RIP Tributes to Mark Saunders: Kevin Sheridan, Dave Barnard, Richard Wolff on Despite TV & Spectacle

Mark Saunders, documentary maker, died last week. He was internationally known for his Despite TV documentaries starting from the early 80s, shown on Channel 4.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.saunders.75054

His company Spectacle Productions took it's name from the Society of the Spectacle. Despite the City documentary - David Yallop, author of 'In God's Name' book, on money laundering in the City of London, and how Roberto Calvi offered him £1m to not publish his book.

https://politicsthisweek.gn.apc.org/2025/07/not-the-bcfm-politics-show-presented-by-tony-gosling-248/

Spectacle is an award-winning independent production company specialising in documentary, community-led, investigative journalism and participatory media. Spectacle's documentary work has been broadcast and exhibited internationally, and shown on Channel 4. We have produced work on commission for clients including: Amnesty International, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Council of Europe, Groundwork, the London Health Commission, the NHS, Big Local and the Wellcome Trust. As well as undertaking production, documentation and community engagement commissions, Spectacle provides facilities to independent filmmakers, runs short, sharp, affordable training courses and community based media workshops.

About Mark Saunders

Mark Saunders, who taught every course himself, was an award-winning independent filmmaker, media activist and writer. His expertise in the field spans over three decades. Mark's films have been broadcast internationally and exhibited at galleries, including Tate Britain, the National Film Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Musee des Beaux-Arts, the National Media Museum and the Photographers Gallery. Mark was running Spectacle Productions, a company which he founded in 1990. He was also teaching for over 20 years, and has been a visiting lecturer at a number of institutions, including the London School of Economics, University College London, Cambridge University, the Royal College of Art, the London College of Communications, Bournemouth University, Florence University, HafenCity University Hamburg, and Coventry University. He is currently teaching film at Birkbeck College. Mark has a BA (hons) in Film, Television and Photography from the London College of Printing, and an MA in Screenwriting from the University of London.

Kevin Sheridan who worked with Mark in the 80s gives his account of the era. Despite the Sun documentary on the Wapping dispute. Dave Barnard remembers Mark.

Battle of Trafalgar documentary on the poll tax riots. C4 innovative at first - After Dark. Richard Wolff on how he and Mark started INURA that worked with underprivileged youth across Europe to give them a voice through video production. Truth Lies in Rostock documentary - neo Nazis. INURA 2025 - Anti-fragility through strengthening civil society - Infrastructure for Defence and the Everyday - Bombs are not falling in Finland, but city officials were not blind to threats to their territory, their institutions, their bodies - i.e. their sovereignty - and the need for response measures to protect its residents. A well-visited excursion prepared by Panu Lehtovuori’s led visitors through the city’s above ground (wide allees) and below ground defence mechanisms. Currently repurposed as sports centres and parking lots, bunkers at a depth of 50 m underground had the capacity to shelter 300,000 residents in less than 72 hours. Meanwhile, Tampere continues its investments in infrastructures for public good. A tram tour with Jaakko Stenhäll, Green Party City Councillor, introduced visitors to Tampere’s transit-oriented development. Anti-Fragile Cities -- Ultimately INURA 2025 posed deeper questions about what constitutes anti-fragility in urban space. How and when is anti-fragility invoked? How do locally specific circumstances (resources, information, education, strength of inclusive institutions) shape processes of resilience? What are the epistemologies behind agendas of resilience? What can cities learn from each other? Being from Luxembourg, what can we learn from abroad? On the tours and during the informal conversations in-between, anti-fragility in Tampere, was indeed about a dramatic project of building systems of preparedness against violence (pathetic as it is that in 2025, there are still some on the international stage who--to put it mildly--act in bad faith). However, and moreover, anti-fragility was also about strengthening civil society: preserving inclusive spaces for different forms of expression (including the freedom to critique figures of authority), protecting labour, building mobility and communication networks, caring for neighbours and young people, valuing the experimentation with different ways of living. Thank you to the organizers Mariia Pristupa and Jens Brandt, and to Linda Strande, Jason Katz, Elke Rauthe, Britta Grell, Marit Rosol, Philipp Klaus, Richard Wolff, Stijn Oosterlynk, and so many others for the deep conversations. And Mark Saunders, founding member of INURA, it was with great sadness to learn that you had to leave this world so early. While everyone is grateful for the time with you in Tampere, you will be missed terribly. For readers, here is his work at Spectacle. Memories of Mark can be contributed here.