Welcome to the real world – film club documents true lives

Alfred Hitchcock once said: "In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director." Thankfully, generations of documentary filmmakers have not been discouraged by Hitchcock's talk of divine intervention and in fact, the genre is going through a period

of resurgence.

There are already a number of film festivals devoted to documentaries operating around the UK – and with significant representation in the Yorkshire region. Sheffield's annual DocFest is now one of the leading events in the country and both the Bradford and Leeds International Film Festivals feature documentary strands in their programming.

Whatever the reason for the revival – theories vary from the dearth of such features on today's celebrity-and-reality-obsessed television to our need to re-engage with the world around us – it is to be welcomed.

The internet has opened up new opportunities for filmmakers to cut out the middlemen and approach investors directly for finance rather than going through the lengthy process of getting backing from a network TV commissioning editor or an independent producer. The subjects addressed also tend to be more challenging dealing with issues such as climate change, the morality of war, child poverty and social injustice.

It is partly as a response to the importance of discussing these issues that a new documentary film group has been set up in Ilkley.

"It began very informally about three years ago and grew out of a discussion group that was founded for the Make Poverty History campaign," explains Supriyo Chatterjee, a founder member of the group which is made up mostly of filmmakers and academics.

"That in turn became the Global Justice group and then last year we decided we would like to expand and bring in more people, so we formed the Ilkley Documentary Film Group. We screened a couple of films last year and got a good response, so now we would like to reach out to a wider audience."

This weekend, the group is launching a series of screenings that will take place on the third Sunday of every month at the Ilkley Moor Vaults pub in Ilkley.

"The idea is that we show films that you wouldn't otherwise easily see," says John Thirlwell, director of independent production company Trading Pictures, who is another of the group's founder members.

"The subtitle for the group is Less Told Stories and that's really what we are aiming to do – help tell the stories that don't necessarily get a wide airing and introduce the work of those filmmakers to a larger audience."

After the screening, the audience is invited to stay and discuss the film and the intention is to also invite a speaker who has a connection with the film shown – either in the making of it or someone who has been directly affected by the issues it deals with.

Last year when the group screened Black Gold, about the injustices of the multi-billion dollar coffee industry and the plight of impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers, they invited an Ethiopian student who is studying at Leeds University to speak about his own experiences. "It was absolutely fascinating," says Thirlwell. "That is the value of documentary, it triggers really useful discussion and people are able to share knowledge and experiences."

The film itself has had a huge positive influence on redressing the imbalance of power within the coffee industry.

The series of screenings opens with The Time of Their Lives, directed by Jocelyn Cammack, which premiered at Sheffield DocFest, about three extraordinary women living at a residential home for the active elderly. With a combined age of nearly 300, they are among the home's oldest residents yet are still committed to their individual passions. Hetty, 102, is still attending anti-war demonstrations, Rose, 101, writes a weekly newspaper column and 88-year-old author Alison is working on her next book. Other films include Men of the City which explores London's square mile, The End of the Line about the devastating effect of overfishing, and the multi-award-winning Burma VJ charting the efforts of heroic Burmese reporters.

If the screenings prove successful, the group intend to show more documentaries – and now there are plenty to choose from.

The Time of Their Lives will be screened on Sunday, January 24 at 7pm at The Ilkley Moor Vaults pub, Stockeld Road, Ilkley LS29 9HD. Voluntary contribution of 3 to cover screening costs. Less Told Stories, Ilkley Documentary Film Group. http://lesstoldstories.

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