Fredric has lost the fire in his belly and wants it back. After signing up for an unorthodox self-improvement program, Fredric is trapped outside of his own life, while a new improved version takes over.
In the jungles of Borneo, an Iban father on the cusp of old age begins a river journey to seek medical help for his sick child. Along the way, the boy is troubled by recurring visions of a strange figure who appears on the river bank. As the journey progresses, father and son are drawn inexorably to a final encounter with the mythical 'transformed' shaman who dwells deep inside the jungle.
Semangat was made by working closely with one Iban longhouse community from Sarawak, Malaysia with whom the story was devised and filmed. Set in the jungles of Borneo, the basis of the film explores the conflict that exists between ancient animist beliefs and modern approaches to illness. The main protagonists of the film are a real father and son, and a retired shaman from this community.
Semangat is a micro-budget hybrid docu-fiction film funded by The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, The UK Film Council/CTBF John Brabourne Award and Screen South. It has been produced under the creative guidance of award winning filmmaker, Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love). It has been co-produced with The National Film and Television School.
Star Trek meets Buena Vista Social Club in this psychedelic western musical as Welsh pop legend Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) takes us on a pan continental road trip in search of his long lost Patagonian uncle, the poncho wearing guitarist Rene Griffiths.
In 1880, following a controversial horse race that led to an unresolved death, Gruff Rhys' family split as Dafydd Jones took his young family to join the burgeoning Welsh community in Patagonia, South America. There was to be no contact between the families for almost a century when in 1974 Rene Griffiths arrived in Wales with his Latin infused Welsh love songs and became an over night sensation.
Director Dylan Goch follows Gruff Rhys on a tour that takes in the theatres, nightclubs and desert teahouses of Wales, Brazil and the Argentine Andes as he discovers what became of his family, the Welsh Diaspora and its musical legacy.
In a world where the corporation is law and Tie-Enforcement troops roam without mercy, Guy Lance is going to stand against Sertoli, Sertoli, Sertoli, and answer the ultimate question: What is the Second Branch?
Inspired by the life of legendary English rock 'n' roll singer and performer, Ian Dury of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. We follow the highs and lows of Dury's personal and professional life against a backdrop of his greatest hits. The story looks at his relationship with his son in parallel to his own childhood; Dury's upbringing depicts the story of a charismatic, crippled boy who overcomes great personal odds in order to establish his existence as a talented and determined individual.
When eight year old Marla wakes to find a tooth fairy exchanging her tooth for a shiny new coin a dark and twisted journey begins. In search of treasure and riches Marla begins a frightful journey as she follows the tooth fairy out of the city and into a fairy tale forest. Along Marla's adventure she encounters a host of scary childlike shadow creatures, discovers the tooth fairy fortress and all the treasures it holds and uncovers a startling truth about the real reason the fairies takes our childhood teeth.
The small UK town of Hebden Bridge, where film-maker Jez Lewis grew up, is a beautiful and quirky rural idyll. But while it is paradise to many, it is purgatory to others. In the twenty years since he left, dozens of Jez's old friends have died young, many of them through suicide and drug overdoses.
Beginning with a personal quest for understanding, the film moves into a year-long drama of human tragedy and redemption as Jez re-bonds with his oldest friend Cass.
Coming to terms with his own imminent mortality, Cass attempts to lift himself out of the cycle of self-destruction he has lived amidst for so long. Around this emerges an intimate study of a place claimed to be the funkiest town in Europe, but which harbours an undertow of lethal hedonism and disillusionment. As young people continue to die by their own hands, a maelstrom of conflicting values throws up unexpected truths about the human condition, whilst Jez finds himself drawn inexorably into the action.
Filmed among friends, with absolutely unrestricted access, Shed Your Tears And Walk Away is a searingly authentic portrayal of a marginalised and overlooked people who seem to have lost their survival instinct.
A veteran of an anonymous war - Tom is haunted by memories. Lost and alone he finds himself in Tokyo, bombarded by the sights and sounds of a frantic city.
There he endures a tormented existence, desperate for redemption and the chance to live once again. The weight of his past however means there is no escape.
Robert Downey Jr brings the legendary detective to life, and Jude Law stars as Holmes' trusted colleague, Watson, a doctor and war veteran who is a formidable ally for Sherlock Holmes. Rachel McAdams stars as Irene Adler, the only woman ever to have bested Holmes and who has maintained a tempestuous relationship with the detective. Mark Strong is their mysterious new adversary, Blackwood. Kelly Reilly plays Watson's love interest, Mary.
A fast-paced documentary populated by a charismatic and often surreal cast of characters, Shot in Bombay goes beyond the tinselly glamour of 'Bollywood' to explore the industry's darker sides. With unprecedented access to a star-studded Bombay gangster movie, the film reveals an edgy metropolis, where fiction regularly blurs into reality.
Shunyata is a short political film that may appear to explore the duplicity in our democratic system but in spirit hints at the struggle faced by minorities in just about any country. It is set in Mumbai and doesn't make any direct reference to a particular individual or event but rather every single similar event since the partition of two countries due to politically fueled religious issues which have had and will continue to have severe repercussions.
The story revolves around a Muslim girl Saeeda whose husband is picked up for questioning by the police and mysteriously disappears. It's been two years but she won't give up until she knows the truth. She forms a special father-daughter relationship with a police inspector who thinks he's helping her in her quest but doesn't realize that he will ultimately destroy her by leading her to the very people who brutally murdered her husband.
Sidney Turtlebaum is a bitter sweet comedy and cautionary tale set in present day Golders Green, the heart of London's Jewish community.
Sidney Turtlebaum is an eccentric gay Jewish man in his eighties. To punish the world which rejected him, Sidney earns his living as a pickpocket and a conman. His chosen modus operandi is to read through the recent death notices in the London Jewish Post identifying Shiva houses of mourning in order to steal from the gathered crowd.
More than just a thief, Sidney is a performer and revels in the opportunity to take centre stage capturing the assembled mourners with his anecdotes and nostalgic songs.
When Sidney earns the respect and curiosity of 26 year old Gabriel he decides to take him to his next Shiva home thus opening up his strange world to the innocent eyes of his young new friend.
