The B3 Biennial is pleased to announce Julien Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, who will enrich the B3 Conference day around the theme of democracy.
Gabriel himself has worked in film production for more than 15 years and has developed a broad and deep knowledge of the industry. Shipton has long and valuable relationships with inspiring and successful professionals in the industry and has been involved in diverse productions, from low-budget feature films and high-quality television series to major studio productions.
On Tuesday, October 18, in the talk with award-winning filmmaker and moderator Dr. Ina Knobloch, Gabriel Shipton will address the question of how much independence film, the moving image and its narrative need to strengthen democracy. Does independent communication exist at all? People like whistleblowers contribute to the correction of narratives and in the best case strengthen independent communication and free forms of government, like democracy. 

ITHAKA A Father. A Family. A Fight For Justice

In keeping with Shipton’s visit, B3 will screen the film ITHAKA A Father. A Family. A Fight For Justice, produced by Shipton himself, at the Astor Film Lounge on Tuesday, October 18. This documents the fight for Julian Assange, a man whose idea of justice led him to found the organization WikiLeaks to provide a safe platform for whistleblowers. The information released by WikiLeaks has brought to light countless abuses, including war crimes, corruption, and environmental scandals. For this revolutionary journalistic work, Julian Assange has been celebrated and showered with awards, but it is precisely this journalism that has led the U.S. to charge him with espionage and demand his extradition. Should Assange be extradited to the U.S., he faces a closed-door trial and a prison sentence of 175 years. For more than three years, he has been held under the harshest conditions in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, awaiting the outcome of his extradition proceedings.

B3 Conference Highlight

For those interested in politics, the panel “Which socio-political systems will take the lead in the world in the future?” will certainly be of interest. Also on Tuesday, October 18, at 2:30 p.m., renowned guests Dr. Mariana Bozesan, Dr. Emilia Roig, Prof. Dr. Stephan Brunnhuber and Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis will talk about the role creative people can and should play as portraitists, chroniclers and critics of our time or as visionaries looking into a possible future. What form of society would be right for them and in their eyes? They will discuss these questions live and with the audience in the Astor Film Lounge.