess there's – both of your film choices are talking about that as well, aren't they? Because they are marginal characters. They are characters that are, you know, on the fringes of society, that are oppressed in some way, or disconnected, or not achieving in the way that they were promised they would achieve. Charlotte, you said in your film, the police didn't really exist, or that certainly not a huge factor in that.

Charlotte: Yes.

Ellie: What type of message using the film's trying to make with that?

Charlotte: I think it's - the absence makes them more invisible, as - as characters, the actual Shiabatas, the family, because there's no one to look out and catch them and nobody seems to really care too much. They're just made to feel more like society doesn't care, that unless they're doing something really, really bad, then realistically, society is going to leave them alone, which actually is more devastating than anything else because they can't - they don't have access to any kind of help that maybe a system could give.

Rebecca: I think you brought up a really good point about accessibility to social aid and social care as well. And that being such a key proponent of why crime grows in certain communities. Such a massive reason why these people kind of spiral out of control, I guess, these characters, is not only lack of access, but being shut out of institutions that could help them.

Ellie: Is that - is that kind of something that's in, you know, Dog Day Afternoon in a different way? I mean, is law a presence?

Rebecca: Yeah, so, no it's a very big presence. So because it is a set around a hostage situation, law enforcement are called in but what's really interesting is that the police officers become the bad guys. A crowds of just bystanders develop outside the bank and is on the side of the thieves, who are kind of presenting themselves as, kind of, Robin Hood figures and - and saying that they're standing up against a system that is almost built to shut them out. In that sense, the thieves become the voice of the common man who gathers around the bank and support. The police become the hapless people who are the criminals, you know, in the popular sense. So it's - it's an interesting play on the different roles that different people play in society and who - who can be made a hero at different points.

Ellie: I wonder if you could tell me a little bit more about what it is that attracts you to these films maybe personally or also in terms of kind of like your research?

Charlotte: My PhD research covers artificial intelligence, spatial storytelling and digital games, as essentially how we can tell better stories through using artificial intelligence. Part of my research is on spatial storytelling and looking at the spaces of video games, and it's something that I'm also interested in film. So, Shoplifters shows space in a really interesting way. Shoplifters and closes in really, really tightly on its family. Everything is very much in the case of small, close ups on hands, on - on feet, on doorways, on maybe a street level, but never anything wider than that. You don't really move outside of their area where they travel and where they move to.

Ellie: Sort of the domestic space.

Charlotte: The familial kind of -

Ellie: The familial space, the domestic space. Yeah sort of, the local shops, the holiday space, and that's, you know, where crime is occurring.

Ellie and Charlotte: Yeah, rather than –

Charlotte: Dark alleys

Laughter

Ellie: Dark alleys or huge metropolises or you know, you know, the things that we may be cued into recognising in crime films.

Charlotte: Yes, crime is something that happens in the home, it happens in in in local spaces. It doesn't - it can it can happen anywhere.

Rebecca: I'm doing a film studies PhD within the English department. I kind of specialise in films within specific social or political contexts and try and ascertain how those films reflect or speak back to - or are direct product of the socio cultural context they come from. Film opens up a lot of really interesting discussions. And it's a very accessible way for people to talk about very dense issues. So I think talking about something as difficult, but as important as crime and punishment in today's society, it's a little easier to do that when you pair it with a film screening. It's just really important to open up those discussions as to who - yeah, who we classes, the criminal, and are they always the ones that aren't necessarily at fault in the situations they're in?

Ellie: I just wondered if we could spend the last few minutes talking a little bit more about the festival itself. Rebecca, you mentioned something about the film choice.

Rebecca: The prisoner choice?

Ellie: Yes. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Charlotte: From what I've been told, there's going to be a short film showing before each of the main showings which is made by a prisoner, which I think is absolutely amazing –

Ellie: Oh wow!

Charlotte: And fascinating. Just because you've been put into prison doesn't mean that you're not creative, and that you can't make something that can speak to people. So I think that's going to be a really beautiful, wonderful part of the film festival.

Rebecca: The theme of the kind of the discussion we've been having today has been marginalised groups, and maybe the lack of a voice that's dealt with in those marginalised social groups. But having a prisoner made film shown before each one is literally giving voice to people who may have otherwise been silent in this dialogue, so that's really exciting.

 

RAH! mini jingle

 

Ellie: I'm visited again by Kevin Wong and we are also joined today as well by Siobhan Pollitt, who is from independent charity Back on Track. If I could just start off with Siobhan. Could you tell us a little bit more about this charity and some of the kind of projects that you do and how it links to the film festival?

Siobhan: So Back on Track’s been around for about 40 years in one form or another. And we run a Learning Centre. We work with people who faced all kinds of disadvantage and including people with convictions, but also people who struggle with drugs and alcohol, mental health, and homelessness. The Learning Centre provides an opportunity for people to think about the future, and learning really is the vehicle to help people think about what their skills and talents are. But also to think that - that the things that happened to them in their lives so far, do shape them as a person, but they're not the entirety of that person and there's more to learn about themselves and more to offer. We also have a lot of volunteering opportunities where they're taking on new challenges, new responsibilities, and that can help people work towards the goals that they want. And then the final bit of what we're trying to do is to work with communities and different sectors to give the people that come to our service a voice about what needs to change. So arts and culture is a huge part of our learning programmes, it enriches people's lives, learning new things, discovering things, as individuals as well. Part of that process of identity change that is so important to us. Often people are defined by the problems they present to other people. Through arts and culture, people can discover new talents and new things about themselves. They - they can become a photographer, or a poet, or an artist, and that's, that's really fulfilling for people.

Ellie: That sounds great, it sounds like some very worthwhile work you do there. How did you end up Siobhan end up becoming involved in the Manchester crime and justice Film Festival?

Kevin: In thinking about the film festival, one of the things we wanted to do is - the aim of the festival is to provide an alternative take on crime and justice in the 21st century. Part of that is also about, I suppose, providing opportunities for organisations like Back on Track. On the opening day of the film festival, we have a crime and justice networking fair, where we have a lot of professionals from prisoners, probation and other charities will be coming to the fair and then go on to - to the see the opening movie after that. Back on Track have very graciously offered to provide the catering at that event.

Siobhan: One of the aims of the catering business is to provide job opportunities for people. So we employ people who've been to our services in that catering business, and some of them it's a stepping stone to other jobs. The other side of the catering business was about perception change. And it's a really good way of just challenging those perceptions that people have got of the abilities and capabilities of people who've had those difficult starts. But in terms of the film festival, I think it's a really important statement as well that the film festival is supporting local organisations who are making a contribution in this in this area. We're really keen as well on the - the film aspect of it. I think film is such a powerful medium. It’s such a direct and meaningful way to - to just get people to think a little bit differently. Filmmaking done well is such a brilliant way of helping people understand, create empathy, compassion.

Ellie: And I can see how the bringing those two things together. You know, in a time where people already questioning perhaps their – their previous or their misconceptions around –

Siobhan: Yeah

Ellie: around crime. To bring in, you know, some of the charities do the catering.

Siobhan: Yeah

Ellie: and things like that at the same time. It just seems like a perfect form for people to really sort of think about what their perceptions are.

Siobhan: Yeah and what people's potential is, if the right conditions are created. And that's - that's what we all need to be thinking about, you know, how do we create those conditions to allow people to reach their potential.

Ellie: And it is important to tackle the fact that like, these films do change people's perceptions, they can give insight into the situations that breed the need for people to maybe break the law or whether that’s for survival or whatever. But you know, it is a cold, hard fact that film also creates negative perceptions. And that must be, like another, I suppose, the other side of the interesting conversation that comes out of this festival is, you know, where are the misconceptions or biases, maybe being promoted or exaggerated into a narrative around people and their social situation?

Kevin: The point is well taken that, you know, potentially film has both the - the ability to create a positive view of individuals and people, but also it could also do the opposite as well. You know, it could - it could portray negative stereotypes about activity about what people do. So I think we are kind of alert to that.

Ellie: The context of which they were made also needs to be highlighted at certain points, because, you know, politically, socially, these things change, you know, the system itself, the law system changes as well as, you know, people's social circumstances that require them to live in certain ways or commit certain things. But there is, you know, one of the things that is coming from doing this podcast is there is a sense of, you know - having to use a level, at least, of kind of compassion and tact when dealing with some of the issues of these films tend to throw up.

Siobhan: And I think the problems arise when people don't - don't have the depth of understanding about the reasons that - that people arrive in those situations. And - and the films that I feel are more authentic are the ones where the person does have that genuine understanding. It's about humanity, isn't it? I think the problem is sometimes, in the portrayal of people who've committed crimes is that that incident is taken as the most significant thing about them and the most significant thing in their life. And that becomes - that defines them completely. So films that take the time to – to - to understand that human being, that's where you can really change, you know, people's perceptions and help people understand.

Ellie: Is this something that you see a partnership you see growing into sort of further projects and things?

Kevin: Yeah I’d hope so! I mean, for example, as part of our master's programme, we often have a, sort of, an internship that some of our students, our master students will spend time with a criminal justice organisation.

Ellie: Right okay.

Siobhan: Yeah, absolutely. And those experiences are great for us. And I think great for the students who come and work with us. And the research produced is really interesting for us as well, you know, and can help us to think about our service and our approach, and it's always really useful to get that perspective from people.

Ellie: Great. Thank you ever so much for coming in again, Kevin, and it's been lovely to meet you Siobhan. I’m very much looking forward to the festival.

Kevin: Thank you.

Siobhan: Thank you.

 

RAH! mini jingle

 

Ellie: Thank you for listening to this RAH! podcast covering the Crime and Justice Film Festival.

This episode has been about the important role that film plays in our perceptions of crime and justice. In this episode, I spoke to Kevin Wong and Gavin Bailey, the organisers of the festival, about some exciting events aimed at investigating our fascination with crime and justice on screen.

I also spoke to Charlotte Gislam and Rebecca Wynn Walsh. Charlotte and Rebecca spoke about what they thought was important about films, such as the 2018 film Shoplifters, and the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon, in helping us to understand the social complexities of crime.

Finally, I spoke to Siobhan Pollitt from the charity back on track about the role of the arts and humanities in helping to develop the educational and vocational opportunities of disadvantaged adults, some of whom have been involved with the crime and justice system. Siobhan spoke about the relationship between the Crime and Justice Festival and Back on Track, and how the festival has been an important part of giving voice and opportunity to the marginalised groups she works with.

Thank you for listening. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for future podcast updates. You can find us at @mmu_rah. For more information on all the research and events we discussed in this episode, please go to the RAH! website for full links. Tune back in soon for more episodes.

 

RAH! closing jingle

 

Ellie: This episode of the RAH! Podcast was presented by Ellie Beal, edited by Oliver Cochrane, mixed by Julian Holloway and produced by Lucy Simpson.