Dennis Skinner, subject of a new documentary

Here’s one to put in your diary – director and writer Daniel Draper is doing an advance screening of his new documentary about the man who is surely the greatest Parliamentarian today, Dennis Skinner.

Draper’s film, Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast – made with the cooperation of Skinner – is on general release in September, but the film is on the rosta for this week’s East End Film Festival on June 17.

Skinner was one of nine siblings raised in Clay Cross, a Derbyshire mining village, and after working as a councillor was elected to the Commons nearly 50 years ago. He has won 13 elections and has spent a career fighting for the common good, drawing a wage that matches the average of those who are in his constituency, and never wavering from a set of Socialist principles that guides all he does.

Daniel had interviewed Dennis for a previous film – a documentary on the brilliant, heart-breaking Robert Tressell novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – and he says that it took a 90-minute phone conversation about football, nature, literature, musicals, Woody Allen films (and a little bit of politics) before Dennis gave him the green light.

For a taste of what the film will be about, rush to your nearest independent book store and buy Skinner’s fantastic autobiography, Sailing Close To Wind. See www.eastendfilmfestival.com

Heady stuff: Touching the Void
• Dartmouth Park-based director Kevin MacDonald’s brilliant mountain-top drama-doc film Touching The Void is being screened at the Barbican on Sunday – with a live orchestra providing the score. See www.barbican.org.uk/music/whats-on