WitchHunt
JVL Introduction
A report on the successful premiering of the film on February 10, 2019
Posted 12 February 2019
Jon Pullman’s one-hour documentary film, WitchHunt, premiered on Sunday afternoon to a packed audience of hundreds in London and was screened simultaneously in Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cambridge. At the same time it was broadcast online on YouTube and Facebook. The response was so great that we had to increase the band width on the WitchHunt website.
The film was followed by a Q&A in London with Jackie Walker, the film maker Jon Pullman, Alexei Sayle and Justin Schlosberg. Live comments and questions, as well as messages of congratulation and solidarity, came in via Facebook from all over the UK and as far afield as Australia.
Requests to show the film have been pouring in from Labour Party branches and trade unions. It will be made available to local groups as soon as possible. A major tour, with filmmaker Jon Pullman and other speakers, is also planned.
The attacks on Jackie Walker, earmarked for expulsion at a hearing of Labour’s National Constitutional Committee on March 26, are continuing unabated. They form part of an ongoing disinformation campaign by a right wing which has no answers to the Labour’s programme for addressing suffering and poverty inflicted on the mass of people by the Tories. Mobilising behind antisemitism slurs is a major establishment weapon which could tip the balance between victory for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party or defeat at the next general election – whenever that may be.
WitchHunt is a film which analyses the combination of forces at work, showing the links between the battle of right against left, both inside and outside the Labour Party, the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and resistance to global race-based oppression.
Make sure you see this film.
Send enquiries to witchhuntfilm1@gmail.com
I saw the film on Sunday. It is a beautiful, well made exposition of how a Black Jewish woman can be made, with no justification, into a hate figure. The process is unravelled, the links are made and it is done with grace and humour. I commend it, particularly, to those who are confused by the accusations being thrown about casually and hysterically by those who oppose the BDS movement and are desperate that Jeremy Corbyn should never become Prime Minister.
I saw the film on Sunday in Liverpool. It’s terrific. And came at a very apt moment for us in Wavertree. We need to be able to show it far and wide as a way of helping people understand the issues, inside and out of the LP.
To answer the questions we are getting about local showings of the film. We’re not streaming for the time being. We hope local groups will arrange showings and we will supply video and speaker to lead a discussion. The film is a political intervention not (just) an artistic one so we want to be able to provide context. Get in touch if you’d like to arrange something. Contact members@jvl.org.uk