Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

A film actor from the silent era recalls making his last film, finally offering an explanation for the construction of one of Scotland's most absurd architectural follies.

Synopsis

Eric Styles' adaptation of Noel Coward's Relative Values marks Julie Andrews' first screen role for eight years. Andrews stars as the Countess of Marshwood who puts on a brave face when her son brings home a brash American movie star he plans to marry. Andrews was immediately drawn to the script as she had known Coward personally. "He was a dear friend of mine," she explains. "I have sung many of his songs and always been a great admirer of his work. I was also very impressed with Eric's debut film, Dreaming Of Joseph Lees, and thought he might be an interesting young man to work with. I also love the period the film is set in. It embodies that true 1950s glamour." British writers Paul Rattigan and Michael Walker acquired the rights to Relative Values from the Coward Estate in 1996. Overseas FilmGroup and British producer Chris Milburn boarded the project at Cannes the following year. Styles, with whom Milburn was working at the time on Joseph Lees, agreed to direct. "Most of my work had been more gritty and realistic, so making a film about this crazy, implausible situation happening in a country house in Kent with aristocrats in the 1950s was a wonderful challenge," says Styles. "The film works for a contemporary audience because the madness of the whole situation is so appealing." Relative Values shot for 10 weeks at the end of last summer on location on the Isle of Man, which stood in for Kent. It opened in the UK in July.

Synopsis

Maria is a refugee working in London as a housemaid to an actress. The actress is rehearsing a Robert Browning poem. Maria, listening to the poem day after day, becomes the embodiment of it.

Synopsis

A quick glance at the message indicator LED will tell you whether callers have left messages while you have been away. If you have messages waiting, the message indicator will be flashing...

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God, dammit, if you're gonna kill somebody have some fucking taste. I'll drive you to Kenny Roger's house, alright? Bill Hicks, 1990 on John Lennon's untimely death. Bill Hicks was a comedian. He died in 1994 at the age of 32. Who? Julia Menzies, 1994, on Bill Hicks' untimely death. Julia Menzies (22) doesn't know what she wants to do with her life yet, but does know who Bill Hicks is now. In fact, it's her growing obsession with Bill that's fuelling her quest to find a vocation that doesn't demand compromise. Perhaps the pub isn't the best place to look. And maybe her friends and advisors would have a little more credibility if their lives weren't quite so far from what they want them to be. But then this is Edinburgh, and the largest arts festival in the world is on hand to help Julia test if she really has the courage of her convictions. And if not, what's the point?

Synopsis

In Rhythm & Blues two London worlds collide in a dark and gleaming comic thriller. Beginning in a graveyard, Rhythm & Blues follows the adventures of a Scottish skinhead, Byron and his enigmatic Adonis protégé, John. The pair are adopted by the male dysfunctional male escort agency, 'Boys Galore', run by the Dickensian duo, Mitzi and Bethsheba, which leads to a surreal encounter with American tycoon Bad Daddy and his courtiers. Bad Daddy lives in a gothic palace with his love addicted French companion, Jean-Claude (who is also a master of gay marionettes). The house becomes centre-stage for a massive clash of personalities and cultures. Hiding amongst this incongruous group is a serial killer masquerading as an escort and nicknamed by the tabloid press as 'The Rent Boy Ripper'. The result is a dangerous cocktail of the streetwise and the louche which pushes to the limits the ties of friendship bound by the contradictory forces of love, lust and loot. Side-stepping political correctness and good taste, Rhythm & Blues is irreverent, high camp, slapstick and totally over-the top mixed with a touch of John Waters, Ealing Comedy and Pedro Almodovar.

Synopsis

Jilted bride Kelly-Marie is having the worst day of her life. But when the ladies' toilets become centre stage for a life or death drama, the situation calls for action.

Synopsis

Rituals Of Fire began the long process to screen five years ago when writer-director Joel Aryeetey, who has been making shorts and music videos through his own company for eight years, returned from working in Africa. Aryeetey penned a story about an African-American woman (Joyce Lee) living in London who longs to move to Africa, a desire that brings her into conflict with her Ghanaian-born husband (David Dontoh), a successful architect. When his firm asks him to go to Africa to head up one of its branches, disturbing memories of his childhood begin to haunt him. Once in Africa, he sinks deeper into depression and his wife seeks help from a traditional witch doctor, thus unravelling the secret behind her husband's torment. "The film attempts to explore the spiritual aspects of African life," says Aryeetey. "My family came to London from Ghana when I was little and some of them have quite ambivalent feelings about Africa because they feel the traditions hinder progress. On the other hand, there are a lot of black people in America who have that yearning to return to the land of their origins. I wanted to address both sides." Shot in London and Ghana over a three-month period, the film almost fell apart when Aryeetey ran out of money half-way through the Ghanaian leg of the shoot. With 90% of his crew forced to return to London, he raised support from private companies and individuals there with whom he had worked in the past. The film premiered at the Philadelphia Film Festival in July.

Synopsis

There is nothing unique about how Rob's day unfolds and ends in arrest. But the difference between how Rob thinks and acts is heightened when his thoughts are delivered by a seven-year-old boy.

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Four pals in a band prepare for their first gig with disastrous results.

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Love is eternal as long as it lasts. At the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet Romeo does not die; the poison he had been sold by the apothecary was cheap and was watered down. Today we find Romeo working at the checkout store that time forgot . . .

Synopsis

A young black man hesitates before leaving his former partner and moving in with his new white girlfriend. He feels trapped by the expectations, responsibilites and prejudices of the world he inhabits.