artswith Film


Women take lead roles at Tolpuddle radical festival


Art


Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up Victoria and Albert Museum, London Until 4 November Mexican surrealist Frida Kahlo made a surprise appearance in the news last autumn when a spluttering Theresa May was pictured wearing a bracelet covered in her images. Given she was a communist concerned with the plight of the poor she was a surprise choice for a Tory prime minister. After her death in 1954, all Kahlo’s


The Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival this year celebrates its fifth anniversary with a programme dominated by women. Taking place at the annual


Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival in Dorset over 20-22 July, the event has The 51 Per Cent as its theme, with all films made by women, featuring female protagonists and made in the spirit of liberation. A children and young people’s


programme with the theme ‘Rebel Girls’ will show films featuring strong, young female protagonists who are each in their own way striving for liberation. The event is run by Public


Domain Arts & Media, which uses arts and the media in the struggle for social and economic justice. Programmer Chris Jury told Arts


with Attitude: “We believe, like Joe Strummer, that ‘the future is unwritten’ and that culture plays a determining factor in what that future will be. “The rich and the powerful never


give up their wealth, power and privilege voluntarily. Political and social change only ever comes about


20 | theJournalist


when sufficient numbers of ordinary people are willing to fight for them – and that willingness to fight is almost always culturally generated through political education, songs, pictures and stories. “The crisis of 2007 has exposed


the neoliberal rhetoric of scroungers versus workers and private good-public bad as culturally perpetuated lies. Unfortunately, after the defeats of the 1980s, much of the labour and trade union movement retreated to a sort of bureaucratic functionalism. As a result, the Left is still struggling to present a coherent alternative narrative. “The UK Left has to recognise it is


not economic theory or pragmatic, bureaucratic, functional efficiency that inspires ordinary people to take up the struggle for social and economic justice – it is songs, pictures, stories and films.” The festival includes the Small


Axe awards, with categories for novice filmmakers and those aged under 18 years.


https://tolpuddleradicalfilm. org.uk/


possessions were shut up inside her house and remained there untouched for 50 years. In 2004, the cupboards were opened, revealing a fascinating collection of clothing and personal effects which have enriched people’s understanding of her life and work. They are on display for the first time outside Mexico, alongside self portraits featuring many of the costumes. www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/ frida-kahlo-making-her-self-up


Art In The Open Wexford, Ireland 29 July- 6 August Art in the Open is Europe’s largest outdoor painting festival, attracting more than 200 artists from all over the world. The event uses different venues on each day, set in stunning landscapes, country houses, beaches and towns. http://artintheopen.org


Film


The Bookshop On national release Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel of the same name, The Bookshop is set in 1959 when widow Florence


attitude


by Tim Lezard


Green (Emily Mortimer) opens a bookshop in a sleepy seaside Suffolk town and scandalises the narrow- minded locals by exposing them to Lolita and Fahrenheit 451. She finds an ally in Mr Brundish (Bill Nighy) as the pair navigate a political minefield.


Theatre Shakespeare in the Garden Touring pubs in London and the South of England Throughout July Though appearing to be a vehicle for plugging Fuller’s Brewery’s ‘fantastic’ food and drink, I like the idea of watching the Bard in a boozer. Actors are performing Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 29 pubs across the south of England. www.fullers.co.uk/pubs/ shakespeare-in-the-garden


Festival Llangollen Eisteddfod Llangollen, Wales 3-8 July


Headlined by indie pop legends the Kaiser Chiefs is a six-day feast of music and folk dance. If you can’t find something to entertain you, you’re reading the wrong pages. There are choirs, classical music, performances from Alfie Boe


and Van Morrison, and intriguingly named reggae jazz musicians The Herbert Spliffington Allstars. I predict a riot. http://international-eisteddfod.co.uk


Music


Seán McGowan Son of the Smith It’s been a hell of a year for Seán McGowan. Twelve months ago, he was cleaning toilets in a pub; now he’s released his debut album after


Some of the best things to


see and do with a bit of political bite


For listings email: arts@NUJ.org.uk


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