Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

A moving portrait of the UK housing crisis, told through the experience of one family. Filmed over a year, Daisy-May is both director and daughter as her and her family fight to retain their dignity whilst they wait to be rehoused by the council. This is an extraordinary story of courage and determination, a story of family bonds which is both heart-breaking and life affirming, combining moments of tremendous tenderness and grit with some unexpected humour. HALF WAY offers an alternative narrative from the current exhausted media coverage of the housing crisis; it does not, and cannot, shy away from the harsh actualities of homelessness.

Synopsis

A conversational journey through the ongoing gentrification in a major borough of London’s East End. Previously a home for the poor and hub for a huge number of artists, Hackney has recently seen an extortionate rise in property prices, forcing a large part of the population to move further out.

Synopsis

It began as the story of Dutch art lover, Michel van Rijn. It ended in murder and scandal. Michel van Rijn made millions smuggling stolen icons, artworks, and rare antiquities into Europe and the USA, evading Interpol and the CIA. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s he lived a playboy Jet Set lifestyle, living large and wide, bolstered by the false claim that he was a descendant of Rembrandt. Michel, however, was eventually captured, then extradited and imprisoned. Michel ended up working for Scotland Yard, turning on the smugglers and forgers he had previously conspired with, drinking himself almost to death, and losing his son. Through his pioneering website, he became a crusader for the art world, uncovering trails of Nazi gold, then exposing terrorist networks financed by black market art sales. Unsurprisingly, several contracts were put on Michel’s life, including one by the Taliban. He then disappeared. Now in hiding at a Mossad-protected Jewish hotel in Europe, estranged from his family and seven ex-wives, Michel is under investigation from the FBI for masterminding the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist, where two unarmed men stole $500m worth of Rembrandts and other Dutch paintings, that remain unrecovered, and the crime unsolved.

Synopsis

With exclusive access to six time Olympic gold medal winning athlete, Usain Bolt and his inner circle, and with previously unseen footage, this film tells the highs and lows of his real journey – the work and the dedication, the inspiring astounding unique and true story of the fastest man on Earth.

Synopsis

Originating with research undertaken at the Irish Film Institute Irish Film Archive, artist Duncan Campbell’s piece takes as a starting point a 1960s anthropological film study of rural Kerry to investigate and reframe contemporary Ireland. In this work Campbell looks at some of the assumptions, ethics and misconceptions that frame the relationship between filmmakers and subjects. The piece is underpinned by extensive research into archival and documentary material, including Paul Hockings and Mark McCarty’s 1968 documentary film, 'The Village', alongside influential anthropological studies. As with much of Campbell’s work, this piece questions the validity of documentary form as historical representation, blurring fact and fiction, recording and interpretation. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Experimenta Strand

Synopsis

What started as a home movie became a committed project when Josh and Devorah found themselves unable to conceive. An endearing if ironic journey gets serious when life-threatening complications emerge. Their relationship is tested to the brink as they confront birth, death, love and loss all at once. A creative documentary about becoming a parent... and how to reconceive yourself. Fiction director Josh Appignanesi turns the camera on himself and his wife as they undergo the ordeal of becoming parents in the era of man-children and assisted reproduction. Faced with fatherhood, Josh spirals comically into an envious career funk. But life-threatening complications emerge - the couple are tested to the brink, confronting shattering losses. A portrait of our generation going through a revolution in reproduction - forced to find new ways to think about ourselves as creative beings. With contributions from writers, filmmakers and thinkers including Slavoj Zizek, John Berger, Darian Leader, Zadie Smith and Sophie Fiennes. Universal yet still taboo, a film for everyone who has children, wants them, or still feels like a child themselves.

Synopsis

When your memory fades, your grip on reality becomes fragile and the sense of self slowly slips away. In a synagogue hall in North West London, a group of elderly people gather to find release. Using music and song they try to reconnect with themselves. Through the poetic use of poignant personal photographs and carefully assembled voiced-over memories, this film takes us into the emotional heart of these people, coping with the onset of Dementia.

Synopsis

In 1943 a convoy of 120 left Treblinka and moved to the Northeastern part of Italy. They had completed Aktion Reinhardt and were ready to engage in anti-partisan combat in Trieste and Istria. Buried in silence, this is the story of an unknown concentration camp of the Axis.

Synopsis

In 1943 a convoy of 120 left Treblinka and moved to the Northeastern part of Italy. They had completed Aktion Reinhardt and were ready to engage in anti-partisan combat in Trieste and Istria. Buried under the overwhelming evidence of the Holocaust, this is the story of a very little known concentration camp specialised in the killing of freedom fighters.

Synopsis

Based on the 1940 South African trial of a traditional herbalist accused of 'untraditional behaviour, the film explores the ideological and commercial confrontation between two different yet intertwining medicinal traditions and their uses of plants, with slippages across gender and race.

Synopsis

On the 23rd of June 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union. This film is a re-working of material from a BBC television debate transmitted a few weeks earlier.

Synopsis

George Best, Northern Ireland’s legendary star remains one of the most naturally gifted footballers there has ever been. Famously called the ‘best player in the world’ by Pelé, George Best galvanised Manchester United’s five-year recovery from the tragedy of the Munich air crash. His skill and exuberance inspired them to win league titles and the European Cup, even though he was little more than a teenager. Tragically, his career in the upper echelons of sport was over before he turned 29, the result of his bruising battle with alcoholism and the crushing pressure of modern fame. (After all, this was Britain in the frenzy of Beatle-mania and 1960s youth culture, where Best was dubbed ‘El Beatle’ by the world’s media.) (LFF brochure) Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2016 - Journey Strand - World premiere