Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Hospice care is rarely associated with singing and laughter, but at Strathcarron it’s different. At this remarkable Scottish hospice centre, patients face pain, uncertainty and the possibility of life’s end with song and humour. The documentary includes a hit parade of tunes belted out by patients and care-givers alike between reflections on life, love and mortality. Sinatra and R.E.M. have never been sung with more heart. The film illuminates a journey we will all take eventually, and shows how the songs we love best can help guide us. An intimate story behind our changing relationship with death.

Synopsis

This film is about a man finding purpose for his life in the most unlikely place after years of self-destruction. Infested with gangrene, unable to walk, Josué was cast out of the traumatised streets of Juárez, México into the desert and dumped in a mental asylum run by its own patients. Assisted by people employing empathy as the only means of survival, Josué transcended near death - discovering compassion in his darkest hours. Six years later, Josué manages the asylum. He dreams of his estranged daughter in California - last seen 22 years ago. Trawling the Internet, Vanessa encounters her father in the trailer for this film. The reunion offers Josué possibility to repair his shattered past and start life afresh.

Synopsis

At the age of ninety-two, Isabella struggles to remember... As she becomes ever fragile and her short-term memory begins to falter, her past is explored, questioned and brought to life. How much of your life do you need to remember to remain yourself?

Synopsis

The documentary film explores an unknown chapter in post South African liberation. In 1993, Lady Anya Sainsbury, a former principal ballerina at Royal Ballet in London, met Nelson Mandela at a party in South Africa. They both agreed for her to set up a dance scholarship programme at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London, which provided 23 of South Africa’s talented young dance students between 1995 to 2003, with the opportunity to follow their dance dreams. The film highlights the personal experiences of six of those dancers that subsequently met Mandela in London at a dinner party in Lady Sainsbury’s house in 1999, they are Mandela’s Dancers. The film combines archival dance photographs and video footage spanning over fifteen years, with excerpts from the student performances and candid recollections. Mandela’s Dancers is not about the triumph of the human spirit or any other of the top 10 favourite dance clichés. It’s about something far rarer and of vastly greater significance – it’s about real life. It’s about how Nelson Mandela changed the face of contemporary dance!

Synopsis

The Pagoda in London’s Kew Gardens is rarely open to the public. It was open for a short time last year and I took the opportunity to climb all 253 wooden steps having first done so 60 years before.

Synopsis

The Ambiguity of David Thomas Broughton is a music documentary following the creative process of one of the UK’s most enigmatic musicians and performers. As a musical act, David Thomas Broughton is almost unclassifiable. His live shows are a exhilarating mix of musical experimentation and performance art, underlined by a raw unpredictability. His recorded material is dark but beautiful, marrying traditional folk with a surrealist edge. Off-stage, he’s an introvert with a passion for bird watching. Who is the real David Thomas Broughton? Through a series of interviews with friends, family and collaborators, filmmaker Greg Butler attempts to unravel this ambiguity. His journey takes him to David’s home town of Otley, where we track David’s creative process as he records new material to be played at the End of the Road Festival.

Synopsis

A keen and accurate observation on the the effects of the rapidly increasing illegal immigrant population within coastal city of Calais, France. Deep access into the migrant groups in the jungle provides a fascinating look into the individually desperate nationalities and opinions from the perspectives of those directly affected by the crisis creates a topical and enthralling visual debate in documentary.

Synopsis

A film about us. It's a film about you, your children, your parents, your friends. It's about every one of us. It's about our failure: failure as individuals, the failure of business, and the failure of our politicians. It is about an unprecedented planetary emergency. It's about the future of us Based on scientist Stephen Emmot's eye-opening lecture on humanity's biggest threat: overpopulation.

Synopsis

Identity, most people take identity for granted. We see ourselves reflected back as we gaze into the eyes of our parents. What if your image isn't the same, what then? Abandoned Adopted Here is an independent documentary, exploring the idea of identity as a transracial adoptee and being British-Chinese/East Asian.

Synopsis

Identity, many of us take it for granted. We see ourselves reflected back as we gaze into the eyes of our parents. What if your image isn't the same? What then? An independent documentary exploring the experience of growing up as a culturally displaced British East Asian during pre-multicultural 60s UK. A look at identity, transracial adoption and is there such as thing as being British Chinese/East Asian

Synopsis

Marla Coppolino has an unusual passion for the world’s smallest dwellers: land snails. In between science and art, Marla brings you into their tiny world. She embarks on a mission to enlighten you to the plight of the lowly land snail through creative, bizarre and unconventional means.

Synopsis

A 2000 year old decorated Iron Age Mirror was found in Oxfordshire, UK. This film documents sampling and research, and considers the significance of this enigmatic object. Winner of 1st Place category in Non-Fiction Aahn 2016 International Short Film Event, Mumbai, India