Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Recently there have been massive, unprecedented rises across world markets in the value of Jade. It is now 40 times more valuable than gold. This part observational, part impressionistic study of a day in the life of a Muslim community, illustrate their hopeful efforts to discover Jade in the harsh conditions of a dried-up river bed in a remote town on the Silk Road in Western China.

Synopsis

What would life be like if women weren’t judged primarily on their looks? Wistful and lyrical, this is a journey through the eyes of Shabana, a passionate 25-year-old British Muslim woman in Scotland who always longed for freedom from bodily scrutiny, and found it by wearing the controversial hijab.

Synopsis

Exile is an intimate look at identity through the eyes of a young British Nigerian woman. It interweaves contemporary dance inspired by African masquerade, and documentary footage from Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria to give a distinct and personal narrative.

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An animation film in which young British Muslims explore and challenge negative portrayals and stereotypes of Islam in society and the Media through a series of snapshots conversations from across East London.

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An experimental film essay investigating the cultural importance of cinema. In an age dominated by the moving image what would it feel like to never see an image of the place that you came from? The Palestinian Film Archive contained over 100 films showing the daily life and struggle of the Palestinian people. It was lost in the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982. Here interviewees describe from memory key moments from the history of Palestinian cinema. These scenes are drawn and animated. Where film survives, the artist's impressions are corroborated. This is a film about reconstruction and the idea that cinema is an expression of cultural identity - that cinema fuels memory.

Synopsis

This is a tale about the death of Goleshovo, a forgotten town in the mountains of Bulgaria. Here, a handful of old people struggle for survival: A couple fights with their donkey. A forgetful priest leads his congregation into confusion. A woman cheers up her friends with songs. Will their children ever return? Composed with rigorous attention to form, this observational documentary is an austere yet ultimately rewarding portrait of hope.

Synopsis

5 years ago, film maker Elizabeth Stopford decided she wanted to document an extraordinary story that was unravelling within her own family. As her outspoken and elderly grandmother Ruth clings to her gothic house as a symbol of status and position, dark memories of the family's early life in the house begin to surface. As tensions escalate over plans to hand ownership of the house over to one of her twin daughters, Ruth flees the country to France, to the home of her other daughter. However her journey shatters open a hidden world of painful secrets within the family's past. As everyone converges on the house the pain of the past and the resentment of the present forces the entire family to confront the legacy of 30 years of family trauma. Taking the form of a parallel narrative, I'm Not Dead Yet draws on 20 years of archive film of the twins growing up within the family home. The past unravels in the present as each character is faced with confronting the secrets and the divisions within the family to this day. I'm Not Dead Yet is a unique and personal film about the inheritance of a house, and one family's unspoken and unresolved past.

Synopsis

'identities' charts the multicoloured, multicultural transgender community in Ireland. Five personal stories give shape to the vibrant, parallel worlds of Transvestism, Transsexualism, Drag, Sexual identity, and Gender Dysphoria. Intercutting black and white interviews with fly on the wall footage, each character's daily experience is laid bare. Vivid art performances offer more abstract and deeply personal self-representation. Opening our eyes to the potential of existing in fantasy, reality is thrown into sharp relief. At its heart, this is a film about the human spirit. Overcoming stereotype and categorisation, the gender construct breaks open, allowing personality and human emotion a path to expression.

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A frequently overlooked and misunderstood community share their unique view of the world.

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'He says he’s crazy? Of course he’s responsible! Insanity Defense is overused!' Law and Disorder: the Insanity Defense is a fly-on-the-wall investigative documentary about criminal responsibility and the mentally ill, putting insanity on trial for the first time.  

Synopsis

London Tango captures the excitement of dance and gives a privileged access into its world. The business, the showmanship, the glamour, and the sheer hard work.   Meet the stars of the dance world and the tentative beginners; those for whom dance is a calling they'd sacrifice anything for and those unsure of what they are looking for but willing to take a chance, to grow. Get carried away. Your journey begins with a single step.

Synopsis

Lovetalk takes us on a fascinating journey. Interviews and visuals are intertwined with great advice on how to find, how to please and how to keep the perfect match. Finally there is a film that will truly answer your most secret questions, by the greatest teachers of our time.