Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Written by Simon Donald and produced by Donald and Alan J Wands, Beautiful Creatures is the first feature from director Bill Eagles.

A witty contemporary thriller, Beautiful Creatures teams Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch as Petula and Dorothy, two women from different sides of the tracks drawn together by the violence of their boyfriends. When they accidentally kill Petula's boyfriend, they are forced into increasingly elaborate and dangerous attempts to evade discovery.

Synopsis

Holiday memorabilia on a passage wall. Medicine bottles beside an unmade bed. An ironing board. The unsettling answerphone message of an elderly man. So begins Belongings, a film about a man who died alone, and the tragic circumstances that came to haunt the last years of his life.

Synopsis

Explores the world of 8 years-old Rachel as she embarks on a series of experiments in an attempt to understand her defective vision. Balancing the innate desire of an 8-years old to appear normal with the visual chaos of her everyday life, Better Or Worse? plays with notions of perspective both real and imagined through the motif of a diving board.

Synopsis

Nineteen-year-old super-mouthy Asian girl Fouzia is a checkout girl in a supermarket who's looking for romance while having an uproariously good time with her best friend Adelle in Bhangra Heads.

Set in Bristol's colourful Easton, Bhangra Heads is a comic exploration of romantic ideals whilst attempting to examine some of the inherent snobbery in Asian culture obstructing the pursuit of true love.

Synopsis

Billy Elliot is a coming-of-age story of Billy, who through his unexpected love of dance, embarks on a journey to self-discovery in the world of picket lines, cultural stereotypes, family crises and a headstrong ballet teacher.

When eleven-year-old Billy stumbles across a local ballet class that comes to share the village hall with his boxing club, something in the magic of the movements captures his imagination. Meanwhile, Billy's father and older brother, both on strike, struggle to put food on the table and finally explode when they discover Billy has been squandering his boxing money on less than manly pursuits.

Billy's ballet teacher eventually persuades him to accept free private training, telling him she wants him to audition for the Ballet School, but when the audition comes Billy is tragically forced to miss it as a result of his brother's scuffle with the police.

Distraught by his family's lack of understanding, Billy unleashes his feelings in a dance meant only for his friend Michael to see, but is caught mid-routine by his father. Rooted to the spot by the power and animation of his son's talent, he solemnly agrees to ensure Billy finally makes it to London for the gruelling audition.

Synopsis

A young man lies motionless in a country lane. He relives events in his mind, and all becomes clear.

Synopsis

Dr Zena Morton runs a housing scheme clinic treating AIDS patients, and her patients are dying. But not from AIDS. They are turning up beaten and battered and drained of blood. The police who are secretly running an anti-junkie vigilante gang, refuse to investigate. The trail leads to Sir Rurari McDorachas, who claims he is a Vampire. Dr Morton must overcome her belief in the rational as she prepares to confront Sir Rurari on his own bloody terms, leading to a gore drenched climax.

Running Dog Films specialises in producing low budget genre films using proven no/lo production methods combined with the latest desk-top digital technology.

Brigadoon this certainly isn't. There is an evil spirit draining blood from junkies on a run down Scottish housing estate, a series of events that leads a local doctor to the sleazy world of Blood Junkies: the influences here aren't Bill Forsyth and Sandy McKendrick - more Roger Cormen, Fred Olen Ray and Hammer! - The List Magazine.

Synopsis

The mayor of Keighley has big plans. He triumphantly announces to the media that the National Hairdressing Championships are coming to the town. Local hairdresser Phil was once the golden boy of the competition circuit - until his wife, Shelley, left him and their son Brian to move in with her lover, Sandra. Phil's old adversary, Ray, arrives in Keighley to compete, with his daughter Christina as his model. As preparations get under way, the glamour and the heartache, the scheming and the cheating of competition hairdressing stirs up all the old rivalries, with even more at stake than the coveted Silver Scissors.

Synopsis

Three young men, all cursed with two left feet, pursue three beautiful women. A mystical cupid-like cab driver, Jimmy, aids the course of true love with words of wisdom for Eddie; lost clues for Fergus and Salsa lessons for Frankie as they embark on a series of adventures against a background of Salsa, Latin and Easy-listening tunes.

David Kane's follow-up to his sleeper hit This Year's Love owes its existence to actress Jennifer Ehle. During the making of that film, she dragged Kane along to a salsa class and, to the jiving sounds of Celia Cruz, the late Tito Puente and their Cuban and Colombian companeros, Kane came up with Born Romantic.

Produced by Michele Camarda, who worked with Kane on both films, the film revolves around the romantic adventures of six young salsa enthusiasts - including David Morrissey as a musician, Jimi Mistry as an incompetent thief, Olivia Williams as an art restorer and Jane Horrocks as a record shop assistant - who are guided by a cab driver-cum-cupid (Adrian Lester).

Synopsis

Entered under the Western Lights scheme, but gaining a separate commission Bridgeman, is a 30-minute drama for HTV.

Fifteen years ago Bridgeman, played by Tony Osoba (Family Affairs, The Bill, Taggart, Porridge) was imprisoned for murder. A police officer serving with Special Branch, he was involved in an undercover operation to intercept arms shipments to terrorists in Ulster.

Synopsis

The story centres on Bridget, a 30-something 'singleton', convinced that everyone is getting it right except for her. Her ambitions are few - she would like to lose weight and find true love - but seemingly unattainable. Her romantic life is in a state of perpetual crisis.

While her friends Jude, Sharon and Tom provide her with hopeless advice, Bridget finds herself torn between two men, her charming, sexy, but dangerous boss Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy an old family friend, who seems at first to be aloof and dull, until his true self is revealed.

Bridget's unsuccessful attempts to control her chaotic life and to develop inner poise are charted by her hilarious and sometimes poignant diary entries.

Synopsis

Harry Weaver is visiting his wife. He's on edge but Susannah seems cheerful, and calm. She wants him to take her home. She's had enough of this place, a mental institution. He's seeing another woman. She's probably waiting for him back at his hotel now. Quietly denying the familiar accusations Harry leaves promising to visit Susannah again the following day.