Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Cadência is the second Brazilian documentary from director Daren Bartlett. Cadência builds an intimate picture of Brazilian football and its related cultures, divisions, traditions and what is the firm cohesion that creates the strong unified image Brazil projects to the world. The film's stunning cinematography immerses the viewer in the sights and sounds, the rhythm, the cadence of a city as it winds up for carnival, the biggest celebration of the year. Insightful and passionate commentary from the late Brazilian football legend Socrates, combined with academics, artists and last but not least the people, combine to make this a powerful and poignant documentary, simply a beautiful film.

Synopsis

An engaging film documentary in the style of 'What the Bleep Do We Know', 'Sicko' and 'SuperSize Me' which follows writer/producer Paul Duddridge as he attempts to host his own 'mini Olympics' where teams are split by race rather than nationality. It's all quite harmless and silly but exposes some uncomfortable questions, misconceptions and prejudices that most of us hold. Experts discuss: What race really is, how many races there are, how they evolved, the differences between them. Filmed on location in California, Arizona, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio and the UK - A Film About Races is an irreverent exploration of the common myths and misconceptions about race - definitely not a film about racism.

Synopsis

Based on the life and poetry of World War II veteran and retired BBC radio journalist Boleslaw Taborski, the film explores how life experiences affect creativity. There is also a rare glimpse inside the studios of the no longer existing Polish Section of the BBC Radio World Service in London.

Synopsis

A Time And A Time is a film constructed entirely from archive footage shot in Bristol over the last century. Three specific locations are chosen and filmed images from these geographical points are cut up and reassembled so that we recreate the place with people and buildings and vehicles that span time. A 21st century office worker crosses a road that has just been blitzed, a woman from 1910 watches a man on a mobile phone kick a football. The distance that time creates is removed and these people are reunited in location.

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Two Eritrean girls enchant with fragmentary tales of escaping their country, telling us what it feels like living as an unaccompanied child refugee, alone in London. An intimate portrait, highlighting the emotional fallout of political conflict commissioned as part of London Borough of Islington's 'Kick Islamophobia' campaign.

Synopsis

Music documentary about cult 'punk poet' Patrik Fitzgerald (born as Patrick Joseph Fitzgerald in Stratford, London, March 19, 1956) - son of working-class Irish immigrant parents, he began recording and performing during the punk rock movement in 1977. Composer of punk anthem 'Safety Pin Stuck in My Heart', Fitzgerald kicked against the punk orthodoxy by performing waif-like and vulnerably alone with an acoustic guitar and a tattered book of poems at the height of the punk revolution

Synopsis

This is a hard-hitting documentary about Condoleezza Rice, an extraordinary but little understood woman who rose from segregated Alabama to become the most powerful woman in the world. Incisive and shocking, this is the first retrospective film on the Bush Administration. It overturns the popular misconception of Rice as a yes-woman to President Bush to reveal her as his most enduring confidante, and thus responsible for much of the Bush legacy. This political, biographical documentary tells a Faustian story of a woman whose hubris tempted her into a pursuit of power that destroyed her core values, and hurtled America into a perilous new direction.   Dr Rice leads her own defense, through a series of candid interviews. We have exclusive interviews with her three most authoritative biographers: Marcus Mabry (Twice As Good); Glenn Kessler (The Confidante); and Antonia Felix (Condi).   The film's most disturbing revelations center on Rice's role as Chair of the group of 'Principals', whose role was to select and authorize torture techniques, which included water-boarding, fingernail extraction, and sleep deprivation. Condi signed off on the orders to the CIA with the words, 'This is your Baby, go do it!'.

Synopsis

Born into a world of wealth and privilege, he devotes his life to eliminating poverty and inequality. A religious leader who traces his ancestry back to the Prophet Muhammad, he struggles to balance the traditional with the modern. His Highness the Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, a Shia sect with 15 million followers around the world. At a time when Islam is at odds with itself and with the West, the Aga Khan represents a voice of moderation, speaking out for pluralism and diversity, and promoting dialogue between civilizations. But will he be heard?  

Synopsis

Commissioned as part of the 'Bridging the Gap' production scheme, At Home with the Jedi is a domestic portrait about faith, family and future, meeting the founders of the UK's Church of Jediism, whose galactic ambitions reach far beyond their small town existence.

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A young Iraqi woman from London travels to her homeland for the first time. On her personal journey through the country she meets a series of characters, each of whom is finding a way to get on with their lives in the aftermath of the invasion.

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Poet Leah Thorn is writer-in-residence at HMP Bronzefield, a high security womens prison in Middlesex. Through her workshops we meet a variety of women striving to find a voice through creative writing. Personal histories, emotions and inner conflicts are revealed through their poems and interactions.

Synopsis

Ozlem is Kurdish. When her village in Turkish Kurdistan was bombed by the Turkish army Ozlem fled and came to London. She lives in the predominantly Turkish area of Dalston with Onur, her Turkish boyfriend. Her work in a Kurdish community centre helping Kurdish asylum seekers heightens the stresses and strains on her relationship with Onur. Far away from home and in a foreign land, she is struggling to make some sense of her own identity.