Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Constructed entirely from existing films, the film offers a journey through fear and cinema that asks whether horror movies know us better than we know ourselves. Encouraging viewers to interrogate a diverse range of images and sounds sampled from a hundred years of global cinema, the aim of the documentary is to change the way audiences watch horror movies for good.

Synopsis

A shorthand term made popular by gay men in recent years for the use of drugs (specifically crystal meth, GHB and mephedrone) in a sexual context, ‘chemsex’ has been seen by some as a significant contributing factor in the rise of HIV diagnoses in London... In this unflinching documentary, we meet a host of men whose lives have been affected, from self-confessed ‘slammers’ to sexual health workers, each of whom talk candidly about the pleasures and perils associated with the scene. (LFF brochure) BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

Turner prize-winning artist Mark Leckey’s autobiographical film started with a piece of found bootleg documentation of a Joy Division gig that he attended in 1979, and the realisation that many of our personal memories and experiences can now be found online. From there, 'Dream English Kid' attempts to create a record of all the significant events in Leckey’s life during the late 20th Century through found traces of film, adverts and popular music- Benjamin Cook, LFF Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Experimenta Strand

Synopsis

Captain Maurice Seddon, an inventor and eccentric in the great English tradition, made electrically heated clothing for ‘paraplegics, sclerotics, arthritics, rheumatics, the poor and landscape painters’. The details of his extremely modest, uncompromising way of life are here unpicked through a rich weave of incredible archival TV appearances from around the world (he featured on amongst others, the David Letterman show) plus very touching 16mm and mobile phone footage shot by friend and director William English. 'Heated Gloves' evokes Ben Rivers' 'Two Years at Sea' and the Maysles brothers' 'Grey Gardens', whilst highlighting the codes of television reportage and remaining in and of itself very special and unique – just like its subject. (LFF brochure) BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

When a vintage Nokia mobile phone is recharged, a compelling real life story is revealed, in this mixed media documentary short. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Journey Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

A documentary about a single man, Tom, who challenges himself to find his next date without the use of the internet. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Love Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

While investigating her late parents’ involvement with the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (BP), the filmmaker comes across the letters of a petroleum geologist in Iran in the 1930s who was later to embark on a search for the origins of civilisation. 'The Host' sets out on its own exploration, to decipher signs from the fragmented images buried in the BP (British Petroleum) Archive. This journey through the past interweaves a number of stories drawn from both personal memory and the records of an imperial history, which builds a picture of a 20th-century colonial encounter. 'The Host' is a personal essay film about the stories we tell about ourselves and others, the facts and fictions we live by, and their consequences. (LFF brochure) BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

"I find that the most inexplicable behavior is motivated by very relatable human impulses," comments Louis Theroux as he heads to Los Angeles for this feature documentary, in collaboration with director John Dower and producer Simon Chinn, exploring the Church of Scientology. Following a long fascination with the religion and with much experience in dealing with eccentric, unpalatable and unexpected human behavior, the beguilingly unassuming Theroux won’t take no for an answer when his request to enter the Church’s headquarters is turned down. Inspired by the Church’s use of filming techniques, and aided by ex-members of the organisation, Theroux uses actors to replay some incidents people claim they experienced as members in an attempt to better understand the way it operates. In a bizarre twist, it becomes clear that the Church is also making a film about Louis Theroux. Suffused with a good dose of humour and moments worthy of a Hollywood script, this true life film is stranger than fiction. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Dare Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

Charting the band The Maccabees’s creative process as they record their fourth album, ‘Marks To Prove It’, working in self-imposed isolation in an anonymous studio in London’s Elephant and Castle... The film becomes a compelling, poetic portrait of the area and its local population... gardens are created in surprising spaces; a local musician is having a suit tailored, BB heals through prayer at the concrete-built Crossways church, and the 100 year old Arments Pie and Mash shop is, as ever an enduring local institution. All of these tales are woven through the band’s experimentation – their false turns, self-doubts and triumphs – as they create what will become an incendiary, life-affirming album - LFF Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Sonic Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

"I think art is powerful and I think it has affected all of us in some way, shape or form. Whether it’s you’re favourite character or scene from a TV show or a film or a play. Or maybe it’s just a line in a song. Sometimes it’s a line that you’ve heard one hundred times and it’s only on the one hundred and first time it clicked and meant something to you. Sometimes it’s a line that grabbed your attention straight away. And that’s what 'Lines' is about." Cecile Emeke Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Sonic Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

This film is a haunting collision of past and present, presided over by the high priests of the great tradition of American music, Jack White and T Bone Burnett, who also executive produced with Robert Redford. Long before digital file sharing, MP3, compact discs, tape and vinyl, a machine was forged from ingenuity. The Western Electric lathe, a marvel of analogue engineering operated by a weight and pulleys, pioneered the recording of American music. In an old Hollywood studio, one has been lovingly reassembled. In it, White gathers an extraordinary convocation of musical superstars, all keen to cut a record in the unforgiving three minutes the Western Electric provides. Featuring live performances from Elton John, Nas, Willie Nelson, Alabama Shakes, Steve Martin, Ana Gabriel, Merle Haggard, Taj Mahal and many more. (LFF brochure) BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

In 1976, during the hottest summer on record, 'Star Wars' was shot in suburban North London. Nobody involved had any idea how big the film would become, many couldn’t even remember the title. Yet, for the extras and actors in smaller roles, their faces hidden in masks and helmets, this seemingly insignificant job would go on to colour their lives even four decades later. BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere