Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

When Helena Fereníková was 19 years old and in the throes of labor with her first child, she was told to sign a document. Only afterwards did she realize she had authorized her own sterilization. Eleven years previously, the same happened to Elena Gorolová. Both women are fighting for justice. Helena has chosen legal action, and became the first Roma woman to win a case in Central Europe against the hospital that sterilized her in 2001. Elena addresses international audiences to ensure this never happens again.Helena and Elena's situations are a microcosm for the multiple sources of social injustice facing today's Roma. Through their poignant and unnerving stories, this film unearths the shocking anachronism of the practice of forced sterilization that continued long after the Communist mandate.

Synopsis

Turtle: The Incredible Journey is the true story of a little loggerhead turtle, as she follows in the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary voyages in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, she rides her life current, the Gulf Stream, up towards the Arctic and ultimately swims around the entire North Atlantic before returning to the beach where she was born. But the odds are stacked against her making it; just one in ten thousand turtles survive the 25-year journey. Based on the true story of our loggerhead’s remarkable voyage, her epic journey is one of immense beauty – from swimming with great pods of humpback whales riding the Gulf Stream north to witnessing the greatest celebration of life in the Azores; but it is also a story of change as powerful forces are altering her ocean world. When she finally returns to the shores of Florida, 25 years have passed. But will her beach still be there? Turtle: The Incredible Journey has all the ingredients of a great epic; suspense, adventure and hope as finally, under a million stars, she returns to her beach to give birth to a new generation.

Synopsis

Urban Framing is an experimental documentary; a building plays the main character and narrator. The story is an unspoken conversation with the urban context .This provides the audience with a new cinematic experience to look at architecture and the city in a different manner.

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Welcome Aboard Toxic Airlines tells the very real and ongoing story of the air passengers and crews breathe on commercial jet aircraft. Air known to become contaminated with carcinogens, neurotoxins and the serious health and flight safety consequences which are occurring around the world as a consequence of these exposures.

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Julian is forty-six and lives in Camphill in Milton Keynes, a community inspired by the ideas and writings of Rudolf Steiner. The loss of his mother over twenty years ago had a huge impact on his life, and now as the last remaining member of his family, Julian lives and works for the benefit of the community where he lives as well as the wider world.

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A young Nigerian girl recounts her experiences of being fostered into a white British family. Based on original documentary interviews with 16-year-old Yemmi, this short animation film takes us on an emotional journey from the urban deprivation of Hackney, to suburban Bournemouth as she searches to reconcile her split cultural identity and express her complex feelings toward both her birth mother and native Africa. An uplifting tale of contemporary relevance in which hope and youth triumph over adversity.

Synopsis

On October 12th 1978, New York Police discovered the lifeless body of a 20 year-old woman, slumped under the bathroom sink in a hotel room. She was dressed in her underwear and had bled to death from a stab wound. The woman was Nancy Spungen, an ex-prostitute, sometimes stripper, heroin addict, and girlfriend of Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious. In a trial by tabloid newspapers Vicious was pronounced guilty before noon the following day. But the case never had the chance to be brought to trial, and a number of New York cops weren't convinced. Less than six months later in a flat in New York's Greenwich Village, Sid, himself aged only 21, died of a heroin overdose. For the next 28 years the assumption was that Sid did it - case closed. Over time, the death of Sid and Nancy has passed into rock legend and has only added to the controversial and notorious image of the Sex Pistols and punk music. At the request of Sid's mother, who committed suicide in 1996, rock author and punk expert Alan Parker has devoted himself to discovering what really happened in room 100. Parker has re-interviewed 182 people, re-examined NYPD evidence, and gone back to his original interviews with Sid's mother.

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Synopsis

It wasn't exactly a promising childhood. An impoverished father at fifteen, Daniel joined the family business, becoming a drug dealer despite watching his two brothers jailed for the same crime. But when his mother narrowly escapes a prison sentence, and moves the family from North Carolina to the South Bronx, Daniel is given a fresh start. At Taft High School, one of the most violent, notorious high schools in the nation, Daniel discovers that education can give him a future away from poverty and crime. Mature beyond his years, and increasingly articulate, he becomes a dedicated student, not only is he the first of his family to graduate high school, but he wins a scholarship to one of the most elite universities in the US. Just as he thinks the world is his oyster, Daniel falters. A fish out of water he feels alienated not only by his white classmates, but even more so by his middle-class black ones. Filmed over nine years by director Daniela Zanzotto, and narrated by Daniel himself, this is a remarkable portrait of a self-believer determined to steer his own path in life.

Synopsis

Director Adrian Wills, known for his sensitive portrayal of artists and their work, documents the adventure of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil joining forces to produce the live show Love. Traveling between London, Montréal and Las Vegas, his team tracks the human story behind the production - from its beginnings in Abbey Road Studios to its historic opening night. Inspired by the energy of cinéma vérité, All Together Now presents dozens of revealing incidents and encounters. Using archival material as well as intimate interviews with Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, Sir George Martin, Giles Martin and Dominic Champagne, this feature- length documentary is a privileged glimpse of the artistic process from within the creative circle.

Synopsis

Buried under concrete and controversy on the outskirts of Dublin lie the remains of Ireland's pop star priest - Father Michael Cleary. In 1991 as a student Alison Millar moved into his house and started filming him. Fifteen years on, using her unseen archive, this film is the story of the secret life of a man who fooled her, his family and an entire nation.

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An intimate portrait of a modern indigenous Maya city, its people, tradition and ritual. Filmed over the course of eight years in the highlands of Guatemala. A vibrant living culture and how it adapts to and embraces the modern world. In Tz’utujil and Spanish with English subtitles and voice over.