Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Enter The Collider, a machine built to decode the mysteries of human relationships. Its mission: to identify the corrosive, delightful and mysterious material that passes between people – that keeps us together and pulls us apart. Created for two people at time, the experience guides each person along a journey, directing the movements of both into a choreography that investigates their own relationship with power and control. Each participant enters separately but, soon, their journeys converge. One enters a virtual world revealing the inner vision of the machine, the other can manipulate the visions and actions of that virtual world. The experience culminates in an unmediated encounter where the pair work out, together, what has happened. The Collider builds the real choreography of going in and out of VR with another person in the room into a theatrical experience which creates its own spectacle – a dance between two limited humans failing and failing again to see the other’s experience and then, finally, the rush of connection when they do. From #metoo to Kavanaugh, Brexit to Brazil - The Collider moves from the political to the personal to ask: what do you do with power when you've got it? Official Selection IDFA 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

A sous-chef prepares for a food critic whose verdict could save the struggling restaurant. But with the regular chef failing to make the evening shift, tensions mount as the owner tightens the screws in a bid to recapture his past success.

Synopsis

THE PENGUIN WHO COULDN'T SWIM is an animation about disability – in fact it is about a disabled Penguin. A Penguin who lives on a rocky island in the southern seas where she feels isolated from the rest of her colony. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Family Strand

Synopsis

Grace struggles balancing her work at the job centre and caring for her father who has dementia. She’s hard-hearted with her vulnerable clients following the strict rules regardless. When her father deteriorates, she loses her job, gets into debt and becomes vulnerable herself. How will she survive now the tables have turned?

Synopsis

Welcome to Slaughterhouse, an elite boarding school where boys and girls are groomed for power and greatness... and they’re about to meet their match. Don Wallace is a wide-eyed new boy from a modest background forced to navigate a baffling new world of arcane rules and rituals, presided over by sadistic sixth formers. Matters of status are aggressively enforced and conversations with school goddess Clemsie, are strictly forbidden. But this ancient and ordered world is about to be shaken to its foundations – literally. When a controversial frack site on prize school woodland causes seismic tremors, a mysterious sinkhole and an unspeakable horror is unleashed. Soon a new pecking order will be established as pupils, teachers and the school matron become locked in a bloody battle for survival.

Synopsis

'Bohemian Rhapsody' is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as Mercury's lifestyle spirals out of control, and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid, where Mercury, facing a life-threatening illness, leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. In the process, cementing the legacy of a band that were always more like a family, and who continue to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day. A chronicle of the years leading up to seminal band Queen's appearance at the Live Aid concert in 1985.

Synopsis

Focusing on the now-legendary 1953 tour which the ageing comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy embarked on in the twilight years of their fame. Once the world’s favourite double act, but now diminished by age, and their golden era a distant memory, Laurel & Hardy set out on a variety hall tour of Britain in 1953. As they crisscross the country, attendances are disappointingly low. But they’ve always been able to make each other laugh, and as the charm and beauty of their performances shines through, their audiences laugh too, and they re-connect with legions of adoring fans, old and new. The tour becomes a hit, but Laurel & Hardy can’t quite shake the spectre of Stan and Ollie’s past; and long buried ghosts, coupled with Oliver’s failing health, start to threaten their precious partnership. A portrait of the most tender and poignant of creative marriages begins to unfold, as the duo, aware that they may be approaching their swan song, try to rediscover just how much they mean to each other. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Closing Night Gala

Synopsis

A troubled foster kid uses his scathing word skills to become an unlikely rap battle champion. But when he doorsteps his biological mother after ten years in care, he is forced to face his toughest opponent yet: his past. '8 Mile' meets 'Boy A', 'VS.' is an inspirational rites of passage drama set in the exciting UK rap battling scene. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

Tina, a busy mother of three, can barely find any time for herself. With her husband on nightshifts, her eldest daughter being bullied at school, her parents’ relationship on the rocks, not to mention juggling her own full-time job, she feels life overwhelming her. But things are about to get even more complicated when the reappearance of a former school rival forces Tina to face up to some difficult memories. Determined to regain control, Tina steps into the boxing ring and discovers how to fight for herself. The ever-charming Hynes proves herself as adept behind the camera as she is in front of it, crafting an effortlessly warm and witty family drama that proves we all have a lot to learn about ourselves, no matter our age. (LFF brochure) Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Journey Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

A playful interview with the uncredited female creator of the Doctor Who theme music; her electronic sounds and flamboyant personality were way ahead of their time. An unconventional portrait of an unconventional British electronic music pioneer, exploring the idea that this extraordinary composer lived outside of time and space as other people experience it. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

Over the course of a night out in a queer club, Raf struggles to find his place among the crowd until he stops trying to force the narrative and just lets himself go with the music. Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Berlinale Shorts and Generation 14plus - European premiere

Synopsis

The dynamics of two dangerously charged teacher-pupil relationships are explored as their story unfolds over two weekends in the faded grandeur of seaside resort of Scarborough. Adapted from Fiona Evans’ award-winning play.