1. “Cramming an extraordinary 150-odd films into just 4 days (at only £5 a ticket) this is a must for all fans of real-life cinema. Subject matter is broad, from the drug trade and the Russian Mafia to the capital’s architectural heritage and filmmaking in rural Argentina….” “According to PawelPawlikowski, the best actualities go `beyond the familiar and the cliché to reveal the mystery, the poetry, the ambiguity beneath'. Curated by University College, London's new documentary festival, Open City, has clearly set itself very high goals in seeking to present films of this calibre. However, with its focus on the themes of obsession, crime and punishment and the city, the inaugural programme is undeniably impressive.” “They who control the image control the story,” says the director of this new festival, and with 140 films here, ranging in subject from communist utopias (Victoria) to cockney barbershops (Barber’s Dozen) to obsessive radio collecting (Analogue Kingdom), the control is back in your hands. At best you’ll only scratch the surface, and even though the programme is split into eight helpful categories (City Scope, Crime & Punishment, Science Fictions, etc), there’s a lot here to regret missing. A once-in-a-lifetime screening of Claude Lanzman’s towering nine- and-a-half-hour holocaust testament Shoah, for example, which will be accompanied by the director and the UK premiere of his Karski Report. Or Position Among The Stars (pictured), the final part of a trilogy on Indonesian family life that’s been 12 years in the making.” “A new festival of documentary filmmaking begins tonight with the Open City documentary film festival. An enormous and ambitious programme has been squeezed into four days of screening and events…UCL are hosting it all, including food markets and live music every day at Malet Place. This evening’s opening night festivities include a cycle-powered open-air screening. Encouragingly in these £12-a-ticket times, all tickets are priced at a super-reasonable fiver a pop, making this festival accessible to all. And with such a broad and interesting programme, there’s something for everyone here.”

2. Open City is bringing documentaries to a wider audience by launching its first Documentary Festival that celebrates over a hundred years of the genre. For four days London's Global University, University College London, will be packed with enthusiasts for the screening of films old and new with topics ranging from women's rights in Afghanistan to last year's student protestors in London. One of the classics to be shown is the 1985's Shoah from the French director Claude Lanzmann and often called the greatest film ever made. The latest documentaries will be submitted to an experienced and acclaimed panel of judges, who will give awards including the International award for best emerging director. Open City is also giving the chance for amateurs and student filmmakers to submit their own projects in the 'My Street' campaign. Candidates can make a short film about the street they live on. The films that are short listed will be shown at the festival and the top three will be given cash prizes. The aim is to get people interested in the art of documentary making and that they can use it to express their personalities and passions. To find out more about the festival visit Open City London and to book tickets go to We Got Tickets. (ANASTASIA ABOIM in WEEKEND NOTES)

4. After seeing people living on the streets, they were so moved they have decided to make a film about the issue which will be shown on Afghan TV as an untold story there. One of the filmmakers, Mohammed Tamim Abdullah, 22, said: "In Afghanistan, we do not think that homelessness is something you would have in the Western world. We were shocked. We thought you have no problems, everyone has cars, everyone has nice houses. We thought it would be very interesting to look at this problem and to make this film." Tamim and colleagues MassoodZiaee, 21, AirokhshFaizQaisary, 20, and 17-year-old Sayed Suleiman Amanzad are in London to screen their short films at the Open City London Film Festival. They show unseen sides of life in Afghanistan including the struggles of a woman taking her driving test in Kabul and how another was shunned by her family and friends after being mutilated in a Taliban attack. James Blue, the executive producer of Afghan Voices, the organisation which helped them to make their films, said: "By bringing their films here, we're getting to see a side of Afghanistan we never see. And by making their film on homelessness in London, Afghans will get the chance to see a side of this country they never see."