Spied Upon Film UK Screenings

I've been following the undercover policing scandal closely since it began and, as longer term readers may suspect, I've got a personal interest in it. I was close to Mark Kennedy for many years in his Mark Stone guise, and I was one of the people who did the investigation that unmasked him.

I've not gone into it much before in public. That has, in part, been to do with the integrity of the writing; I want the commentary to stand on its own merits, to be based on facts and reasoning that anyone could arrive at, rather than based on any emotional drive or undisclosed information. But it's also partly it's personal; having had your life and the lives of those around you so horrendously intruded upon, there was a powerful initial need not to exacerbate that feeling. Additionally, I didn't want to look like a self-publicist or do anything to overshadow the court cases being brought by women who'd had long term relationships with these officers.

As time's gone on the personal shock has waned but the scale of what we know has grown. Everything we know about Kennedy is still true, yet his actions have become just a tiny part of the greatest scandal in British policing history. It's a story of huge abuse of power and resources, dozens of psychologically and sexually abused women, abandoned children, rigged court cases and the probability of hundreds, even thousands of wrongful convictions.

There is a growing band of us who suffered this stuff who are co-ordinating and agitiating for justice. Jason Kirkpatrick is an anti-capitalist activist based in Berlin. He was also friends with Kennedy for years. Since discovering who his friend really was he's been travelling around with a camera, tallking to other targeted activists, academics and politicians, trying to find the truth and get some answers.

He's coming to the UK next week for 'sneak preview' screenings of his forthcoming film, Spied Upon, and I'm speaking with him. He'll be showing about 40 minutes of the material he's got so far, talking about the film and having a discussion with the audience after.

This isn't a mainsteam media endeavour. It's an activist filmmaker, portraying the activist perspective. This also means it's got no funding, so if you'd like to see the film finished and have a few quid, he's just launched a crowdfunding appeal.

You can see clips from the film on the Spied Upon site. 

The screenings:

Wednesday 9 October, 7.15-9pm
Vibe Bar, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL
£3-8 (sliding scale) at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds.
London Facebook event

Friday 11 October, 7.15-9pm
Broadway Cinema Studio, 14-18 Broad St., Nottingham, NG1 3AL
£3-6 (sliding scale) at the Studio door, no presale tickets
NOTE: This is a “Private” event, and thus not under Broadway Cinema listings
Nottingham Facebook event

Sunday 13 October 2013, 2.15-4pm
Hyde Park Picture House, 73 Brudenell Road, Leeds, LS6 1JD
£6, £3 unwaged
Leeds Facebook event

Tuesday 15 October 2013, 7.30-9pm
Forest Cafe, 141 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9JN
Free event, no tickets required 
Edinburgh Facebook event

Wednesday 16 October 2013, 7.30pm
St Andrews School 6, St Salvators Quad, St Andrews, Fife
Free event, no tickets required
St Andrews Facebook event