Tariq Ali

Production

Tariq Ali

Born 1943-10-21 · Lahore, Pakistan

Tariq Ali Khan is a British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books. He read PPE at Exeter College, Oxford.

Acting credits

We Are Many poster
6.7

The story of the biggest demonstration in human history, which took place on 15th February 2003, against the impending war on Iraq.

We Are Many

2014

The U.S. vs. John Lennon poster
6.6

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

2006

No artwork available
NR

A documentary about money & debt, austerity & solidarity and alternative economics

Money Puzzles

2016

Preventive Warriors poster
7.0

Preventive Warriors examines George W Bush's foreign policy -- specifically in the National Security Strategy of 2002. The NSS states that the US reserves the right to attack any nation that poses an imminent threat to the US or its interests. The film focuses on terrorism, rogue states, weapons of mass destruction, and how the United States' actions may impact the rest of the world.

Preventive Warriors

2004

Global Haywire poster
NR

Documentary about the state of the modern world.

Global Haywire

2006

Rethink Afghanistan poster
8.0

Filmmaker Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed) carefully examines the war in Afghanistan, raising challenging questions about the destabilization of Pakistan, U.S. troop escalation, ballooning military costs, civilian casualties and much more. Through fascinating interviews with Afghans, veterans, reporters, ex-CIA agents and foreign-policy experts, Greenwald's incisive documentary urges an immediate de-escalation of the conflict.

Rethink Afghanistan

2009

South of the Border poster
6.1

A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.

South of the Border

2009

American Zeitgeist poster
6.8

American Zeitgeist is a feature length documentary by filmmaker Rob McGann that offers an historical look at the War on Terrorism from 1979 through 2006. The narrative of American Zeitgeist is woven out of more than 40 in-depth interviews with leading experts on terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, Islam and Middle Eastern studies

American Zeitgeist

2006

Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution poster
3.0

Russia, 1917. After the abdication of Czar Nicholas II Romanov, the struggle for power confronts allies, enemies, factions and ideas; a ruthless battle between democracy and authoritarianism that will end with the takeover of the government by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution

2017

Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Koran poster
NR

The Koran is one of the most important works ever written. For almost one billion people worldwide, it is the Holy Scripture, the word of God and his prophet. For others, it is a historical artifact that has left an indelible imprint on the world. DECODING THE PAST: SECRETS OF THE KORAN probes the heart of the work that many outside Islam find mysterious. This feature-length program examines the history of the verses and their implications for modern times, as well as the striking similarities and differences between the Koran and the Bible. Trace the influence of the Koran from the Golden Age of Islam to the modern rise of jihadism, and hear from top Islamic scholars and holy men as they share their insights into the work that lies at the foundation of one of the world's great religions. THE HISTORY CHANNEL provides the perfect guide to understanding the fundamental work that has shaped the Muslim faith for over 1,400 years, and will long continue to influence modern history.

Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Koran

2006

John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky poster
7.1

Film telling the untold story of John Lennon's 1971 album Imagine, exploring the creative collaboration between Lennon and Yoko Ono and featuring interviews and never-seen-before footage.

John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky

2018

No artwork available
NR

1971 NBC documentary by Frank Cvitanovich profiling the various elements of the Metropolitan Police, from the Black Museum to modern riots, to anti-paedophile campaigns.

Scotland Yard - the Golden Thread

1971

The Gospel According to St Derek poster
NR

Using interviews with close family, friends and collaborators, The Gospel According to St. Derek bears witness to Derek Jarman’s unique approach to low-budget film-making (his near-alchemical ability to turn the base components of film-making in to artistic gold, his placing of himself at the heart of all his work and his need to be part of a repertory company-type set-up). The Gospel… also promotes Derek Jarman’s importance as one of Britain's finest film-makers and acts, therefore, as a rally call to all would-be independent film-makers. This is the ’10 commandments of St. Derek ‘(who was indeed canonised by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) on low-budget film-making.

The Gospel According to St Derek

2014

When Tariq Ali Met Malcolm X poster
NR

One was a Black human rights leader who had achieved global notoriety. The other was a young Marxist Oxford student from Pakistan looking to bring radical change to the British establishment. When they met in December 1964, Malcolm X's life of activism was about to come to a tragic end, but Tariq Ali's journey was just beginning. This is the story of a brief but impactful friendship that, 50 years later, still ripples through England today, told by Ali, civil rights historians, and rarely seen footage of Malcolm X's overseas visit.

When Tariq Ali Met Malcolm X

2019

The Russell Tribunal poster
NR

At the height of the Vietnam War, a group of intellectuals begins a series of hearings in the People’s Palace in Stockholm. (Filmform)

The Russell Tribunal

2003

Behind the camera

Wittgenstein poster
6.4

A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.

Wittgenstein

1993

South of the Border poster
6.1

A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.

South of the Border

2009

Aristophanes: The Gods Are Laughing poster
7.0

Specially commissioned by the British Film Institute and Channel 4, this pseudo-biography shows how Aristophanes became the father of political satire and why his theatrical innovations are still staples of the contemporary theatre.

Aristophanes: The Gods Are Laughing

1995

No artwork available
NR

The story of how 60-year-old abstract impressionist painter Harold Shapinsky was discovered the previous year by Akumal Ramachander, an Indian professor of English.

The Painter & The Pest

1985

Carlo Levi Stopped Here poster
NR

The deep North-South divide in Italy is explored through the eyes of northern anti-fascist writer and painter, Carlo Levi, who is exiled by Mussolini to a remote village in Southern Italy. Levi falls in love with the ancient traditions of Southern peasant culture and becomes a passionate advocate, fighting for justice for the impoverished South.

Carlo Levi Stopped Here

1992

Hell's Angel poster
7.2

Christopher Hitchens investigates whether Mother Teresa of Calcutta deserves her saintly image. He probes her campaigns against contraception and abortion and her questionable relationships with right-wing political leaders.

Hell's Angel

1994

Hell's Angel poster
7.2

Christopher Hitchens investigates whether Mother Teresa of Calcutta deserves her saintly image. He probes her campaigns against contraception and abortion and her questionable relationships with right-wing political leaders.

Hell's Angel

1994

No artwork available
10.0

Story of John Locke...

Citizen Locke

1994

Partition poster
5.5

The tumultuous events surrounding the sub-continent's partition in 1947 into India and Pakistan are re-imagined in Ken McMullen's complex and visually striking film. A lunatic asylum in the city of Lahore becomes a mirror image of events in the outside political world, with the same actors playing both inmates and rulers. Adapted by Tariq Ali and McMullen from famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's short story 'Toba Tek Singh', Partition speaks for the countless millions that the usual British Raj films sweep out of sight. Released to mark the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, this is the film's first-ever release on DVD.

Partition

1987

Iranian Nights poster
8.0

A Channel Four special presentation of the Royal Court Theatre 1989 production, London. with Paul Bhattacharjee, Nabil Shaban and Fiona Victory. "Iranian Nights" was a play written and produced as a direct response by writers and artists to the notorious Feb 14 1989 Fatwa (a sentence of death) from Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed on Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses", regarded by fundamentalist Muslims as blasphemous.

Iranian Nights

1989

Iranian Nights poster
8.0

A Channel Four special presentation of the Royal Court Theatre 1989 production, London. with Paul Bhattacharjee, Nabil Shaban and Fiona Victory. "Iranian Nights" was a play written and produced as a direct response by writers and artists to the notorious Feb 14 1989 Fatwa (a sentence of death) from Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed on Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses", regarded by fundamentalist Muslims as blasphemous.

Iranian Nights

1989

Spinoza: the Apostle of Reason poster
NR

Drama based on the life and thought of Spinoza, who was born in sixteenth century Amsterdam to a family of Jewish refugees from Portugal. He lived in an age of turmoil, when the Dutch Republic and the English Commonwealth had polarised the entire continent. His scepticism enraged the Jewish elders and led to his excommunication.

Spinoza: the Apostle of Reason

1994

Spinoza: the Apostle of Reason poster
NR

Drama based on the life and thought of Spinoza, who was born in sixteenth century Amsterdam to a family of Jewish refugees from Portugal. He lived in an age of turmoil, when the Dutch Republic and the English Commonwealth had polarised the entire continent. His scepticism enraged the Jewish elders and led to his excommunication.

Spinoza: the Apostle of Reason

1994

Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth poster
6.0

Presented by the late literary critic Edward Said, this thirty-seven minute 1992 documentary reflects on director Gillo Pontecorvo's youth and politics in an attempt to understand his approach to filmmaking.

Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth

1992

Balkan Landscapes: The Gaze of Theo Angelopoulos poster
NR

Theo Angelopoulos recalls the defining moment in 1964 that led to him to live his entire life in Greece, and explores the concept of borders in his work - as the limits of existence, of life and death, of language and communication. “Narrowing down the borders narrows the communication, stretches the differences, magnifies oppositions, magnifies reasons for war, magnifies the refugees, magnifies the internal exile... In reality a civil war leaves behind wounds which cannot easily be healed and they revive, like ghosts, or like recurrent nightmares, during the long nights which have dogged Greek society for years.”

Balkan Landscapes: The Gaze of Theo Angelopoulos

1993

No artwork available
NR

Milton Rogovin is an 82-year-old photographer in Buffalo, New York, who began taking photographs in the ‘50s. In this programme, Rogovin discusses his work, whilst the subjects of his photographs talk about their lives and attitudes to being photographed.

Images of Atlantis: The Photography of Milton Rogovin

1992

No artwork available
NR

E. P. Thompson, a British historian, poet, novelist and activist, was a voice of dissent in the dogmatic political environment of 20th century Europe. As a member of the New Left, his work and activism sought to bridge the gap between Marxist theory and practice, and to heal the fracture of the Cold War divide

A Life of Dissent: Edward and Dorothy Thompson

1993