Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Triggered by an actual news item about suicidal octogenarian twins, The Stain is a dark, domestic thriller which uses drawn, puppet, pixilation and live-action animation styles to spin a claustrophobic web of incest and intrigue.

Synopsis

Based on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Derek Jarman's nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous. THE GARDEN was originally screened in the Forum programme of the Berlinale in 1991, garnering an OCIC Award - Honourable Mention. Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Forum Archival Constellations

Synopsis

A mythic recreation of the private world of the black artists and writers such as Langston Hughes who formed the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. The film switches from archive footage to a stylized version of the jazz and blues era of Harlem to explore white society’s barriers against black homosexuality and self-imposed ‘discretion’. Official Selection Berlinale 2016 - Panorama Teddy 30

Synopsis

In London, four very different people team up to commit armed robbery, then try to doublecross each other for the loot. Official Selection Berlin Film Festival 2020 - Berlinale Classics

Synopsis

An Asian family who become homeless are placed in a bed and breakfast hotel by the local authority. There they come into contact with other people from different backgrounds who are waiting to be housed. Their plight is depicted with sensitivity and humour. Jonathan Pryce plays a single Irishman who drifts around London sleeping rough. HOTEL LONDON was originally produced in 1987. The film was remastered in 4K in 2025 by the BFI National Archive. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - World premiere (Remastered version)

Synopsis

Young Cambridge graduate Maurice Hall is trapped by the oppressiveness of puritanical Edwardian society as he tries to come to terms with his sexuality. He must strive to realise his dreams. The restoration, by the Cohen Media Group, used a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Director James Ivory gave the nod to the digitally restored version of his film, and cinematographer Pierre Lhomme supervised the colour correction. Official Selection Berlinale 2017 - Berlinale Classics - World premiere (Digital Restoration)

Synopsis

The life and work of the painter whose death in 1610 followed years on the run as a murderer. The film links the characters in Caravaggio's art with the violent events of his career. On its initial release, Caravaggio won a Silver Bear for outstanding single achievement in visual composition at the 1986 Berlinale. To coincide with the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman's death, the film has now been digitally restored.

Synopsis

New York. Desperate for work, Christine takes a job selling tickets at the Variety, a sex cinema. This somewhat alienates her boyfriend Mark, who is investigating a story about union links with the Mob at the wholesale fish market. Christine finds herself drawn towards events on-screen, and also follows one of the customers, Louie, when he enters a sex shop, apparently on business. Louie, who is clearly both wealthy and powerful as a result of his shady activities, takes her to a ball game at Yankee Stadium. When he is suddenly called away, she again follows him and observes him at work. Variety inverts the traditional narrative structure of cinema – whereby a man watches and a woman is watched – without showing, and thus flaunting, the object of female desire. Creating a counter-narrative to Hollywood, Bette Gordon asks the same question formulated by Teresa de Lauretis in “Oedipus Interruptus”: “How did Medusa feel upon seeing herself in Perseus' mirror just before being slain?” Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Forum Archival Constellations

Synopsis

Two British track athletes compete in the 1924 Olympics. Harold Abrahams, a Jew, spurred by prejudice, and Eric Liddell, a devout Christian, spurred by his love of God. Fired by their own purpose and inspired by their own dreams, both won gold. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2017 - Cinéma de la Plage

Synopsis

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Treasures Strand - Restoration World premiere

Synopsis

George Purse is the gamekeeper for the duke's estate, a role he takes seriously. His position gives him a certain status, but he has an uneasy relationship with some of the locals, not least those who turn to poaching.

Synopsis

Roman Polanski’s gorgeous, sweeping version of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles returns in a glorious new digital restoration. A rural clergyman in 19th Century England tells Durbeyfield, a simple farmer, that he is descended from the illustrious d'Urberville family - now extinct. Or maybe not. Durbeyfield sends his daughter,Tess, to check on a family named d'Urberville living in a manor house less than a day's carriage ride away. Alec d'Urberville is delighted to meet his beautiful 'cousin' and seduces her with strawberries and roses. Actually Alec has gotten his illustrious name and coat of arms by purchasing them. Tess too takes up the game of illusion when she finds, loses and finds again her true love, Angel.