Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

In a small Scottish town in 1974, factory workers refuse to carry out repairs on warplane engines in an act of solidarity against the violent military coup in Chile. Four years pass before the engines mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night.

Synopsis

A film by Martin Wallace and Jarvis Cocker, The Big Melt combines 100 years of footage from the BFI National Archive with a score recorded live at the Crucible Theatre on the opening night of Sheffield Doc/Fest in June 2013 to tell the story of steel, the story of the men in the steelworks and the story of Sheffield.
Taking us on musical journey into the soul of a nation, it brings to life the ghosts of our past, taking us into the belly of the furnaces and showing how our national character has been stamped from the mighty presses of our industrial heritage.
Featuring leading Sheffield musicians including Jarvis Cocker and Pulp band members, the City of Sheffield Brass Band, Richard Hawley and his band members, the Forgemasters, a string quartet and a youth choir, the live soundtrack has been edited by Cocker to create a phenomenal music score - a new kind of Sheffield heavy metal, with pictures.

Synopsis

Time and the Wave focuses on key London events filmed in 2012 and 2013: the opening of Westfield Shopping Centre at Stratford, the Saint Paul’s Occupy movement, the Queen’s Jubilee Thames pageant and the funeral of Margaret Thatcher to expose Britain in the condition of crisis of late capitalism.

Synopsis

In tense detail, this riveting new documentary explores the 6 July 1988, disaster on the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha. The film skillfully combines archival footage and audio recordings with present-day filmed interviews to recreate the suspense and horror of the disaster and to unfold the complex emotions of those who survived (EIFF).

Synopsis

When Neil Platt is diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at the age of 33, he makes the unusual decision to document his final months, not just in a blog (which he painstakingly dictates via frustratingly inaccurate speech recognition software) but by inviting a film crew into the home he shares with his tireless wife Louise and toddler son Oscar. The result is a heartbreaking, funny and tender portrayal of incredible fortitude and love (EIFF).

Synopsis

A rich documentary inspired by the life and work of Megan Boyd, a legendary Scottish maker of salmon flies. Filled with tributes and recollections from those who knew this solitary and enigmatic woman, this elegiac film draws further inspiration from the colours and textures of Boyd’s handmade, featheradorned flies. The film also takes off into flights of expressive fantasy, courtesy of Em Cooper’s oil-painted animation.
(EIFF 2013)

Synopsis

An intrepid young filmmaker travels from Britain deep into the American heartland to probe the mysteries of Bigfoot and Bigfoot mania. He forms uneasy alliances with several Bigfoot trackers, including a man who believes he is part sheep, a known hoaxer, and an entrepreneur with a short fuse. Things get hairy as the filmmaker realises that his companions may not be the harmless eccentrics they seem (EIFF).

Synopsis

In 2012, a resurrection no one thought possible took place when legendary band, The Stone Roses reformed after 16 years.
With unprecedented access to previously unseen archive footage, Made of Stone is a revealing journey through the life of one of the most revered and influential bands in British music history.
Acclaimed film-maker Shane Meadows brings his unique directorial style, humour and emotional depth to the film, capturing the band at work and in their everyday lives as they rehearsed for their much-anticipated reunion, which culminated in three triumphant homecoming gigs at Manchester's Heaton Park in front of 220,000 adoring fans.
Incorporating never-seen-before material spanning the band’s musical history, the personal experiences of many of those touched by the band and their music, and unparalleled access to the record-breaking sell-out concerts which took place in Summer 2012, this is the definitive record of the definitive band of the past 25 years.

Synopsis

A look at the events leading up to the 1973 tennis match between retired men's champ Bobby Riggs and the current women's Wimbledon winner Billie Jean King.

Synopsis

Made from over 100 years of BFI archive footage, From the Sea to the Land Beyond offers a poetic meditation on Britain's unique coastline and the role it plays in our lives. With a soundtrack specially created by Brighton-based band British Sea Power, award-winning director Penny Woolcock's film offers moving testimony to our relationship to the coast - during wartime, on our holidays and as a hive of activity during the industrial age.

Synopsis

Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys to be signed by Sony.

Synopsis

A documentary which captures the lives of people across Britain over the course of one day.