Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Toxic Camera, inspired by the film Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks by Soviet filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko, reflects on the material nature of the film and the human impact of disasters like Chernobyl.

Synopsis

Dad’s Stick features three objects that my father showed me shortly before he died. Two of these were so well-used that their original forms and functions were almost completely obscured. The third object seemed to be instantly recognizable, but it turned out to be something else entirely.

Synopsis

World-renowned, shamanistic artist Barry Flanagan was one of the world's foremost figurative sculptors, with his work exhibited in streetscapes such as Park Avenue in New York, the Champs Elysées in Paris and O'Connell Street in Dublin. His trademark hare sculptures marked him out as an innovator and he once described himself as an English-speaking itinerant European sculptor.

In this documentary, one-man filmmaker Peter Bach embarks on a personal journey by making a vow to Flanagan, who at the time is wrestling with motor neurone disease on the island of Ibiza, that he will travel the world and bring back footage of strangers by his public works and film the artist watching them as he wrestles with his disease.

This journey of discovery takes us across Europe and the United States and is a celebration and homage to Flanagan's work.

Synopsis

When the Song Dies is a poetic documentary that weaves stories, songs and memories from across Scotland, and places their testament in counterpoint to the richly evocative landscape of Galloway. Exploring the theme of change, the film brings the audience under the captive spell of the old ways.

Synopsis

Ever since Venus and Serena Williams started playing in tennis tournaments, they've provoked strong reactions - from awe and admiration to suspicion and resentment. They've been winning championships for over a decade, pushing the limits of longevity in such a demanding sport. How long can they last? In Venus & Serena, we gain unprecedented access into their lives during the most intimidating year of their career. Over the course of 2011, Venus grappled with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease while Serena battled back from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Neither Venus nor Serena let their adversities hold them back. They drew their greatest strength from each other.

Synopsis

A Tale Of Two Syrias is a snapshot of life before Syria’s uprising began, seen through the eyes of two people: Salem, an Iraqi refugee and fashion designer in Damascus and Botrus, a monk in the remote hillside monastery of Mar Musa. This film is about their dreams, discussions, and questions around freedom and choice in the year before Syria descended into serious conflict.

Synopsis

Feature documentary. A detailed, true to life, extraction, filmed over four months, of the day to day events... ups, downs and tribulations of a young reggae singer striving to break into the music industry in the U.K. Filmmaker Mark Brown wraps the audience up into the artists emotions revealing the excitement and disappointment that unfold through different stages of Bayo's attempts to make his music heard in the right circles.

Synopsis

In the heart of Sicily, where the Mafia still rules, one man and his family-run TV station, has become a relentless voice against corruption and organized crime.
“The Valley of the Jato” portrays the daily life of self-made journalist Pino Maniaci on his personal crusade to free Sicily from corruption with his family run TV Station, Telejato.
In a land fighting with itself to purge old traditions, energetic, chain-smoking Pino Maniaci appears as a controversial maverick struggling to stay on-air in shifting times.

Synopsis

An observation, investigation and social record of the lives and thoughts of ten residents of the Golden Lane Estate, London. Built in the late 1950s by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the Golden Lane estate exemplifies an utopian ideal of social housing. This film documents the life of the complex over half a century since its construction and asks questions about domestic and private space and of making a home in such an iconic and distinctive architectural environment.

Synopsis

A powerful and inspirational film about the loss of childhood, the stripping away of identity and, ultimately, the hope of reconciliation, all set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.

Through innovative animation, the film tells the story of the 4000 Basque children evacuated to the United Kingdom in 1937. Forced to bid a hurried farewell to their parents, these children were told they would only be in the UK for three months. 75 years later, some are still there, forever separated from their parents and their homeland, their families torn apart and their childhood destroyed by a brutal and bloody conflict.

Through the voices of 14 of these children, now in their 80s & 90s, we reveal this tragic episode in history in a stunning animated documentary that is profound, unexpected and uplifting.

Synopsis

Daniel Gordon’s 9.79* looks at the legacy of the 100-metre men’s final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when gold medalist Ben Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids and scandal reigned. For the first time ever, the eight athletes who ran that infamous race tell their story.

Synopsis

Imbued with nostalgia and striking a wide range of emotional notes, filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel travels to the Lebanese refugee camp of Ain El Helweh to explore how the camp's displaced people use the World Cup series to articulate their own ideas of home, community, victory and hope (TIFF 2012).