STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
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Vigilante feminism
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a unique piece of investigative journalism undertaken by the Japanese victim of rape herself
Shiori Ito in Black Box Diaries
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
GORDON PARSONS is fascinated by a unique dream journal collected by a Jewish journalist in Nazi Berlin
Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
Black Box Diaries (15)
Directed by Shiori Ito
JAPANESE film-maker and journalist Shiori Ito is an astounding and exceedingly brave young woman who used her journalistic skills to investigate her own sexual assault to bring her well-connected, high-profile attacker to justice, while exposing Japan’s outdated judicial and patriarchal systems.
Written and directed by Ito herself, this documentary follows her courageous and tumultuous journey through secret investigative recordings, verite shooting and emotional video diaries. Unfolding like a thriller, it is a powerful and heart-wrenching account as Ito is both victim and investigative reporter, and the vilification and persecution she underwent after going public in May 2017 about being raped was extraordinary.
She was denied a criminal prosecution against her alleged offender, a leading television journalist who had close ties with Japan’s then-prime minister Shinzo Abe, due to supposed lack of evidence. Instead, she pursued a civil trial and also wrote a book about her experience in order to help other women.
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