Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Hannah is a streetwise pickpocket, but a cruel turn of fortune teaches her a harsh lesson.

Synopsis

Every little boy's dream of becoming a football star.

Synopsis

1974, Alan Riply (Joseph Fiennes), a young idealistic 23 year old, works as a beach boy at an exclusive Miami resort. There he dreams of one day owning his own Hotel but resists the temptations and short cut to riches taken by his peers by dealing in drugs and working in the underworld. Alan meets the recently married Ella (Gretchen Mol), the young wife of middle-aged and ruthless New York businessman Mark Brice, with whom she is on vacation.





Alan falls deeply in love with Ella and against her instincts and knowing it's wrong to do so, she starts a passionate affair with him. Aware the liaison is doomed, Ella determines to finish it at the end of her trip but Alan will not be thwarted and follows her back to New York.





There, he continues to court her but when Ella loses her nerve and confesses all to Brice he becomes mad with rage and takes swift and vicious retribution. He frames Alan in a drugs raid and subsequently visits him in prison and on hearing Alan remaining defiant and still refusing to stay away from Ella, attempts to have him killed by other inmates during a routine prison transfer. Although, unknown to Brice that his action has failed, Alan is left permanently scarred, both physically and emotionally. He retreats to Florida to begin a healing process which will take years but never forgets his love for Ella nor forgives her husband. He also changes, literally, into a new man and after thirteen years certainly not the one recognisable as the young beach boy in Florida.





1987, in the intervening time Alan has become successful and formidable in his own right with his own dubious connections. At last he goes back to New York with a new identity, 'Manuel Esquema', to claim his lost love. He returns to find Brice has huge legal and political problems and not recognising Alan, is desperate for help. He has no idea that Alan has come back to gain revenge and reclaim the lost love of his life . . .

Synopsis

A dad-of-four marries his foster daughter. Two people cross moral boundaries when falling in love. The film goes behind closed doors to hear the candid confessions of the betrayers and the betrayed. This is a sensitive and serious approach towards a story that was trivialised and stereotyped by the British tabloid press.

Synopsis

Forgive And Forget is a the story of David (Steve John Shepherd), a builder, and Theo (John Simm), a student, who have been friends since childhood. When Theo's relationship with his new girlfriend Hannah (Laura Fraser) begins to develop into something serious, David's world begins to unravel as he is forced to confront his sexual identity and admit to desires and longings that have long been kept hidden. He becomes obsessed by confessional day-time chat shows and decides that appearing on one is the only way he can resolve his emotional problems.



The film marks the television debut of writer Mark Burt, who wrote it as his graduation piece from the Northern School of Film and Television. It was picked up by producer Simon Passmore and director Aisling Walsh. Passmore describes the piece as "emotional, raw and powerful. I think it is a drama for the eve of 2000. It is a story of betrayal, confusion and denial but at the root it is all about love. It's a love triangle with a twist. Each of the three major characters has their own journey and totally different characters emerge at the end."



Filmed in and around London in June last year, Forgive And Forget is one of those rare films made for television that find success on the festival circuit. It premiered at the London Film Festival last year, was transmitted in the UK in January and has subsequently been screened at several international festivals including the San Francisco Gay And Lesbian Festival.

Synopsis

Forgotten Pilots celebrates the achievements and passion for flying of the women who were ferry pilots during World War II. They transported all types of aircraft, often in hazardous conditions, from factories to squadrons for Britain's Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

Synopsis

A victim of bullying, Joe takes revenge on his tormentors by choosing violence as the way forward through the aid of 'magical specs'.

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A waitress is distracted from reading a letter by the customer opposite. Eventually she cannot help but hear his story.

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Oliver Knott was fairly confident of raising the £4m budget for his feature debut - the gangster/boxing project Bare Knuckle. After all, he had a number of short films under his belt, including The Wednesday Club, which toured several international festivals. However, one year later, when his production pot was still empty, he opted to scale down his ambitions and wrote a new script which could be shot on a shoestring.



Free Spirits is set in a bar in south London and follows four characters over the course of the hottest day of the summer: bar owner Bandanna Bob, fighting off a takeover bid; his friend Matty, who's having girlfriend trouble; Jimmy, a boxer trying to make a comeback; and aspiring actress Kelly, who likes Bob but is too shy to tell him.



The single location and one-day timespan of the story helped keep costs to the minimum. Principal photography was scheduled for a mere eight days, including interiors in the main location, a Clapham pub. The deal struck with the pub's owners that the crew would arrive at 8am and wrap by 5.30pm each day meant that cast and crew worked at a heroically frenzied pace.



Free Spirits was the lowest-budget feature ever to be completely post-produced at Twickenham Film Studios. In fact, Sir Richard Attenborough was cutting his latest film, Grey Owl, in the room opposite at the time, and his editing staff donated 30,000ft of mag stock to Free Spirits.



Knott's next project is a screenplay for Swedish production company Channel 1; he is also working on a spec feature script called The Googly.

Synopsis

Set in a bar in South London, Free Spirits is an hilarious, sexy, feel-good and deliciously foul-mouthed comedy following the fortunes of four individuals throughout the course of the hottest day of the summer.





Bandana Bob, the Bar owner, is fighting off a takeover bid from a particularly ruthless developer. Matty, Bob's trusty sidekick is having trouble with his furiously maternal girlfriend. Jimmy, a boxer on the comeback trail, is having a hard time supporting his family, not to mention his double crossing manager. Kelly, an aspiring actress, really likes Bob, but being shy, is unsure how to proceed with her amorous desires.





And then there's the customers - office girls, clergymen, drug dealers, bald men, salesmen. You won't believe their antics, or reasons for being in the bar.





Never will you see a British comedy in quite the same way after seeing Free Spirits. A comedy about being who you want to be, and doing what you want to do . . .

Synopsis

A visually stunning film, both beautiful and bizarre, Frog enters a dark fairytale world where mysterious frog creatures enter a house over successive nights and steal the eyes of the three strange residents only to replace them with surreal clockwork eyes that need to be wound by a special key.

Synopsis

'What prevents me from supposing that this table either vanishes or alters its shape when no one is observing it and then when someone looks at it again changes back? But one feels like saying - who is going to suppose such a thing?'



(Ludwig Wittgenstein On Certainty 1949-51)





The film-maker accepts the challenge of the philosopher and changes not only a table but also chairs, shoes, jugs, teapots and almost everything else lying around his house.