Film of the Year: Hungary 1956 Our Revolution

The History Today Film of the Year award has been awarded to the 60-minute documentary Hungary 1956: Our Revolution, written, directed and produced by Mark Kidel and first broadcast on BBC 4 in October 2006, though recently repeated. Witnesses recall the rising against Soviet rule day by day, with the help of remarkable archive footage and still photographs, in a moving and vivid account of hopes of freedom first raised and then dashed by the brutal response of the Soviet tanks. Highly commended were three very different films. These include No Go: The Free Derry Story, an account by Vinny Cunningham for Open Reel Productions of the anomalous situation in Northern Ireland from August 14th, 1969, in which the British Army was faced by barricades thrown up by the Nationalists in Derry. Also highly commended is Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple, a 90-minute film made by Bill Cran shown at the London Film Festival on the rise and fall of the charismatic evangelist Jim Jones, a story that led to the mass suicide of 600 of his followers in the jungle of Guyana in 1978. Remarkable archive footage and witnesses include Jones’ brother, and some of a very few members of the People’s Temple to escape the carnage. Accused, made by Ricardo Pollack for Blast! Films, is the story of a Satanic child-abuse scandal in the Orkneys in 1991, beautifully photographed and with moving contributions from many of the participants, children, parents and social workers.