Andrew's Blog

Ejup Ganiã – War Criminal?

Andrew Wallis — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:03:43 +0000

On Saturday 10th April, we received a phonecall from a mysterious Serbian woman asking us if we had a crew available for Tuesday to film the proceedings of a trial that was taking place at the City of Westminster’s Magistrates Court.

As the story unfolded we were told that we would be filming ex-Serbian President Ejup Ganiã.

Ejup Ganiã was President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001.On 1. March 2010 he was arrested at Heathrow Airport after Serbian judicial authorities issued an extradition warrant. He is accused of conspiracy to murder 40 Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) soldiers in Sarajevo in May 1992.

He was granted bail on March 12th after Judge John Laws remarked that the arrest warrant by Serbia was politically motivated.

It was also claimed by Ganiã’s defenders that Serbia had yet to produce any real evidence, and that most of their supposed evidence was made up of news articles regarding the Dobrovoljaèka Street incident.

However, Serbian prosecutor’s office claims that the case contains additional evidence.

The extradition trial begins tomorrow.

Watch this space!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bosnia/7422076/Former-Bosnian-leader-Ejup-Ganic-released-on-bail.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8562009.stm

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62A31A20100311

Cancer & diet

Andrew Wallis — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:17:58 +0000

Cancer could be caused by anything. Everything could cause cancer. Stress, the environment, diet, genes, alcohol, recreational drugs, medication for other complaints. It is so out of control that it could be anything. It is projected that the year 2020, half the population will be affected by cancer. Not for nothing is cancer often called the big C. After that, 2050, will it be three quarters of the population or even more or by that time will it be under control? It isn’t necessarily going to expand exponentially. Germs & viruses & diseases are a kind of parallel universe, fighting to survive & expand, constantly adapting. But also retreating or dying out. Just as it seemed the world was about to end because of the Black Death, the disease ran its course. It came back from time to time but not so virulently. That might happen with cancer; AIDS too. A report by Paolo Boffetta of the Tish Cancer Institute in New York was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute recently. It purported to say that eating fruit & fresh vegetables made little or no difference to the prevention or cure of cancer. This is the link http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2010/04/study-finds-only-a-weak-link-between-fruits-and-veggies-and-reduced-cancer-risksurprise-.html Personally I don’t believe it. As far as I know all the anecdotal evidence & everything else says that this is not the case. I am an old cynic & would be interested in who provided the funding for this report. It just doesn’t chime with my personal experience. I personally know people, cancer sufferers, who have changed their diet & gone on living productive lives for years after their predicted demise. The report does recommend eating fruit & vegetables as a means to good health generally, so who knows? It was a wide sample but what was the methodology? This is what I think. Cancer is the one of the feared disease around & rightly so. To be told that a relative or friend or even yourself (I suppose) has cancer is the most terrible news. But there is no reason why it should necessarily be a killer. Change your diet, change your life. We at InFactuation Productions have made a film for the charity Black Cancer Care, which was mainly though not entirely about Rawle Price’s journey from being a cancer sufferer to completely recovering, by changing his diet. The film also contains advice about diet generally. This is the link for it http://www.infactuationproductions.co.uk/buy_dvd.htm#cbc Health, diet & so on is very much affected by fashion as much as anything. When I was 20, it was said that bananas were a fruit with no food value whatever. By the time I was 30, it had become the complete food. At one time it was even believed that smoking was good for you. I have no doubt that this report will be superseded by another in the near future which reports that eating plenty of fruit & vegetables is an excellent protection against cancer of all types – again.

Retirement or not?

Andrew Wallis — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:25:55 +0000

We have been debating here at InFactuation the pros & cons of retirement. Retirement is a relatively new concept. Up to quite recently, the last 100 years or so, the vast majority of people used to work until they dropped. Retirement was started by the German emperor to reward soldiers when they finally retired from the army. I know that many people hate what they do & long for that day when they will be retiring; I appreciate that. Many jobs are the equivalent of national service men being told to dig a hole & then fill it in again. And for many many people retirement is a welcome respite from their normal job. And they do enjoy their retirement however long or short that may be. But often retired people find retirement isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Boredom & quite simply not being used to being at home all day is a big problem. There is the well known saying “I married you for better or worse but not for lunch.” Married couples often discover that they don’t get on with each other quite as well as they thought they did. Retirement can be bad for your health. The companionship & challenge & stress (there is good stress & bad stress) of work is life giving & healthy. There is so much that can be done. Work is work & can be interesting or boring, paid or unpaid. The true value of work is whether it is useful or not. A doctor & a teacher can always find something else to do & anyway their work is more useful than for example selling space. My father was a doctor & he went on working until into his eighties & until he contracted the illness which in the end killed him. Stanley Johnson, Boris Johnson’s father – I am not endorsing the present mayor I hasten to add – is always going on this expedition or that project in this continent or that country & he is, I think, in his eighties. He has said that people should not get free public transport until the age of 80 & even though I do now enjoy this privilege I in fact agree with him. Older people can look after their grandchildren & love doing this. Of course there are many things which younger people do which older people cannot. But conversely there are many things which are in fact better done by older people. I am thinking of private tuition, gardening, working in shops, reception work, working in advice bureaus & the priesthood. Old people can be better than young people at all this & I am sure there are other activities of which this is true. Older people have a reputation for greater reliability than young people & for taking less sickness time. And then there is the problem of demographics. The Western world is top heavy. It has too few young people looking after too many old people. In the end the experience & knowledge of older people will have to be utilised. I, myself am 64. I have no intention of retiring at 65. I hope not to retire for a good many years after that. Be careful what you eat & what you don’t eat, stay in good health & be happy. Retirement? Don’t do it.

Michi in Spitalfields

Andrew Wallis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:28:13 +0000

The filmmaker Michihide Ochi, a good friend of InFactuation Productions, has returned to Japan. He recently married his childhood sweetheart after she & Michi were both widowed. She was in fact married to Englishman & has lived in the UK for more than 40 years. They have a photo album of them together when they were young. Michi is helping InFactuation Productions with the Atom Bomb Game project, the film we are making about the important Go match which continued even after the H-bomb had dropped on Hiroshima & helping us to raise funds for the project. Michi & Andrew walked around Spitalfields & Brick Lane, an area which was in fact heavily bombed by the Germans in the World War II as indeed was much of the East End of London. The consequent merging of extremely new buildings sided by side with old buildings is certainly interesting. Michi liked the old buildings more & & he liked the crowds of people in the area enjoying their weekend. Down Parliament Street, which in fact is a narrow alleyway near Bishopsgate, there is a gas lamp such as used to be such of a big feature of British films. Michi is somewhat more unconventional than most Japanese & less formal. He likes John Wayne films, old British films & The Bill & he likes horse racing. InFactuation Productions are based in Brick Lane & Andrew showed Michi the premises..Michi has returned to Japan to work on a feature film project about pirates. Both Andrew & Michi have fathers who were in the navy during World War II & both Andrew & Michi are committed to peace & reconciliation & both play Go. We are looking forward to seeing Michi again on his return to UK next month.

Mephedrone – me OW or me WOW?

Andrew Wallis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:14:00 +0000

InFactuation Productions www.infactuation.co.uk and Optical Relay www.opticalrelay.co.uk are making a TV series about the controversial head line grabbing legal drug, Mephedrone. The drug has taken the lime light in the news recently for being easily accessible in the clubbing scene. It’s highly addictive and scientists are unaware of long term effects, therefore it is currently under scrutiny by the government.

A recent Mixmag poll discovered that one in four drug users had tried Mephedrone in the last month, making it the fourth most popular drug in the UK.

Do you have a story about Mephedrone? We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line to: info@infactuationproductions.co.uk

Mephedrone stories:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2886058/Ban-Meow-Meow-says-drug-taker.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2747979/Lad-ripped-his-scrotum-off.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6679644/Meow-meow-Whats-to-stop-us-selling-legal-highs.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231538/Mephedrone-menace-The-deadly-drug-thats-cheap-easy-order-pizza–totally-legal.html

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/777527-girl-14-killed-by-legal-web-drug-meow-meow

Mike & Ros’ big adventure in Zambia.

Andrew Wallis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:21:59 +0000

In January 2010, Mike & Ros went to Zambia for a fortnight to film Tawanda Kazoka. Tawanda is an old friend of InFactuation & a rising star in the politics of Zambia. Tawanda spoke at the UK Youth Parliament in December 2009. InFactuation Productions are making a film about Tawanda & Zambia. A film about the politics & about the post colonial situation. Kenneth Kaunda ruled the country immediately after independence from 1964 until 1991. These days the president is Rupiah Banda. Zambia is a Western style democracy but has a problem with youth unemployment. Tawanda is much concerned with this issue & with other issues connected with young people. He plans to stand for Parliament in 2016. They came back with some amazing footage of both the country & the wildlife of Zambia & of Tawanda talking to & interviewing John Phiri, the head of Global Justice & Guess Nyirenda, the head of Operation Young Vote Zambia. Tawanda was interviewed on Zambian radio 4 times; Ros & Mike filmed him doing this. He is also a rap artist & did his stuff at the Lusaka music venue, The Brown Fox, which they filmed. They experienced extremes of climate, torrential rain & really hot weather as they followed Tawanda as he made his way around the country. Check out the trailer for the forthcoming film about Tawanda’s work – Africa’s Invisible Generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRiCuT1Z_FQ

Atom Bomb Game

Andrew Wallis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:17:03 +0000

The atom bomb which dropped on Hiroshima at 8.15am on August the 6th was just about the most devastating event in the history of the World. In those few seconds it took for the bomb to drop from the Enola Gay to destroying Hiroshima, whatever the rights & wrongs of the event, after this, the world became a different place. Another bomb was dropped a few days later on Nagasaki after the Japanese military had refused to surrender. Given the proliferation of nuclear weapons since then it is a miracle that nuclear weapons haven’t been used since. It is not known for sure how many countries possess nuclear weapons & over the years rumours have persisted about many countries having split the atom & then developing nuclear weapons. At the time that the bomb dropped an important Go match was taking place seven miles from the epicentre. Go is a game that was invented 4,000 years ago by the tutor to the Emperor of China for his (the Emperor’s) children. It is the most quintessentially abstract & intellectual game there is & is devilishly difficult to learn & play. It is a brain game, more complicated than chess with much protocol. For example the younger man has to sit with his back to the door in case an assassin enters the room; the older man must be protected before the younger man. The match in question was between Iwamoto Kaoru & Hashimoto Utaro & is engrained into Japanese culture & consciousness. But a film has never been made about it. After the war Iwamoto became a successful businessman & financed many Go centres around the World including London. Go became an instrument of peace & friendship. The original Go centre in London is not a Go club these days but there are several Go clubs in London. We at InFactuation Productions are making a film about this event. There will be two themes to the film, peace & Go. We are in the process of making a trailer for the film itself & fundraising. Recently Andrew & Ros of InFactuation Productions met with the eminent Japanese filmmaker Michihide Watanabe & his wife Nobua at their lovely home in Surrey. Andrew& Ros had originally met Michi at the Central Go Club in London. Michi was enthusiastic about the project & said he would spread the word in Japan about the project & help us in any way he could. We spent a very interesting & enjoyable afternoon with Michi & Nobua & enjoyed their wonderful food.