TVF International and BRITDOC partner with HowTheLightGetsIn

Leading independent distributor TVF International and Channel 4’s film foundation BRITDOC have partnered with HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s largest philosophy and music festival, on a programme of documentary films that runs across the festival between 21 and 31 May.

HowTheLightGetsIn returns to Hay-on-Wye this week for its biggest year yet, with a line-up of world-leading speakers and performers, from Natalie Bennett, Terry Eagleton, Fiona Shaw, Roger Penrose and Warren Ellis to Mike Skinner, Rae Morris, Lianne le Havas, Jamie Woon and Molotov Jukebox.

Alongside the line-up of thought-provoking debates and legendary events with artists, musicians, philosophers and scientists, TVF International is programming 20 film events that offer new ways of seeing the world, featuring documentaries hosted by eminent writers, thinkers and artists including Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry, Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne and BBC physics professor Jim Al-Khalili.

Offerings from TVF International include groundbreaking documentaries from all over the world. The Term – Opposing Putin tells the inside story of the Russian opposition movement and the rise of its key leader, Aleksei Navalny, while Extreme Realities, narrated by Matt Damon, and produced by Emmy Award winning environmental filmmakers Screenscope, shows how unprecedented extreme weather events spark and aggravate political unrest and are posing new threats to global security. Living the Life, from Sky Arts and Back Door Productions, features David Bailey & Tim Marlow CBE discussing their respective creative influences, and War Art with Eddie Redmayne from BAFTA-nominated director Margy Kinmonth, tops off the ITV Perspectives Strand with its domestic TV premiere on Sunday 24 May.

From BritDoc comes Laura Poitras’ Citizen Four, the Academy Award winning exposé of the dangers of government surveillance, which gives audiences unprecedented access to whistleblower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

“This is our most exciting line-up yet for HowTheLightGetsIn” said TVF International’s Head of Programming and Acquisitions Alice Hamlett. “The overall festival themes of Fantasy and Reality inform a really wide-ranging programme of films. We are proud to offer filmmakers a platform for their work to reach grassroots audiences and further their critical acclaim alongside the far-reaching international distribution service we provide”.