Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Old man Ralph sits with his glass eye and wooden leg ranting at the TV. Finding himself no longer able to masturbate, he can see no point in going on and decides to go out with a bang. A local drugs dealer supplies him with a tab of acid which he puts together with a bottle of aspirins and waits to see what will happen. The explosive ending leaves us in no doubt that the plan has worked, but with unexpected consequences.

Synopsis

A stolen video, some money and a restless craving, Jimmy and May escape the city in search of drugs, only to find themselves reluctantly involved in the death of a friend. The Future Lasts a Long Time is a British road movie that takes us on a dream like journey from the inner city to the widescreen landscape of the fens - a kind of anthem for doomed youth in the '90s and a homage to Terence Malick.

Synopsis

Hollyfield was a Dublin slum where the rejected, the derelict and the anti-social were housed, a garbage heap of humanity. Martin Cahill grew up in a milieu where crime was the main occupation. Sent to a correction school when caught stealing food for his fatherless family, abused by priests and police, he grew up with a deep-seated resentment of all authority. Throughout his life he derived a deep satisfaction from making fools out of the police, the church, the establishment and devised a series of elaborate pranks to embarrass them. He organised a number of daring and carefully planned robberies, gaining the sobriquet, The General. Hollyfield was a no-go area for the police and the fierce loyalties of it's inhabitants protected Cahill. He lived outside the system easily eluding the law. He overreached himself when he and his gang stole paintings from Russborough House including the only Vemeer in private ownership. With public and political pressure mounting, the police instigated a surveillance operation headed by Ned Kenny, a man who admired Cahill but was determined to break him. Cahill and his men were trailed night and day. Even so, he continued to defy and elude them. Despite suffering from diabetes and the enormous strain, they could not break him. He regarded the IRA as just another aspect of the authority and he defied them as he did all others. Lacking the forbearance of the police, the IRA shot him dead in the street on the eve of the 1994 cease-fire. His potent mix of violence and humour and generosity made him a legend in his lifetime.

Synopsis

You can't cheat Death forever or can you? The Gift of Death is a fantasy folk story in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm, with some unusual twists in the tale. A young man has Death as his godmother and she gives him the ability to bring the sick back from the brink of dying but only sometimes. He becomes famous and successful, but ultimately finds his own life in jeopardy.

Synopsis

Leicester, 1972. T-Rex are chewing up the charts and Jack, a mixed race teenager with a lot more than schoolwork on her mind, has a hectic month of growing up to do. This is coming-of-age, Midlands-style: forget the Prom, corridor passes and making out at the drive-in. Think Baked Alaska, the Colgate ring of confidence and sneaky cigarettes behind the bike sheds. When we first meet Jack it's the day of her first period and just four weeks before she has to run the race of her life for a place on the county athletics squad. Convinced she is champion material, her bullish PE teacher, Mr Loughborough, is piling on the pressure to train hard, and buys her a long-coveted pair of swanky red trainers to demonstrate his commitment. But a 13-year-old's life is not just one long 200 metres: Jack shines in academia and art class as well as on the track, and she's got her eye on a rather handsome classmate called Steven Green. Sex, 'frigging' and the big 'V' are the subject of every school bus seminar and playground pow wow. And Jack's mum Vivian is determined to keep a beady eye on her daughter's new-found interest in matters carnal. Vivian is also convinced her daughter is about to be offered a cocktail of class A drugs on every street corner. While on a school cross-country run up to the local tourist trap and nookie spot, Jack is approached by Spanner, a David Cassidy look-alike with a nice line in cannabis consumption and floppy hair. He introduces Jack to the delights of getting slowly wasted in the sun. Meanwhile Jack's best friend Maxine sets her pal up in a garage tryst to do the deed with Steven Green and his spotty mate Poor Bastard. But the three of them are disturbed by a local policeman. By now determined to throw off her cumbersome virginity, Jack steals a handful of contraceptive pills from her mum's bedside cabinet and finally gets together with Spanner...

Synopsis

The Governess is a moving love story set in the 1830's. When Rosina Da Silva's father is killed, she is forced to disguise her Jewish identity and seek employment in the world outside the sheltered East London community in which she was born and brought up. The only job that she can find is on a remote island in Scotland as governess to a spoilt young girl, Clementina. Her employer, Charles Cavendish, is a mysterious man, who is conducting secret experiments in a wing of the old house. When Rosina, overcome by curiosity, breaks into his workroom at night, she discovers that he is experimenting with photography, working towards a solution which will fix the fleeting images he has taken. Cavendish, lonely and unrecognised in his work, invites Rosina to join him in his workroom. They begin an intense and passionate affair. When Cavendish's son Henry returns home from university, this affair takes a turn that threatens to tear the whole family apart.

Synopsis

A statue of 'The Happy Prince' (happy because he had devoted his life to pleasure behind his palace walls) looks out with horror at the destitution of his citizens. He persuades a little swallow to abandon his winter trip to Egypt and be his messenger, a job which entails stripping the statue of its precious jewels and gold to help feed the poor. Winter sets in, the once sparkling statue now looks grey and crumbling.

Synopsis

On a remote German island in the Baltic sea, a young, idealistic bookseller dreams of a different life. A chance meeting with a beautiful Irish musician and a mysterious, enigmatic man catapults him into an unconventional underworld and an adventure far beyond the realms of his imagination.

Synopsis

A fiery drama detailing the uncanny friendship of two hard-living men, and one woman, set against the sweeping backdrop of America's south west in the years following the Second World War.

Synopsis

Directed by Simon Donald, who has adapted his successful play for the screen, The Life of Stuff is like life itself, a brutal blend of comedy, thrills and the unexpected. Wannabe gangster Willie Dobie has bought a squalid warehouse, which he plans to turn into a flagship of his criminal empire. Believing he has eliminated his arch rival, 'Mad Alec Sneddon', he plans to hold the party of a lifetime to celebrate. Helping to organise this event are his main henchmen, the psychotic David Arbogast and eczema-ridden Leonard. Making up this motley crew are Holly and Evelyn, lured to the party by the promise of a good time and good drugs; Fraser, the innocent perpetrator of Sneddon's demise, and Janice, who also played an unwitting part in the murder - both now trapped in the basement. During the course of the evening, with events spiralling ever more crazily out of control, Dobie is brought violently to the realisation that his dream of 'donship' is just that; a dream which will be shot down in flames as Sneddon avenges his 'death'.

Synopsis

The film tells the story of a lonely old man who is looking for a way to recreate the happiness he enjoyed a long time ago. Believing that companionship or even romance is the key to that happiness, he pays particular attention to his female next door neighbour. While spying on her, the situtation starts to become darker and stranger.

Synopsis

A magical tale about the power of romantic love, shot over six days in London.