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Month: June 2019

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion

Year In Review 2019: Activities Officer Lizzy Haughton

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Lizzy Haughton has had an eventful year as Activities and Development Officer for the University of Manchester Students’ Union (SU).

Responsible for improving societies, student groups, and student development, Haughton has focused a lot of her time on climate activism this year, which led to her arrest in November for “wilfully obstructing the highway”.

The same activism has also seen the launch of the Zero-Waste shop in the SU, one of the few Officer-based initiatives that has earned the Union a profit. Overall, Haughton used the majority of her £1,425.62 spend on materials and supplies for the shop, although £1,000 was allocated from a different Union department, so her net spend was £425.62.

This means she used only 5.3% of the total Officer budget.

Haughton’s attendance for her scheduled meetings was 79.3%, making her fifth-best of the eight Officers.

In terms of her manifesto, Haughton has had mixed success, but the areas in which she has performed better have been in sustainability. Her pledges on the SU website include: “Create an efficient platform for societies to advertise events and increase membership”, “increase the number of places outside of the University to shelve The Mancunion“, “provide better accessibility to all student events and activities”, “improve sustainability in the SU and around University”, “set up a zero-waste shop in the SU”, “set up a Community Fridge in the SU”, and “make the SU more affordable by bringing in more deals on food and drinks”.

Haughton has set up the aforementioned Zero-Waste shop, which features a community fridge, and has also improved sustainability in the SU by bringing in more recycling points, as well as introducing VegWare plates and cups in the Union’s food outlets, which are biodegradable.

However, Haughton has not worked on improving the spread of Mancunion shelving locations, and has had little input on an advertising platform for societies. It’s also unclear what direct input Haughton has had on making SU food more affordable and improving accessibility on society events.

In a statement to The Mancunion, Haugton highlighted her successes to include the Zero-Waste shop and to also improve “sustainability on campus this year, which has been at the loss of some other things but has meant that a large network of people has been strengthened across the Union and the University, including the Single-Use Plastics group, the University-wide Divestment Strategy group, the Green Impact team, and a strong network of students and lecturers involved with Extinction Rebellion”.

“My budget has almost entirely gone on my main manifesto points for this year, with a very financially-efficient Go Green Week which was also supported by donations, as well as some money being spent on my Sustainable Christmas Fair (which wasn’t so successful but have definitely learnt from my mistakes this time around).

“Most of my budget went into the zero waste shop which was always planned to go back into my budget once the shop made it back, which it has done!”

Haughton, along with Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan, will continue in her post next year and said in her re-election campaign she would keep sustainability as her “number one goal” for 2019-20.

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion

Year In Review 2019: Education Officer Olivia Meisl

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Olivia Meisl has enjoyed a very active year as Education Officer at the Students’ Union (SU).

She attended 97% of her scheduled meetings, spent just 3.6% of the Exec’s budget, and successfully helped introduce the new Postgraduate Students’ Officer role for 2019/20.

Meisl’s £298 spend was mainly on travel for the Lessons From Auschwitz programme, which she visited in November.

The remainder of the spend has been on catering for the Education Committee, of which she is Chair. However, the Committee have only met three times this year, with the last one taking place in early January.

Meisl’s manifesto is one of the more comprehensive from Officers. In the ‘Campaigns’ section, she pledged to “fight continued DSA cuts”, “work with University staff against staff cuts and unfair pension changes”, and “call for a lowered interest rate on student loans and stopping retrospective changes to our contracts”.

The first point has been difficult to achieve given the uncertain nature of Higher Education funding across the sector, says Meisl, which has also led to her having to “pause” her work on reducing student loan interest rates. Meisl says she was awaiting for the publication of the Augar report to review her activity in this area, which did indeed recommended a cut in student loan interest rates.

On her second manifesto point, Meisl said in a statement to The Mancunion that “the University has consistently said that I will be a part of the talks, in response to my repeated requests. Although this has not happened so far, I have reviewed a paper on the university response should a strike happen”.

Meisl’s other manifesto points include: “Create online records of student rep and faculty officer activity, build a student rep hub and database to give students greater capacity to push for change on their courses, offer more possibilities for student voice to be heard at a higher level of University leadership, lobby the University to support #LiberateMyDegree, and ensure the University IT system has the capacity to release exam dates earlier.”

Meisl claims she has successfully negotiated an earlier exam release “by a month or so”, and has launched RepHub this year – an online tool students can use to find and discuss issues about their degree with their course reps.

In terms of #LiberateMyDegree, Meisl has admitted “it has been quite difficult to change the curriculum at the University”, and whilst “there has been some progress with inclusive curriculum”, she would like to have improved it further. A similar story can be said for improving the power of student voices at a higher University level, as some tangible change has come about but more might have been expected. 

Alongside advocating for Gen Sec Fatima Abid’s Greater Manchester Student Assembly (GMSA), Meisl has said she has “advised on FSE’s (Faculty of Science and Engineering) teaching college on where students should sit on committees” and has “consistently advocated for an extra student to sit on the board of governors at the University senate”.

Meisl listed some of her other successes this year to include the student rep party (effectively a launch event for RepHub), liasing with Stagecoach to improve customer service on the 147, working with AMBS to improve access to the new business school building, and pushing the Register To Vote campaign through official SU social media channels.

In her statement to The Mancunion, she praised the work of the the SU education full-time staff, saying: “A lot of the above work has been done in collaboration and they should be recognised for their achievements and hard work!”

Year In Review 2019: Communities Officer Shamima Khonat

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Communities, Campaigns, and Citizenship Officer Shamima Khonat has had a largely positive year in her role at the Students’ Union.

Spending the smallest proportion of the Officers’ budget, at just £33.60 – or 0.4% – Khonat has also had a very good attendance meeting record, having attended 86.6% of the events for which data was available.

That £33.60 was spent on a “train ticket for a speaker to talk on a panel regarding Prevent” according to Khonat.

However, her four listed manifesto points paint a much more mixed picture: Her pledge to “facilitate the Union’s work on issues surrounding citizenship” is difficult to interpret and subsequently difficult to measure, as is “encouraging students to lead on campaigns and support the development of existing campaigning groups and societies”. Indeed, critics of the Exec model cite these two pledges as just part of the Communities’ Officer role, rather than specific manifesto points to aim for.

Khonat’s other two points are to “direct the Union’s work on matters surrounding student accommodation and safety” and “increase bursaries for living at home students”.

In a statement to The Mancunion, Khonat lists the Rate Your Landlord survey as one of her achievements, suggesting she has at least in part achieved the former.

However, the survey was launched by the 2014-15 Exec Officer team, so it’s unclear what new work Khonat undertook on this pledge.

In the same statement, Khonat did not list increasing bursaries for living a home students as a success. She did however list “Islamophobia Awareness Month, [producing] Homelessness Campaign Supanova, contributing to Whitworth Gallery exhibition, producing a handbook for care leavers, engaging with [a] Homelessness organisation, and lobbying for faith spaces” as well as having “managed to secure halal food training and Kosher food supplier, [and] lobbying the University for Schools to consider Friday Prayers when timetabling for Muslim students”.

Khonat also claimed that the University “TLG [Teaching and Learning Group] agreed to acknowledge the religious observance”.

In terms of failures, Khonat cited a “lack of funds” resulted in her not being able to work on reducing commuter costs for living at home students.

(L-R) Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer, David Courier, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming, Kim Yutani, director Daniel Scheinert, director Todd Douglas Miller, director Patrick Brice, director Alison Klayman, screenwriter Sam Bain, director Lulu Wang, director Bart Freundlich, Holliday Grainger, director Sophie Hyde, director Shola Amoo, Lucien Greaves, Sundance Film Festival Director, John Cooper and Joint Managing Director, Picturehouse Cinemas, Claire Binns attends The Filmmakers Photocall during The Sundance 2019 Film Festival London on 30th May 2019

Sundance London 2019: In Conversation with John Cooper and David Courier

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

It’s safe to say that Sundance has become a household name — film buffs and casual movie-goers alike know about the legendary Sundance Film festival. While the main festival takes place in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Institute also has two international spin-offs: Sundance London and Sundance Hong Kong. On the final press day of Sundance London 2019, I sat down, cup of tea in hand, for a chat with John Cooper, Director of Sundance Film Festivals and David Courier, Senior Programmer.

Before I dove into the questions, I was pleasantly taken aback at how kind and welcoming they were to a humble student journalist. When I told them that I was recording the conversation for my own use, with the possibility of my girlfriend listening to it as I worked on the piece, they asked her name and cheerfully said hello to her. This start to the conversation instantly made me understand why John and David are the best in the business — at the end of the day, they’re just guys who are crazy about film.

When I asked them to tell me their favourite film of Sundance London 2019, John said that he usually doesn’t answer these questions but, seeing as they were so far in to this year’s cycle, they obliged. John felt close to Ask Dr. Ruth. “It’s one of those where you don’t expect to be moved, but I was inspired by her story and the risks she took”, he said. David followed up by saying that Dr. Ruth “pulls you in like crazy — she’s so endearing”. Unfortunately, America’s favourite sex guru wasn’t able to make a gap in her insanely packed schedule to attend the festival, but she apparently recorded a special message for the public screening of the documentary.

John and David also enjoyed The Farewell, which they were sure was going to be an audience favourite from when they first saw it. “It’s a universal story […] it has things we’ve seen in other movies but it’s totally different in presentation.”

David brought up Apollo 11, too. Apparently, director Todd Douglas Miller had access to over 13.000 hours of footage from NASA’s Vault. “It’s a remarkable piece of editing […] that makes you feel as if you’re in the rocket. NASA had incredible forethought to put cameras everywhere.” said Courier. I then remarked upon the cinematic qualities of said footage — NASA knew how momentous the occasion would be and they spared no expense in documenting it. With a nostalgic air, John and David remembered how the moon landing was something beyond nations and nationalism; the whole world was glued to their TV’s. “It brought the globe together”, said David.

“All of the films surprised me when we saw them,” continued John, “Like with Hail Satan? — you think it’s one kind of movie but it’s really about how you fight for freedom of speech.” “It’s a strong political story about the separation of the Church and the State in America,” says David, chasing up John’s comment.

On the subject of being surprised by films, I asked about the selection process for Sundance London. After the big chunk of work done for Sundance in Utah, the work for the UK is much easier. “The Picturehouse Central people are great curators. They come to the festival (it’s their fourth year working in collaboration with each other) and we steer them towards the films we think they’d like.” replied John. David continues “We give them a big list and they pick from them. They know what stories and jokes will play with UK audiences. Maybe a celebrity who’s big in America and isn’t here (the UK), or vice versa.”

I then proceeded to rave about The Death of Dick Long, undoubtedly my favourite film from the festival. John and David agreed that the humour is very British, which will certainly connect with UK audiences.

A burning question I had to ask was: “do you see other film festivals as competition or are they another platform for filmmakers to use in collaboration with Sundance?”

John agreed with the latter, explaining that film festivals are growing in importance. “People leave their homes now for a one-off thing. Film festivals are reaching new audiences because they’re an event,” he says. “We’re very lucky,” continues David, “because we get the name recognition.” John then said that he’s jealous of Cannes because they’re all about glamour — and Cannes fans love that. He feels that festivals are about the social impact of film. “Our festival is harder because it’s all about discovery. It’s all new, and that’s a lot harder than bringing Woody Allen again, pushing him up the stairs and he knows the drill.”

David, however, followed up with a positive observation, noting that he loves the process of discovery and “seeing something no one has seen before from a filmmaker no one’s heard of and knowing that you’ve discovered the next big thing. That’s what makes the job exciting.”

While film festivals may be events, I couldn’t help but think about the ongoing debate about cinema “dying” in the hands of streaming. When I voiced this to the two, John remarked: “I have an unpopular opinion — if stuff gets out there, it gets out there. I see so many more films thanks to streaming. It’s especially valuable for independent filmmakers.”

I also believe that the home cinema experience is comparable to the cinema and John and David totally agree; a big screen and closed curtains make for a comparable experience. The communal experience of the cinema can live side-by-side with the wide distribution channels that benefit independent filmmakers without being threatened.

“If I’m going to be honest,” says John, “if I know I’m going to cry at a film, I’d rather do it at home and go all out!”

Film festivals are a wonderful experience to discover new films, meet new people — and a great excuse to get out the house! Sundance London 2019 was a fantastic experience and it was both humbling and reassuring to chat to David and John. Cinema isn’t dying, it’s evolving by allowing more quality filmmaking to reach new audiences.

Photo: Andrew H. Walker @Getty Images

Sundance London 2019: In Conversation With Alison Klayman

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Alison Klayman is a sweetheart and a badass. Her award-winning documentaries provide a deep cut into the lives of her subjects, from the average American voter to legendary artist Ai Weiwei. The Brink is her latest film which had its UK premiere at Sundance London 2019. In it, Klayman follows Steve Bannon across the globe from fall 2017 to fall 2018 — the picture it paints of Bannon is the clearest ever painted, and it ain’t pretty.

Right off the bat, I told Klayman that I see The Brink as the perfect companion to Get Me Roger Stone. Funnily enough, one of the editors of the Roger Stone documentary was in the editing room for The Brink.

When asked on how hard it is to remain neutral when directing a documentary, Alison replied that she rejects the term “neutral” regarding The Brink — she prefers to label it as “fair”. Filmmakers, she explains, must come to their work with a personal point of view and without any assumptions. Documentaries are a process of discovery, and Alison had only met Bannon once before starting to shoot the documentary.

Klayman then explained that the responsibility she had when making The Brink was enormous because she had to try and show the audience her political point of view on Bannon while halting the spread of his ideology. “You shouldn’t be checking your values […] at the door when you make something. […] I didn’t come in thinking ‘maybe racism has some good points’, you know? I’m not here with a blank slate.” Ultimately, Klayman believes, the audience needs to come to their own conclusion.

To tell the story of her subject and humanise him “because [Bannon] fucking is one”, Alison plays with the positioning of the camera and choosing what scenes to show. I remarked upon how intimate it was to see Bannon getting angry on the phone with his team, as it does indeed humanise him. “Realising that he’s a person that you might find charming […] is important to be uncomfortable with and reckon with because it’ll help you recognise that, in your own life, there are a lot of Steve Bannons out there. […] If you see Bannon as a monster, you’ll forget what evil really looks like.”

I put my tin foil cap on and asked Klayman if she considered that Bannon might have accepted the documentary to use it as yet another platform for himself — in other words, did Alison ever think “am I being played?”

“I asked myself this every morning,” she replies. “My daily mantra was: let him underestimate me and I should never underestimate him.”

In verité filmmaking, as Alison calls it, the director has the upper hand. Being present when Bannon was texting journalists or in rooms full of people, Alison started feeling she was capturing genuine moments where he wasn’t putting on a façade for her. Furthermore, Bannon had no say over the final edit of the documentary, as Klayman had set that as the ultimate condition to make the film. “Now that the film is out, I can say with confidence that it is not a useful tool for him. I don’t think he thinks so. The fairness allows the critique to be sharper. […] He’s an opportunist who thinks that “all press is good press”, yet I think he never anticipated the outcome of this documentary.”

Then, I told Alison that I give Roger Stone and Steve Bannon some credit; I see them as political venture capitalists who invest money, time, and energy for the maximum return. Klayman agrees and says that Bannon is an investment banker and a businessman — he goes where the money is. “Efficacy. Strategy. That’s what he cares about the most. […] The opening (in which Bannon is in Auschwitz and he explains how fascinated he is by the efficiency of the Nazi planning) is the most Bannon thing. […] He’s not saying that it’s good that Jews died, he sees beyond it all.” We agreed that Bannon is amoral, he doesn’t see the people, he sees the system and uses it for his own gain.

Pushed for time as I was already over my 10-minute limit, I asked Alison about the most revealing element about Bannon: does he have a strong handshake? She thought about her answer for a couple of seconds and realised that she doesn’t remember shaking his hand. “Bannon is very touchy and does this a lot”, she says reaching forward and lightly touching my forearm. This was brought to her attention by Paul Lewis, a journalist for the Guardian whose appearance in the film is during a tense interview in Bannon’s hotel room in Venice. Once Alison realised this, she started paying attention to Bannon doing that to everyone and sometimes fixed the camera on his arms and hands. It mostly didn’t happen to her, however, because she had to keep her distance to maintain the minimum focal distance of the camera.

Lastly, Alison noted that The Brink is dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

 

The Brink will be distributed in the UK by Dogwoof on 12 July, in cinemas and online.

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion

Year In Review 2019: Welfare Officer Deej Malik-Johnson

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Deej Malik-Johnson’s final year as a University of Manchester Students’ Union (SU) Officer has been characterised by absence.

Having spent large periods of time away from his desk, it has meant Malik-Johnson has recorded an attendance rate of just 12.5% for University and SU committee meetings, the lowest of the eight Exec Officers.

This has been questioned in student Senate, as article 14 of the SU Senate bye-laws says: “Members of the Senate shall be removed from their position on the Senate if they fail to attend two consecutive meetings, or three meetings in total, without giving apologies in advance to the Senate Secretary.”

Whilst Malik-Johnson has missed three Senate meetings, he has not been removed from Senate due to extended medical leave granted by the SU.

However, the lack of action in removing Malik-Johnson has caused anguish from within the SU, with one insider saying: “Even when really distressed students have come into the office – on the verge of crying – some members of the SU Exec have contacted [Deej] saying ‘look, you have an important letter which we need’. His response to the student is ‘oh, someone else will sort that out’. And it’s not been sorted out.

“He’s blocked some people on Facebook so it’s impossible to get in contact with him.”

The absence has also meant Malik-Johnson has missed all of his manifesto points – however, he only has one listed on the SU website which simply states he aims to “make the University a happier and a more supportive place”.

This is a difficult point to measure, but despite having the worst attendance record of any Officer, Malik-Johnson wasn’t the smallest spender: Malik Johnson spent 2.6% of the total Exec budget, placing him ahead of the 0.4% spent by Shamima Khonat, according to data seen by The Mancunion.

His expenses are mainly for travel and tickets for a mental health conference in October.

Deej Malik-Johnson was contacted for comment for the Year In Review 2019, but declined to provide any.

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion

Year In Review 2019: Women’s Officer Sara Heddi

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

In her second and final year as Women’s Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union (SU), Sara Heddi has seen a growth of Reclaim The Night marchers, increased the availability of free sanitary products on campus, and also faced controversy with other Exec Officers.

One key pledge of Heddi’s was to make February’s Reclaim The Night march more “student led”, and whilst this aspect of the protest is difficult to measure, over 3,500 people attended this year’s event – 1,500 more than in 2018. It also raised over £2,000 for Manchester Rape Crisis.

This increase and donation came despite the fact Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan raised concerns over the lack of trans inclusion at Reclaim The Night on the day of the march, and subsequently decided against appearing at the event. The row rumbled on until May’s Senate meeting, when reforms were proposed to change the organisation of Reclaim The Night. However, due to poor student attendance, the meeting was stopped early before the motion could be debated and voted on. It will now be passed over to the September 2019 transitional Senate meeting.

Another success for Heddi this year was the introduction of free sanitary products in the SU, as well as the launch of various campaigns such as 16 Days Of Activism.

However, it seems that the work in delivering her manifesto has meant she has missed 40% of her scheduled committee meetings, with The Mancunion calculating her running attendance rate to SU and University panels at just 60% – with only much-absent Deej Malik-Johnson recording a lower rate.

Heddi additionally was the second-highest spender of the Exec’s budget: 22.9% of the £8,000 budget was spent by Heddi, with estimates putting a £1,974.71 price tag on Reclaim The Night, which accounts for the vast majority of the total £2,226.52 spent – although Heddi received £400 from other SU departments to take her net spend down to £1,826.52.

Sara Heddi was contacted for comment for the Year In Review 2019, but declined to provide any.

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion

Year In Review 2019: Gen Sec Fatima Abid

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Fatima Abid, General Secretary of the Students’ Union (SU), has had a largely successful spell in her first and only year in office, having partially achieved her top three manifesto pledges, begun work on a Greater Manchester Student Assembly, and spent just 7.2% of the total Exec budget.

Abid’s pledges, as stated on the SU website, include “implement[ing] a lifelong learning environment at the University that includes ‘little’ libraries, intra-faculty networking events, improving feedback mechanisms, and increasing podcast provision”, “increase mental health awareness amongst both students and staff because it requires the efforts of both to effectively help anyone who is struggling”, and “integrate the north campus into everyday university life by hosting events and workshops for students”.

On the first point, of implementing a lifelong learning environment, Abid has improved podcast provisions for students by encouraging more lecturers to opt-in to the service, which is their academic right to do – or not, as is often the case. However, “implementing a lifelong learning environment” is difficult to measure quantifiably, in part due to the sheer scale of the University.

Integrating North Campus into everyday University life is also difficult to measure, but Abid has made efforts to extend the olive branch so to speak, hosting surgeries on campus life in semester one.

Mental health awareness has increased on campus, and the University is set to benefit from the new Oxford Road mental health facility from September 2019, which is a joint venture between four Mancunian universities, although Abid’s input into this is unknown.

In terms of spending, Abid has only spent 7.2% – or £574.41 – of the total £8,000 Exec budget up to April 2019, when data was given to The Mancunion. The largest cost was £200 – spent on pro-Brexit Labour MP Graham Stringer’s Common Sense Tour appearance fee.

The next highest cost was paying for SU staff pronoun badges, which was an effort to make the Union more friendly to trans people.

Abid also has a good attendance record in meetings within the Union and between the University and SU, with a 79.6% turn-up rate. That includes a a near-perfect attendance of Union trustee meetings, the committee which holds Union leadership to account.

Fatima Abid was contacted for comment for the Year In Review 2019, but declined to provide any.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Sundance London 2019: The Death of Dick Long

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Two idiots kill their best friend in mysterious circumstances and two dumb cops are ready to solve the case. The Death of Dick Long is a recipe for brilliance. I almost missed the showing to go nap — and, boy, am I glad to have stayed on for the wild ride.

Daniel Scheinert’s dark comedy resides within the same twisted realm as Swiss Army Man does. The comedic timing is impeccable, the presentation is gorgeous in sight and sound, and the performances are as believable as they are comedically brilliant.

There’s a clear parallel to draw between The Death of Dick Long and Fargo. While the latter is set in Bumfuck, Fargo, Sheinert’s story is set in Dumbfuckistan, Alabama. Both films have characters that feel like the people who inhabit those barren hellholes, yet I’d argue that the performances of Michael Abbott Jr., Andre Hyland, and Virginia Newcomb, to name a few, are better than anyone’s in Fargo. Their attention to detail in the way that they move, vape, chat shit, and drink is fantastic.

Visually, the film is impeccable. Daylight exteriors, neon-soaked bars, and dirty households are all shot in creative ways as the camera is placed outside windows or under tables to quickly present relevant information (a character hiding something or twitching restlessly).

Every element in the film is used for comedic value. The beautiful visual presentation and attention to detail allow for the dry delivery of humour to have maximum impact. Even the details themselves are funny; I couldn’t stop chuckling when Earl’s phone was ringing and “Boom” by P.O.D. was the ringtone, or when he casually explains to Zeke that he once called in sick to work to see Papa Roach. The “rednecks wasting away in Alabama” aesthetic is hilarious, and even charming.

I can’t fault this film at all. It’s perfect in every way, it had me in actual tears at the big twist and at the ending, as well as making me giggle every scene. Undoubtedly my favourite film of Sundance London 2019 — and my current favourite of the year — The Death of Dick Long might be a bit too dry for mainstream audiences, but it’s sure to become a cult classic of the Alabama-redneck-crime-comedy genre.

 

5/5.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Sundance London 2019: The Nightingale

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Utterly brutal and unforgiving, The Nightingale accurately depicts the horrors of 19th century colonial Tasmania in this horrifying tale of revenge. Although the film’s portrayal of the horrors of the time is honest and hard to watch, it might require another viewing to be fully understood.

Within the first half hour, Irish convict Claire (Aisling Franciosi) is raped twice, and during the second violation, she is forced to watch her husband and baby being brutally murdered. The audience (myself included) collectively gasped and groaned at the horror that set the story in motion. Throughout Claire’s journey of revenge, grotesque historically accurate depictions of racism, sexism and violence are shown throughout. The Nightingale may not reside within the realm of horror, but it proves that, sometimes, reality is nastier than fiction.

Kent’s storytelling is very nuanced — in The Babadook, all of the films’ elements align to accurately transmit the feeling of grief a mother feels when she is a widow or the pain she experiences when her son is in danger or unhappy, among other horrific sensations at play onscreen. In The Nightingale, Kent has replicated this success by stirring up disgust, anger, empathy and grief in meaningful ways by casting actors that make their characters feel terrifyingly real with their Oscar-worthy performances. Every character has some form of a link to one another; whether they’re lovers, the hunter/hunted or in a complex power struggle based on race, class or gender.

The technical aspects of the film are sublime, presented in an aspect ratio of 4:3, every shot is reminiscent of 19th century English paintings. The sound editing has to be some of the best I’ve ever heard; the lack of a soundtrack is compensated for with rainforest sounds, screams and other ambient sounds that completely draw you in to the journey. The story’s pacing is on track with the ups and downs any chase would have, contrasting the silence felt while tracking prey with the overwhelming sensation explosive violence brings upon everyone present at the scene. Most interestingly, however, was the use of multiple languages; some characters speak in English while the Irish speak in their native tongue at times, as do the Aboriginal people of Tasmania.

However, avoiding spoilers, the resolution to the story left me feeling as if there was something missing — perhaps this feeling of emptiness is intentional. I also suspect that there are layers of symbolic storytelling at play within the imagery, in the bedtime stories Claire tells her baby, and in the use of traditional Irish and Aboriginal songs.

After the film, there were many discussions between critics about whether the violence was necessary. Although every violent scene is haunting, I believe that they serve the purpose of making you understand, and even feel, how distraught the protagonist felt — unlike torture-porn films, such as Saw, which are nothing more than gross spectacles of pure sadomasochism. Yet, maybe a little too much was shown, as the implication of rape or infanticide are just as horrifying as witnessing the acts themselves.

The Nightingale is masterfully crafted from start to finish, but the excessive violence and nihilistic resolution to the story stop Kent from achieving perfection in her sophomore film.

 

4/5.

Preview: Estival 2019

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Societies.

The Manchester University Music Society (MUMS) are back with Estival 2019 – the ultimate celebration of student musical talent on campus.

Estival 2019 takes place throughout this week all over campus, and The Mancunion have picked out some this year’s highlights for you to get involved in.

Ever wanted to just try your hand at playing an instrument? Well, the grade 1-athon is the product of real, actual musicians doing that. Each of MUMS society will learn an instrument to grade 1 level in only a month, and having taken the exam to prove they’re adept at it, will play in a large symphony orchestra. MUMS are predicting hilarious results, and we don’t doubt them.

Moving further up the quality scale, Thursday’s New Sounds of Manchester concert will present an opportunity to sample some of the best new talent coming out of the Martin Harris Centre. “Comprising of varying forces and styles”, according to MUMS, “this concert has something for everyone”.

Our third and final pick is an old favourite: The MUMS Big Band. Playing in Academy 3 in the Students’ Union, the Big Band will be performing a variety of big band and vocal chart classics, with MUMS saying the big band will also be “covering a number of different genres, with music by artists ranging from Alicia keys to Tom Misch, bellowhead to flume”, also featuring “many different guest singers”.

There’s something for everyone, so don’t miss out!

For more information, head to the Estival 2019 Facebook page.

Photo: University of Manchester Students' Union / The Mancunion.

Year In Review 2019: SU Exec Officers

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in Investigations.

Having received data from official SU sources, The Mancunion can reveal the startling picture of the 2018/19 Exec team at the University of Manchester Students’ Union (SU) – a picture which is made up of missed manifesto points, poor officer attendance, and uneven spending among the Exec.

The data seen by The Mancunion can confirm the true nature of the Exec’s performance this academic year. Whilst there were some successes, such as Education Olivia Meisl’s newly-expanded RepHub – which allows students to air their grievances about their course more easily to their course representatives, many of the Exec team’s manifesto points went unfulfilled, such as Activities Officer Lizzy Haughton’s pledge to open a community fridge in the SU.

Some of the manifestos points – as advertised on SU website – are difficult to measure. For example, Welfare Officer Deej-Malik Johnson’s only pledge is to “make the University a happier and a more supportive place”.

Malik-Johnson’s second and final year as an Officer has been wrought with controversy, given multiple months of absence away from the Union. This has been questioned in student Senate, as article 14 of the SU Senate bye-laws says: “Members of the Senate shall be removed from their position on the Senate if they fail to attend two consecutive meetings, or three meetings in total, without giving apologies in advance to the Senate Secretary.”

Whilst Malik-Johnson has missed three Senate meetings, he has not been removed from Senate due to extended medical leave granted by the SU.

A senior SU insider told The Mancunion: “Deej is never there, he doesn’t contact anyone, he’s blocked some people on Facebook so it’s impossible to get in contact with him.

“Even when really distressed students have come into the office – on the verge of crying – some members of the SU Exec have contacted him saying ‘look, you have an important letter which we need’. His response to the student is ‘oh, someone else will sort that out’. And it’s not been sorted out.”

Officers are also required to attend numerous committees both at the Union and University. Some Officers have excelled in attending these meetings (which can often clash) – Olivia Meisl has attended 97% of her scheduled official meetings (as of April 2019), with Riddi Viswanathan and Shamima Khonat both attending 85.2% and 86.6% respectively.

General Secretary Fatima Abid attended 79.6% of her meetings – with Activities Officer Lizzy Haughton recording a similar figure in the year she has been arrested for her climate activism.

The two Saras – Khan and Heddi – both have attendance percentages in the sixties. Sara Khan made 65.2% of her meetings, with Sara Heddi recording an average of 60%.

Unsurprisingly, Deej-Malik Johnson – the Officer who has been largely absent from his work this year – has only attended 12.5% of his meetings. One figure inside the SU commented: “Deej completely fails in his job role and does not do his job, and furthermore doesn’t communicate that to anyone so we don’t know what work to pick up on”.

In terms of spending, the Exec have just managed to remain within their £8,000 budget. Previously, each Officer was given £1,000 to spend over the year, but this year the system was changed so it was a shared £8,000 among the eight Officers – in an effort to encourage collaboration between the departments.

However, it appears that the change has simply produced a range of approaches from each Officer in how they go about spending the cash – Communities, Campaigns, and Citizenship Officer Shamima Khonat has spent just £33.60 on guest speaker travel for an event organised by herself as of April 2019.

In sharp contrast, Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan has spent £4,318.81 in total – with an extra £1,000 being allocated from a different Union department taking the net spend down to £3,318.81. This represents 41% of the total Exec budget, and was mainly spent on Black History Month events and LGBTQ History Month.

The second-highest spender was the other Sara, Women’s Officer Sara Heddi. Spending £2,226.52 in total, an allocation of £400 from another Union department brought her net spend down to £1,826.52 – roughly equating to 22.9% of the total Exec budget.

The majority of this money was put towards Reclaim The Night, which saw 1,500 more marchers compared to 2018’s event. The total Reclaim The Night spend was £1,974.74, which included the purchase of t-shirts to be sold to students. The Mancunion asked Union staff if it knew the profit/loss of the t-shirts, and whilst no concrete data was available, estimates put the revenue made from the t-shirts around the £3,000 mark. This, if revenue figures are correct, would represent around a £1,026 profit on Reclaim The Night, which was donated to Manchester Rape Crisis.

The large spend from Sara Khan has caused some anguish within the team, as a senior SU insider said: “It’s caused problems with some of the other exec members but money from other budgets has been found, the problem was that [the other exec members] weren’t able to sign off on that large amount of money – it didn’t really go through [them]”.

Riddi Viswanathan also wished that “the team dynamics could have been much better”, but added “most of us as officers have been successful in our individual projects”.

When asked about their performance this year, five Officers replied. Viswanathan said: “My biggest success this year is getting the University to commit that the international placement year tuition fee will be reduced from 50% to 20% from September 2020.

“The amount of hate I received this year for standing up against far right extremism was definitely one of the hardest times and I don’t really want to revisit those times. I also wish we had done at least one event/a project as a team this year.”

Indeed, Sara Khan also said she has faced backlash for her work: “I have faced plenty of challenges this year, including media storms and heightened scrutiny around issues of liberation and student “snowflakes”, and maintaining my own personal health and wellbeing.”

Khan’s successes this year, in her own words, include “ delivering more SU liberation events than ever, of which we provided a very diverse range, engaging with student feedback from previous years about seeing the ‘same old’ types of events for history months or none at all.

“I have also worked with the Counselling Service to secure annual LGBT+ training for staff, [and] I have lobbied tirelessly for gender neutral toilets”.

Lizzy Haughton believed her main success was “sustainability on campus this year”.

“I’ve also set up the zero waste shop, which is now an almost autonomously run business and is hoping to continue to be so whilst helping other universities to set up their own”.

“Most of the meetings I have missed have been because I’ve been campaigning with Extinction Rebellion which is extremely important to me and to many other students on campus”.

Shamima Khonat said her main successes came in the form of “Islamophobia Awareness month” and “homelessness campaign Supanova”.

Finally, Olivia Meisl outlined her successes including earlier exam timetable release for the 2019/20 academic year, an expanded RepHub, and the introduction of a Postgraduate Students’ Officer for the coming year.

Full Officer comment will be available on mancunion.com in due course. Fatima Abid, Deej Malik-Johnson, and Sara Heddi declined to comment.