Secret City
A film about the City of London, the Corporation that governs it, and its role in the economic crisis.
Directed by Michael Chanan – Written by Lee Salter
On 15 October 2011 anti-capitalist protestors, intending to set up camp in front of the London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square under the banner of Occupy LSX, were ejected from the square and parked themselves instead in front of St Paul’s Cathedral. The result was one of the starting points for this film: a highly public debate about capitalism and the Church.
But there was also another power acting in the shadows to eventually eject the Occupiers – the City of London Corporation. An ancient body which dates back before William the Conqueror, before there was a parliament in Westminster, which zealously guards its autonomy and privileges to this day.
This is the subject of Secret City: a state within a state, with deleterious effects on democracy, politics and economics in London, the country, and the world, for the City is the linchpin of global finance capital. In short, not just a film for Londoners—especially in these times of crisis, the role of the City concerns everyone everywhere.
Secret City had its premiere on October 16, 2012 at the House of Commons.
Available on DVD and streaming from E2 Films
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A Short Film About Money
Won’t solve your money problems, but it might make you think about why you’ve got them. ‘A Short Film About Money’ is a spin-off from a longer film I’ve been making with Lee Salter, ‘Secret City’, which launches soon.
‘Secret City’ is an investigation into the Corporation of the City of London which governs the famous square mile that serves as joint-HQ with Wall Street for global finance capital. We originally thought we might include a sequence about the illusions of money, but in the end left it out, so instead we fashioned the footage we’d collected into the satirical short you can see here.
Watch the trailer for Secret City here.
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Three Short Films About Chile
Three Short Films About Chile
A trilogy by Michael Chanan made on a visit to Chile in November 2011.
1. Homage ･ 2. Community ･ 3. Protest
2012, 34mns
Three glimpses of Chile in 2011. Homage is a visit to Valparaiso. Community is a portrait of
Población La Victoria and its community television station, Señal 3. Protest is an account
of the momentous student protest movement—the occupations, marches, demonstrations,
street actions and web activism—and its tremendous impact on the country’s political life,
as they denounce the most intensely privatised education system in the world, demand the
return of free public education, and question the legitimacy of actually existing democracy in Chile.
Watch the original version of Protest
on the New Statesman
here
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Chronicle of Protest: the film
CHRONICLE OF PROTEST
(UK 2011) dir. Michael Chanan 90m. Digital.
www.chronicleofprotest-thefilm.co.uk
A video diary about the movement against
government spending cuts in the universities and beyond
with students, activists and citizens of the real big society.
Featuring Terryl Bacon, Terry Eagleton, Mehdi Hasan, Joe Kelleher, Josie Long,
Len McCluskey, Blake Morrison, Paul O’Prey, Nina Power, Michael Rosen,
Lee Salter, Clifford Singer, Sly and Reggie, Mary Warnock and more.
With songs by Banner Theatre.
In collaboration with the New Statesman and Roehampton University.
Premiered Sat 30 April 2011 • East End Film Festival
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