Undercover to expose the far rightAn investigative documentary about the work of British counter-extremism group Hope Not Hate has finally had its festival premiere in the Frontlight section of the 2024 Amsterdam International Documentary Festival (IFDA).
Havana Marking’s documentary exposes the UK’s far-right online campaign to promote “race science” and its support from Silicon Valley funder Andrew Conru. It debuted at the London Film Festival, but was suddenly canceled from the schedule. LFF cited safety concerns for spectators and staff. There are fears of reprisal against the far-right at the center of the film.
“I found this very disappointing,” director Mark said. “It’s an advance fear before something happens. There’s no real threat, just fear of what’s going to happen. As the far right becomes more emboldened, these things will become more common and people will Getting more and more scared.
secret The film was made over two years, and Mark follows the Hope Not Hate activists who infiltrated the far-right movement. The film explores how extremists combine threats or actual violence with sophisticated social media campaigns to bring their pseudoscientific claims of racial superiority into the mainstream. The Channel 4-backed documentary, which aired in the UK on October 21, has had real-world impact. Andrew Conru ended his support for the Human Diversity Foundation after he donated more than $1 million to a eugenics research group. Extremist influencer Stephen Christopher Yaxley Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, a British anti-Islam activist, was convicted on the basis of evidence submitted by “Hope Not Hate”. He is currently serving an 18-month sentence.
But when it comes to hollywood reporter ahead of secretSpeaking at the IFDA premiere, Mark said the growing power of far-right parties in the United States and Europe may make it more difficult to fund and distribute such documentaries in the future. “Public service broadcasters have become increasingly risk-averse and fearful of offending government officials if they lose funding,” she said.
How did the response to your film change after Donald Trump’s victory in the US election?
That’s a really interesting question because we’ve been trying to get the film into U.S. film festivals and find U.S. buyers. Optimism about this happening has completely changed [following the election] It feels like our chances of selling in the U.S. right now are slim. In fact, it has been that way for several years, since the first Trump administration. Public service broadcasters are more risk-averse and worry about offending government officials if they lose funding.
Hope you don’t hate Patrik Hermansson Undercover: Exposing the Far Right
HOPE PRODUCTIONS LIMITED.
Do you think there is a big difference between Europe and the United States in this regard? Some European festivals now appear to be positioning themselves as “political resistance” to Trump and the far right.
Yes, there are some, and that’s really exciting. Once again there is a feeling that we need to work harder [political] Movies are more important now than ever. But for European film festivals, it depends on where they get their funding. Interestingly, I know of some smaller festivals in eastern Germany, for example, they now have [far-right] The AfD party, which is responsible for municipal state funding, said it was growing nervous. This goes both ways. we are premiering secret IDFA and the Netherlands now have a far-right government, but IDFA has been very supportive of our film and excited to show it, which they think is absolutely necessary in the current situation
their environment.
Your film was due to premiere in London but was canceled at the last minute…
Yes, we were in a situation where our film was funded by the British Film Institute and the Documentary Society here, and we got a lot of support, but then the London Film Festival canceled our plans for safety reasons, which made I’m very disappointed. It’s the advance fear before something happens. No real threat, just fear of what might happen. As the far right becomes more and more arrogant, these things will become more and more common, and people will become more and more afraid.
We’ve seen this happen at other film festivals, where films have been pulled for fear of protests or vandalism. Are you concerned that there will be a general risk-aversion policy, a kind of pre-censorship of film themes to make sure there isn’t any risk of violence?
This is our biggest concern with LFF, which may mean they will now be too scared to pick up films like ours. At the end of the day, London Film Festival is not like IDFA or Sheffield Documentary Festival, which are mainly documentary festivals, they know political cinema, they know how to deal with scary situations, they know which venues are safe and which venues are not. The London Film Festival is more of a celebrity-led red carpet festival. I think it surprised them and they just didn’t know how to deal with it. My hope is that, going forward, they will learn from their experience and put protocols in place to ensure these films are not suppressed.
Undercover: Exposing the Far Right
HOPE PRODUCTIONS LIMITED.
Your films have real-world consequences. Andrew Conru withdrew funding from the Human Diversity Foundation and Tommy Robinson went to jail. But with the electoral success of the far right, do you think naming and shaming can have the same impact? Now the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is openly supporting Donald Trump, spouting far-right views and appearing to have no shame at all.
Yes, it’s fun and scary. What’s really interesting about the far right is that they speak in code. Tommy Robinson is smart, he has a front but doesn’t actually say what he’s really thinking. Elon Musk has drawn a line in the sand on his political stance, but he still claims he’s not a racist. What our movies and news do is expose the many people who claim to be “just patriots.” They call themselves “just scientists.” We uncover the claims and show the real opinions behind them. Journalist Harry Schuckman captured the scene on a hidden camera. There’s no denying it. There is no such thing as “fake news.” There’s no pretense that this movie is biased. They spoke their minds.
A lot of what Trump said is reflected in the film – he kept saying Kamala [Harris] Low IQ, talking about national genes, being poisoned – these are all straightforward eugenic dog whistles that I don’t think people in the outside world really understand. They are strictly coded dog whistles. Now, it is the job of movies and journalists to penetrate these layers and expose what people really think behind closed doors. This is what we can do.
In fact, in the process of making this film, my own moral courage, my own spine, was strengthened because there was real moral clarity on this issue. From my perspective, you can’t be unbiased about racism. You cannot be neutral about Islamophobia or anti-Semitism. The courage of the people in our films, that’s the same moral courage we need to demand from our institutions, festivals and funders. Now is not the time to rack your brains. Now is the time to take action.
The response to our film has been incredible. we got five stars The Guardiana left-leaning outlet, and five stars for the right-leaning outlet The Telegraph. The audience response and participation blew us all away. Funders are more scared, but audiences are braver than ever and they want to see this stuff.
