Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

'Steve McQueen: The Man and Le Mans'
By 1970, Steve McQueen ruled Hollywood. Hot off the back of classics like ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ and ‘Bullitt’ he could now make the movie that was his life’s passion: McQueen's experience on 'Le Mans' changed his life forever.
Interweaving stunning newly discovered footage and voice recordings with original interviews, this is the true story of how one of cinema's legends would risk almost everything in pursuit of his dream.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 - World premiere - Cannes Classics

Synopsis

The turbulent history of 20th century Europe is inextricably interwoven with the lifestory of Juri Elperin, the awarded literary translator, who found homeland in language: Davos, Berlin, Paris, Moscow and again Berlin
The Russian Revolution, the Republic of Weimar, Hitler, the Red Army, Stalin and the joy of life.

Synopsis

From BAFTA award-winning director Asif Kapadia (Senna), 'Amy' tells the incredible story of six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse - in her own words. Employing extensive unseen archive footage, this modern and moving film shines a light on the world we live in.
A once-in-a-generation talent, Amy Winehouse instantly captured the world's attention. A pure jazz artist in the most authentic sense - she wrote and sung from the heart using her musical gifts to analyse her own problems. The combination of her raw honesty and supreme talent resulted in some of the most unique and adored songs of modern era. Tragically, relentless media attention coupled with Amy’s troubled relationships, her global success and precarious lifestyle saw her life fall apart. As a society, we celebrated her huge successes but were quick to judge her failings when it suited us. The talent that was initially her salvation eventually became the trigger for her disintegration.
Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 at the age of 27.
Official Selection Cannes 2015 - Midnight Screenings

Synopsis

By Our Selves documents a four-day walk made by the English Poet John Clare. Toby Jones, Iain Sinclair and a Straw Bear follow in his footsteps exactly 150 years after his death. En route they bump into Macgillivray, Dr Simon Kovesi and the wizard Alan Moore. Meantime the journey is narrated by Toby’s father Freddie, a maverick actor who featured in numerous David Lynch films.

John Clare's escape from Epping Forest; an epic march through hunger and madness, is an English journey to set beside 'A Pilgrim's Progress'. Andrew Kötting, hyperkinetic camper-van captain of Gallivant, sets out in hot pursuit, dressed as a Straw Bear. Father and son, Freddie and Toby Jones, are possessed by the spirit of Clare, and locked in Beckettian embrace: one all-voice and one all-mute.

The writer Iain Sinclair watches from the shadows, Alan Moore waits like a bearded figure of fate, in Northampton and Dr Simon Kovesi hands out the medicine.

Captured in lustrous black and white photography, they discover the only truth of the road; whatever our hopes and delusions, we are always By Our Selves.

Inspired by Iain Sinclair’s Edge of the Orison and John Clare’s Journey out of Essex.

Synopsis

For the last 36 years, Paul has opened his North London paper stall at 4.40am, seven days a week, every week of the year.
Now 66, and with his time selling papers nearing an end, Paul reflects on his life in the paper booth he inherited from his father.

Synopsis

Leith’s Cables Wynd housing estate, known locally as the “Banana Flats”, became notorious as the crime-ridden centre of Europe’s heroin epidemic in the 1980s. The film follows a photographer and former resident who embarks on a quest to document the triumphs and tragedies that exist inside the estate’s 204 flats.

Synopsis

Two independent filmmakers document the human cost of the conflict in Ukraine investigating the subtleties of propaganda and manipulation by government powers to influence public opinion.

The film will show the lives of people in both Ukrainian and pro separatist areas introducing viewers to the complex beliefs and opinions involved with post soviet politics in Ukraine.

This documentary seeks to explain the horror of living in a conflict zone and how the real realities of this conflict, that is happening so close to home, are rarely reported.

Beside the direct effect on the population we seek to investigate the power of propaganda in the country used by both sides.

How the people are manipulated by oligarchs and other interested parties to support systems of government that no longer function.

The influence of Russia is also covered with it's strong presence in the country dating back to the turn of the century many feel allied with Russia despite it's involvement in the escalation of the situation in their country.

This film seeks to expose the true realities of a contemporary conflict on Europe’s doorstep.

Synopsis

“It’s all about what you do with it afterwards…” one of the voices says. That is make it black and white, wriggle out of the 16:9 frame, and overlap and reverberate the talk and laughter.

Synopsis

In the run-up to the 2015 General Election, both major parties liked to remind people of the importance of the choice facing them. But how does the fear and confusion sown by politicians prevent us from making an informed decision at the ballot box?

Published on The Guardian website:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2015/may/01/vote-x-why-we-are-a-confused-electorate-video

Synopsis

Yorkshireman - Wylbert Kemp - barber, chiropodist, occasional umbrella maker, experimental ear-piercer, filmmaker, artist, playwright and broadcaster. Through inventive use of a families' archive this playful documentary channels the spirit of a teller of tales who became a story too.

Synopsis

The Speed Sisters are the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East. They're bold. They're fearless. And they're tearing up tracks all over Palestine.

Synopsis

The film chronicles the tormented transformation of Grant Hadwin from expert logger to environmental terrorist, a man who dared to challenge the destruction of the world's last great temperate rainforest. Hadwin’s one-man crusade culminated in a perverse and outrageous act of protest that was, in itself, a crime against nature.
Hot Docs 2015 - World premiere