Many protesters are turning their attention to public statues depicting slave owners. At oxford university, thereve been renewed protests in a long Running Campaign for Oriel College to remove an image of cecil rhodes. Plans to get all of englandmy Primary School pupils back to school before the end of the term has been dropped. About 8 million children will now stay home until september at the earliest. The education secretary for england acknowledged that social distancing means the plans just wouldnt work. Some pupils have already returned, but many parents have decided not to send their children back. Teachers leaders say they warned the government repeatedly the plans were not realistic. 12 minutes. Today, a hard lesson for these Primary School children the rest of their friends from other years wont withjoining them. Im kind of sad about it, because lot of my friends are still at home, and i had a chance to meet them. I thought it was quite upsetting and disappointing, because it wouldve been better if id got to see them. Welcoming all year groups back was always going to be a problem. There are 515 children at this school in barnton, in cheshire. With smaller class sizes and social distancing, there is only the capacity for 153. This is one of the classrooms that weve set up ready. On top of that, concerns about the infection rate of coronavirus in cheshire has meant this school is only open for children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable. How do you feel walking into this classroom when its empty . Its heartbreaking, it really is. We were so ready to have our year sixes back. I think its predictable. Theres no way that you could have all of your children back, given the social distancing measures that weve had to put in place, so itjust was never practical in the first instance. In theory, the government wanted all children in Primary School to have some
time in the classroom. Today, acceptance that its not practical for all year groups to go back before the end of term. While we are not able to welcome all primary children back for a full month before the summer, we continue to work with the sector on the next steps, where wed like to see schools who have the capacity to bring back more children. We will be working to bring all children back to school in september. Some children in england will miss out on nearly a third of the school year, those from disadvantaged backgrounds falling further behind, and its notjust about learning for many vulnerable children, School Provides a safety net. Weve got some children, more affluent children, who are literally attending zoom school with lessons as normal, and we know that 90 of disadvantaged children arent going online for more than two hours if that. There are millions of children with a question mark over their education,
and with schools ruling out a full return before summer, parents are asking, will it be different come september . I think it will be extremely difficult for some kids and some families, because its a long time to try and recreate the structure that schools give you, and i think, without that, a lot of kids and families will struggle. Naively, i thought it would probably last four to six weeks, and here we are, i think, 12 weeks later. But i do think that children should start coming back to school gradually, because we have got to get back to normality. The plan is still for all schools in wales to be fully open on june 29th. Schools in scotland and Northern Ireland will follow in august. Head teachers are naturally problem solvers, so i think we could find solutions. Theres always the possibility, weve had nightingale hospitals, that we could have nightingale classrooms. We could have marquees out on our field here at barnton, but its all about the funding. Head teachers warned weeks ago that it would not be possible
for all children to be back in the classroom. Now they say its time to listen to their solutions. Elaine dunkley, bbc news. Now on bbc news talking movies. Hello from new york. Im tom brook sitting on a park bench in central park not far from my home. Welcome to our talking movies documentary special. The other day i was here in central park riding my bike, as i often do, when i began to hear the sounds of protest. On central park westjust across the way from where im sitting over there were a group of maybe 200 or 300 demonstrators. I then went to the east side of the park to 5th avenue and there was another large contingent of protesters. Heading north to the end of the park
i found there were Police Vehicles with their lights flashing and Police Officers prepared for some kind of action. It was just one manifestation of the civil unrest that engulfed this country in the wake of the may 25th killing of an African American man, george floyd, in minneapolis who was being restrained by a white Police Officer. Today in talking movies were going to focus on those documentaries which have attempted to look at the issue of Police Violence when its targeted against unarmed black individuals. One of the most egregious instances of Police Brutality to be documented on video has to be the 1991 beating by los angeles Police Officers of rodney king. Footage of the event provoked an outcry. Several documentaries have covered the incident of the riots the following year when three of the officers involved in the beating were acquitted. One of americas leading film makers to focus on civil rights struggles
stanley nelson is developing a documentary series on the relationship between the police and African Americans. I went to visit him. He told me that after the fact documentary films can provide background on how black people like george floyd come to die. I think documentary films main role is to kind of look back and give context to whats happening. In many ways, the police in this country are an outgrowth of slave catchers, you know, and the relationship between African Americans and the police force has never been a good one. Its always been, you know, an Occupying Army in our communities and thats where we are largely today. Anybody growing up here, you tangibly know when you are crossing county lines you have to drive a little differently. Documentaries focusing on acts of Police Brutality against black people have utilised different techniques. Many are of the talking head variety. But the 2017 film whose streets relied on user generated content
to look at the ferguson, missouri misery uprising that erupted in the wake of the 2014 Police Killing of michael brown. Its been 52 days and ive spent more time injail than darren wilson. The film whose streets uses citizen generated footage to capture the ferguson protests. There was so much that was documented by people on the scene, even if they werent professional documentarians. The film does a really good job of providing context to the footage they were able to capture. Its the hype. The newest, latest. Let me tell you the story of right hand, left hand. Sometimes, narrative films can do an effectivejob to bring home the horror of Police Violence. Spike lees 1989 comedy drama do the right thing depicted the character radio raheem killed in a chokehold by a new york Police Officer. Many times over my film career, when i go to film festivals or whatnot, and i get interviewed byjournalists, one of the first questions is always about whatever racial incidentjust happened in the united
states of america. And the United States of america, racism, they do it better than anybody else. But its not just. Racism is all over the world. And so this is a Global Pandemic before corona. The 2017 documentary the blood is at the doorstep looked into the case of dontre hamilton killed by a Milwaukee Police officer. It was made by a white film maker, raising the question, who is best equipped to tell stories dealing with lethal Police Violence targeting African Americans . Should it be white people or black people, or does it not matter . I think its always much more valid to have storytellers come from the community that the storys being told by. I think that if im telling a story
of the black community, i have the ability to dive deep into that story. Its hard for a white film maker to go deep. This is the culture i come from. I know that culture very well. That only exists for white film makers. You dont find black film makers making films about white folks. Itjust doesnt happen. But white people tend to think that they are kind of a blank slate and they can make a film about whatever they want, and you know, thats ok, and they dont think about the fact that thats a form of cultural racism. There is a sense that hollywood and the Film Industry in general tends to support white storytellers, even subconsciously. And there is a real desire to see more black storytellers step up and lead the charge to wrestle with whats going on here. So, to a large degree, whats going to be fascinating in the next few months and over the next year is to see who is first
to tell these stories and what perspective are they taking and how are they representing that perspective. Because so much of what we see in the news is very insular. The george floyd case certainly shows the potency of the captured image. The video of him being restrained by the Police Officer provoked massive civil unrest, notjust in america, but also in distant foreign capitals continents away. But the image has limitations. Even documentary film makers have to acknowledge. We, thejury, find the defendant not guilty. Institutional racism in the us is so entrenched, that the savage beating by Police Officers of rodney king in 1991 captured so powerfully, failed initially to bring convictions. And astonishing as it may seem, convictions may not come automatically for those eventually found culpable for George Floyds death, despite an image that strongly suggests to many of those who have been protesting that a murder charge was totally warranted. Now, lets continue with our special programme focusing on documentaries. You might imagine that with millions of people confined to their homes during the pandemic that fantasy would be the preferred form of entertainment. Well, that hasnt exactly been the case because documentaries peddling real life stories have been very, very popular. My colleague emma jones reports. Its not every day that a zookeeper went to prison for murder for hire. In a pandemic, facts are king. In this case, tiger king. During a near global lockdown, the documentary series about former zoo operatorjoe exotic, the only kind of exotic most audiences could get near, was watched more than 60 million times. We cant afford to wait for the world to be equal to start feeling seen. Meanwhile, becoming, netflixs documentary film about Michelle Obamas book tour, outperformed all expectations making it into the top ten most watched films on the streaming platform. Was it a huge fan base or a thirst for inspiration in lockdown . We never imagined that when we released this film that the world would be on a shelter in place order. But i do think this has been a time of reflection for a lot of us, of having an opportunity to relate to stories in a way that may have changed a bit. Do you think its a little dangerous hanging our guns in a bank . There has always been one voluble exception for the comparatively puny profits documentaries make in cinemas compared to features. Some of Michael Moores films have made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Moores also gone online. A new film he produced planet of the humans was released on youtube and watched 8 million times before it was withdrawn for copyright reasons. Some climate scientists have disagreed with the ideas
in the film. Documentaries can be powerful objects. A film can be called the truth by one viewer, propaganda by another. Since the sheffield documentary festival is taking place this month and some of the content will be available online, what responsibility do you think curators have towards their audiences in terms of what they get to watch . It is not our role to establish truth, not at all, but it is our role to say, well, here are some facts about this, here is a personal position about this, here is some knowledge about that. And to actually be able to build a programme, a panorama in the discourse that can give people honestly the difference between what is knowledge, what is an opinion about our reality. Take one. A direct relationship between director and audience may not be a bad thing. In a galaxy far, far away from political documentaries, british director debs paterson made the skywalker legacy, a doc about the making of the latest star wars episode, the rise of skywalker. It was due to premiere in cinemas the week much of the world locked down and was released on disney instead with twitter as an audience gauge. That was kind of special, actually, in the sort of weird lockdown of it all, to have this experience and feeling we were connecting and thankfully enjoying it. The curation of content doesnt happen in the way that it used to and that feels incredibly exciting. You know, you can discover stuff because other people are excited about it. Considering the oscar for best documentary feature this year went to american factory, netflix, which competed against the edge of democracy, netflix, the new think film makers should just flock to deep pocketed streaming services. Hello. Thanks forjoining me from macedonia. Thank you. But there is also honeyland, a macedonian story about a beekeeper which cost 200,000 euros to make and travelled its way from festivals
to the 2020 oscars, some would say the Old Fashioned route. We had a screening in salt lake city. Every Single Person from the cinema came to congratulate us and to try the honey. We had just a smalljar and they were waiting in line to try the honey, the whole cinema. 500 people. The watching of a film is just not the same when you are lying at home and pushing buttons and when you actually make it an experience and share it with other people. It can never be the same. El cap is the most impressive wall on earth. Some documentaries are inherently cinematic. Oscar winner free solo, for example, which detailed a climber without ropes conquering a yosemite peak. How much documentaries continue to enjoy cinema releases will depend upon public appetite to go back post pandemic, and thats a climb
thats just beginning. Right now documentary film makers around the world are struggling in the midst of the pandemic to get their films made. In india, tariq vasudeva, a film maker himself, has been hearing from an independent director in new delhi about his documentary in the making and the challenges that hes faced in getting it completed during the coronavirus outbreak. Documentaries in india have long been identified by many as staid and boring cinema. Only a few stalwarts have led the way by making films that tackle social, political and human rights issues. Many of which have challenged the political establishment. Inspired by the guerrilla style of taking a camera to the streets, tushar prakash, a film maker from new delhi, decided to crowdfund his independent documentary film, to pakistan with love. Its about a muslim man from north india who wasjailed for 11 and a half years because he fell in love with a girl from pakistan. Before he got jailed, he basically promised her that he would come back, they will get married. But she could never tell that girl for 11 and half years he was injail. The film is basically his love letter to her. You explore an issue that grew out of the political dispute between india and pakistan. Do you think films such as yours can help bridge the gap between the two countries . There isjust such a lack of information flow between the two countries. It is so bizarre because we speak the same language, it is essentially the same culture. Perhaps films can show a sense of cultural unification, they can make us realise how similar they are, they can make them realise how similar we are to them. And that can, perhaps, lead to something positive. Prakashs first film, the karma killings, which he co directed, was one of the first indian documentaries to be acquired by netflix in 2017. But now prakash and other independent documentary film makers
like him are concerned about their ability to shoot in real locations during the pandemic. Travel restrictions have also made it much more difficult to complete films and start new projects, especially when there is little official Information Available about Coronavirus Infection rates. I have to go to pakistan to do the final scene of the movie. I have no idea when i can go to pakistan because no information is coming out of pakistan. So i really dont know when i can film the final act of my film. The pandemic has caused a multitude of problems for documentary film makers in india. Getting money to support their projects has become a major challenge. The National Funding has now stopped all documentary films in the country and, therefore, where do they get the funding from . And what is really scary is that with the Current Situation the way it is, the risk factor that is being faced by all of us and the pandemic we are in, we really dont know how funders are going to be funding documentaries internationally. Tough times call for Creative Solutions and many documentary film makers all over the world have begun looking at new ways of shooting their films. A Community Driven approach seems to be the way forward. I think it should be collaborative in the process. You know, you need to look at remote film making. So if you are supposed to be doing a film in calcutta and you are based in bombay, you need to find another film maker there who is based in calcutta that you can collaborate with that can be able to shoot that particular process, or that key event for you to put in your film. Prakash may not be able to complete his film at the moment, but he says it is the role of the artist to propel the world during a crisis. He believes that films will always have the ability to create everlasting change
in our hearts and minds. And now to a new york based documentary called through the night which is an intimate portrait of the owner of a 24 hour Day Care Centre and two of the mothers who are her clients, women who are essential workers. The kind of people who have toiled during the pandemic. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic new york is joined in a ritual started in europe and now practised by countries around the world. Every evening they clapped for essential workers like medical personnel and those in the Service Industry who kept working while everyone else stayed home. Come on, mama, time to get up. As the child of a Home Health Aide who worked the overnight shift, film maker loira limbal understands the sacrifices caregivers make to do theirjobs. In herfilm, through the night, she wanted to tell their stories in a way that fully showed their humanity. I wanted to create a portrait of this universe that i know very intimately, this universe of Mothers Holding each other down. This is how we survive, we have been doing this under really harsh conditions in this country because, you know, this country is what it is and it does what it does to us. And so i wanted to shine a light on the structural problems that exist in this country and how there is not a safety net. Even though the story is based in the us, one of the worlds richest countries, it is documenting a reality shared by millions of women across the globe. Working full time, sometimes with multiplejobs, and still struggling to make ends meet. If i am not working one job, i am working anotherjob. Marisol, one of two mothers featured in the documentary, like women in many countries, works three jobs, while this other woman is a paediatric nurse, who works overnight. My children, ever since they were at the age of two years old, they had to share me with other children. Nunu is the owner of a 24 hour Day Care Centre in new york, who has dedicated her life to raising children. Without nunu, neither of these women would have anyone to care for their children and they wouldnt be able to work at the jobs that Society Depends on them to do. For nunu, the caregiving work never ends. During the day, she cleans, hugs, feeds and comforts the children and at night she puts them to bed, while she and her husband take turns sleeping. It is rewarding, but exhausting work. The tendency is to see a woman like that and think, she is an angel oh, my god, she is a hero we need to celebrate her and we do need to celebrate her and we do need to celebrate all of the women who do this work, but at the same time its like, dont get comfortable in celebrating nunu and leaving it there because this is taking a toll on her and it is unfair that we are asking individual people to carry the weight that a society should carry. Do we love each other . Yeah. Ididnt hearyou yeah do we love each other . Through the night is a love letter to black and latinx women. In limbals words, the girls in the hoop earrings and the women on the stoop. It comes out of her lived experience growing up working class and now raising two children on her own, but the film wouldnt be possible without support and a lot of black and latinx film makers dont have it. Fortunately limbal, as Vice President of harlem based firelight media, develops programmes to help emerging filmmakers of colour. One of those people is ashley oshay, a documentarian working on herfirst film, unapologetic. The grant that we received as part of the fellowship, it was like the biggest grant that we received for unapologetic, it really shaped and helped and pushed this narrative along in a way that. You know, without organisations like firelight, i dont know if i would have been able to complete this film. Just finally feeling like i was in a space where i belonged and feeling like i didnt have to pare down my voice. I didnt know you had kids you know i have a house full of kids limbal is keenly aware of the inequalities in film making industry and in society at large. When it comes to caregivers, she hopes herfilm opens peoples eyes to those inequities and pushes them to do something about it. I think that the film is a bit of a wake up call to see realities that many people that are not impacted by it are simply not aware of, and i hope that they become outraged and i hope that they use their privilege in whatever ways they can to be good allies. I dont want to stop doing what im doing because i feel like if i lay down im so tired i might not get back up. And now, onto an historic event, the bbcs first online film festival, called long shots. It is highlighting documentaries
made by new and emerging directors from around the world. It has been put together by its curator, anna bressanin, my colleague here in new york. I spoke to her by way of skype. Long shot is the bbcs first online film festival. It showcases emerging filmmakers from around the world. We are trying to show hidden gems, films that you wouldnt otherwise watch. What they all have in common, these films, is that they are powerfully human, they are often very personal stories. They all deal with one big question that is what it means to be human today. We decided to give the audience the vote. Everybody can go on our website, bbc. Com longshot. You can watch the seven films until 22nd june and you can vote for your favourite. We will give an award, an Audience Award to the film that receives most votes from the audience. Well, that brings this special documentary edition of talking movies to a close. We hope you have enjoyed the show. Please remember, you can always reach us online at bbc. Com talking movies and you can find us on facebook and twitter. So, from me, tom brook and the rest of the talking movies Production Team here in new york and london, it is goodbye, as we leave you with a clip from honeyland, one of the documentaries mentioned by emma jones in her report. Bees buzz
hello there. Well take a look at the uk unsettled weather picture injust a moment, but first of all, one place that has seen some very high temperatures over the last 2a hours is the arctic circle, where temperatures reached 30 degree celsius on tuesday. Amazing to think temperatures can get that high that far north, but they do from time to time. That, though, could be a newjune record for that particular area. Looking at our weather picture, it is unsettled. We saw rain gathering across the north west of the uk yesterday, and that was associated with an area of low pressure, and that low pressure is moving right over the heart of the United Kingdom for today. So we are looking at an unsettled day. Often its going to be cloudy, often were looking at spells of rain, that could be quite lengthy spells of rain and, at times, pretty heavy as well. Perhaps some of the heaviest bursts of rain working across the western side of the countries, so wales, maybe north west england. There will be some areas
that dont see too much in the way of rain. But i think they are going to be the lucky few. For most of us, it stays pretty wet. Temperatures between 11 and around 18 degrees for most of us. Now, once that area of rain has moved south, you might think, phew, we got rid of it, but, no, this particular area of low pressure is going to deepen and spin back northwards. All said and done, well be seeing the low influence our weather for the next six days, so we better get used to it, i suppose. On thursday, we have further outbreaks of rain, moving in across parts of england and wales. Some of the heaviest falls of rain could be working in across parts of north east england. It looks like it could turn very wet here for a time. And increasingly, ithink, as we go on through the next few days, when the rain does come along, its got a tendency to become quite heavy. Thursday is going to be a windier day, and its going to start to feel a little bit more humid as well. Now, for friday, weve got further bands of rain pushing their way northwards. Probably the heaviest coming into southern parts of england and southern wales. A real chance of some thundery downpours here,
might even see some localised surface water flooding for a time. Generally, the less Rainy Weather will be across the north west of the country, but nowhere is immune from seeing an odd downpour. And that trend continues on into the weekend as well. For saturday, its a day of sunshine and heavy thundery showers. Those showers could be quite intense. Perhaps some of the heaviest of them towards wales and parts of south west england. Its a humid day, temperatures are rising. Were looking at highs up to 24. But it is going to stay unsettled. This is bbc news. A very warm welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. My names mike embley. Our top stories the funeral of george floyd whose death in Police Custody caused global outrage hears impassioned pleas for racialjustice. Until we know the price for black life is the same as the price for white life, were going to keep coming back to these situations over and over again. Many of the largest anti racism protests have been in the american capital. We speak to the mayor of washington, dc, about her relationship with the white house. They