Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Some Voices has come a long way from its theatrical origins. The journey started when Elinor Day, then at the BBC, saw Joe Penhall's acclaimed play about two brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic, at London's Royal Court theatre. "I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it," says Day, who commissioned Penhall to adapt it as a film script. "Penhall has such an original vision of the world." Day took Some Voices with her when she moved to FilmFour, where Paul Webster liked it and agreed to commission re-writes. Penhall reworked the script thoroughly over four years, finding a visual equivalent for the "gothic, heightened naturalism" of the play's dialogue. The result, Penhall says, is "a film based loosely on the play, rather than an adaptation", with the slide back into illness of schizophrenic Ray (Daniel Craig) depicted in imaginative imagery rather than words. FilmFour brought Simon Cellan Jones on board to direct. Although it is his feature debut, the director had an impressive track record in television, including the Bafta-winning Our Friends In The North. The story is set in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where Cellan Jones lives and Penhall used to. The film was shot on location in six weeks, with a handheld camera capturing the locals' everyday life. "Every now and again you would get people looking into the camera and yelling, but we would just have to let it go," says Cellan Jones. Some Voices premiered in Directors' Fortnight at Cannes this year.

Synopsis

Adapted for the screen by Jon Penhall, from his own play, Some Voices is an emotionally charged drama/comedy of life in west London - a love story and an examination of the relationship between two larger-than-life brothers. The film tells the story of Ray, who is released from a psychiatric hospital into the care of his over-worked and over-protective brother, restaurateur Pete. Things start well, with Ray working for his brother with comic consequences. But when Ray falls head over heels in love with Laura, a wild Scottish girl, and stops taking his medication, things start to spiral out of control.

Synopsis

Kaly is trying to become friends with the cool crowd at school but her mother is getting in the way.

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A man is drawn into a world where he witnesses machines which appear to make people sing; starting out as a passive observer he becomes a more active participant until, ultimately, he too is placed within a machine to sing.

Synopsis

One-time teen heartthrob Jason Donovan seems to have got a taste for dressing up in women's clothes. Not long after wowing theatre audiences with his rollicking performance as Frank N Furter in the West End revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he's starring as a customs officer-cum-transvestite DJ in Sorted, the new film by Alexander Jovy. Donovan stars alongside Matthew Rhys and Tim Curry (the original cinematic Frank N Furter) in the story of Carl (Rhys), an unworldly young lawyer from Scunthorpe who moves to London following the mysterious death of his brother, who, he discovers, was a successful lawyer by day and a rave fiend by night. Soon Carl is introduced to a world of sex, drugs and thumping house beats (provided by some of Europe's top names including Leftfield and Mauro Picotto), controlled by the sinisterly eccentric Damian (Curry). But Carl's new-found high is short-lived as he begins to unravel the mystery surrounding his brother's death. Although Sorted and Human Traffic share a common setting -- the vibrant UK rave scene -- producer Mark Crowdy insists that Sorted is very different. "It's really not a gritty London club movie," he says. "We also wanted it to look spectacular so hired Mike Southon [RKO 281] to light the film, and did the post using electronic laboratory, which allows you to grade every single shot and gives you many more special effects for your money." Metrodome will be releasing the film in the UK in October.

Synopsis

Ruky has just been ordered to leave the UK by the British Home Office. Her world is suddenly torn apart. Ebenezer her boyfriend could marry her and she would be granted a permanent visa, but he's a deeply religious man who would only marry for love. Lucky Okoro has just inherited his late father's millions. His close friend and laywer Dele is anxious to help him consolidate his investments, all for just 10% of the total value. Ruky soon meets Lucky and Dele, and the quest begins to find out what she really wants.

Synopsis

Ayo Shonaiya launched production outfit Rainmaker 70 Filmworks in 1996 and has been steadily making a name for himself as a film and music video director ever since. Spin is his third feature after 1996's More Blessing and King Of My Country, which spent six months at the top of Nigeria's film charts in 1997. Spin may well top this success and expose his work to a wider British audience - following its UK premiere in London's Rio Cinema it has been selected for the second annual Black Filmmaker Festival, which takes place in London in August. The film tells the story of Ruky, a Nigerian woman who is facing deportation from Britain unless she can find a way to gain a permanent visa. She could marry boyfriend Ebenezer, but he refuses to marry for anything other than love. Then Ruky meets millionaire Lucky Okoro and his lawyer Dele, and events take a different turn. Production on the film nearly ground to a halt after the first 10 days, when the actress playing Ruky pulled out. But at the last minute, actress Caroline Chikezie, a contact of one of the crew members and an established actress with credits including Babymother and Virtual Sexuality, stepped into the breach after an impromptu casting meeting in McDonald's in London's King's Cross. Shonaiya exploited his experience working on music videos to weave a soul and jazz-flavoured soundtrack through the story, with music supplied by Nigerian rapper Papa Ken and UK-based Nigerian soul/jazz singer Ola Onabule.

Synopsis

After 50 years of being the world's largest democracy, 1 billion people are finally coming out in the open. What happens when Indians start talking about sex? What happens in a land of extreme wealth and extreme poverty? Welcome to India 2000! Meet KP! He's a hustler who sells water to the poor and Evian to the rich. His adopted sister Didi stalks the traffic lights and sells flowers to survive. Nan (Nandita) an expatriate Indian from London, hosts an exploitation television show where people come and in darkness talk about their secret sexual lives. The confessions are funny, kinky and sad. Welcome to Split Wide Open. KP incurs the wrath of the Water Mafia don he works for, when he brokers a deal independently and is brutally punished. He returns home dispossessed of his belongings, his tenement and finds Didi missing. Television and the streets of Bombay meet when the worlds of KP and Nan collide. Searching for Didi on the mean streets of Bombay, KP learns that lost innocence can't be regained while Nan discovers that television is helpless against the tides and temptations of the city. Until a guest on the show offers a clue about the missing Didi. In search of Didi, KP gets enmeshed in different worlds from Nandita's show. Several stories emerge to form a vivid tapestry of the city. Nan's show becomes popular but the sensational confessions on her voyeuristic TV show are removed from reality it's still television. Sex and poverty mingle to question our notions of morality. Split Wide Open is about the new Indian and the profound changes taking place as the country tries to redefine its culture for the next century.

Synopsis

Spoon Benders is a child led documentary into the strange world of paranormal metal bending. The film looks at two different generations of 'child benders', and with contributions from established scientists, probes beneath the surface of society's preconceptions about children. This juxtaposing of the world of the scientist and the world of the child gives the film both its internal dynamic and its sense of poignancy.

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Hell is round the corner...

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A young man caught up in a vicious circle of domination and humiliation seeks to escape the abusive clutches of his mother and gain independence.

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When Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide in despair in 1890, he was considered a failure - only one of his nine hundred paintings had been sold during his lifetime. Within the last decade, four of his paintings were sold for between $33 and $79 million dollars. Starry Night, a modern fable, begins in 1885, as Vincent is painting his masterpiece, 'The Potato Eaters,' in Holland. A peasant woman, while posing for him, offers him a potion with the power to call him back after his death for 100 days to set right the pain he suffered in his former life. This romantic fantasy film explores what Vincent would do if he were given 100 days to come back to life in today's world. A century is a long time to wait for your dreams to come true, but for Vincent, with the help of a cunning lawyer and the love of an understanding woman, he has a second chance.