Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

In a Palestinian refugee camp a class of five-year-olds discuss their lives and the future whilst the camera floats from the centre of Beirut to the Israeli border; this is a reverse journey for the audience as they begin where the displaced Palestinians flight ended, and they end where the Palestinians began, in the occupied territories.

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A group of inspiring African teenagers brought illegally or trafficked into the UK overcome desperate situations and build new lives for themselves in London. The girls face deportation on their 18th birthdays under current Home Office rules. This film asks them what they long for and where they feel they belong.

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21st Century Male explores modern day masculinity and juxtaposes this with the question: 'Why is the modern male increasingly suffering domestic violence at the hands of their partners or wives?' We are given a window into one such world to discover the story behind the abuse.

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A behind the scenes look at The Storys and their thoughts on supporting Elton John on his UK tour.
 

Synopsis

A Very British Gangster is an all access film inside one of Britain’s most dangerous crime families.  For the first time, a gang of contemporary criminals open their lives to reveal a brutal world and an underclass which relies upon gangsters for justice, rather than police.
   
The film follows the trials and tribulations of Dominic Noonan over three years, as he lurches from criminal trial to criminal trial.  Dominic, head of the Noonan crime dynasty, a second generation family of Irish stock, legally changed his last name to Lattlay Fottfoy, an acronym for the family motto; ‘Look after those that look after you, fuck off those that fuck off you’. 
 
Rarely does a film gain such deep access.  Director, Donal MacIntyre, shows us a close-up view of a world embroiled in kidnapping, torture, narcotics and murder. But behind the macho bravado, a poignant world is revealed where a community struggles with poverty, violence and drugs.

Synopsis

Life in a South African Township is seen through the eyes of seven pupils as they come together under the parental eye of Mr Mtshali, headmaster of Velabahleke High School. Velabahleke (Come with a Smile) may be the only school in the country that starts at 06h30am and where students are racing to get there on time. Mtshali has created an oasis of excellence for hundreds of learners, where students, staff and the community are doggedly determined that they not be slaves to their backgrounds. The aspirations and everyday lives of the pupils, both in and out of school, interweave to form a story of a generation striving to transcend their backgrounds and achieve what could now be theirs in the new South Africa.

Synopsis

It is the 100th year of the TT racers on the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man government have planned extensive celebrations to mark the 100th year. Flexstone Pictures Limited will be filming a two part two-hour documentary on the build up to and history of the Isle of Man TT racers and the tourism to the Isle of Man. An exclusive interview with the President of Tynwald.

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Filmmaker Terra Miller documents 24 hours in the life of would be London neo-revolutionary Isabella Beretta. As we follow her life we learn she has plans to burn the city of London to the ground and install a people's government.

Synopsis

Bananaz takes you “behind the screens” on one of the great creative partnerships of our time. Following a late night conversation between Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn as they dissected our "pop idoled" culture in early 2000, the virtual band Gorillaz was born. With friend and film maker Ceri Levy they decided to document the process.

Levy started shooting immediately, following these two unlikely pioneers with his camera.

For the first time the virtual walls come down and the audience sees the true brain child of Hewlett and Albarn; the work that went into the drawings, the animation, the music and the voices. As one radio interviewer puts it; 'It's a parallel universe - these guys aren't in the band but they know the animated characters who are'.

Bananaz is the funny, riotous and compelling film which gives a never seen before account of the working relationship of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. An inspiring, unsanitised, free-wheeling, rather puerile
comment on what can be done when creative minds meet in the spirit of collaboration.

Synopsis

The story of three brothers now in their 50s as they come to terms with the sex abuse they suffered as children - one of the hardest parts of surviving child abuse is making sense of it as an adult.

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Checkpoint represents an investigation into everyday life in Israel and the West Bank: the attrition of occupation, the threat of terrorism. The film does not attempt to dissect the political situation, rather, to engage with those that it affects. It is a story of tragedy and brutality but also hope, wit, beauty and music.

Synopsis

Chinese Art has caught the world's attention. Once considered obscure and exotic, it now commands millions at international auction. China's contemporary artists are the rock stars of the art world, living a lifestyle more synonymous with New York than the Peoples Republic of China. 'China Power' is a reflection of modern China by its artists, filmmakers, and curators.