Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

The remarkable story of a children’s party given by notorious punk group the Sex Pistols on Christmas Day 1977. The testimonies of those who were there, together with previously unseen footage of the Sex Pistols, reveals a largely unknown episode in the band’s history.

Synopsis

From Sebastiane (1976) to Blue (1992), Derek Jarman’s films constantly interrogated time and art, and epitomised his own era. He was a painter, part of that moment that made sixties London a capital of the art world. He was a film-maker, perhaps the single most crucial figure of British independent cinema through the seventies, eighties and nineties. He lived as a gay man surfing the joys of Gay Liberation and the sorrows of Aids. He lived as a participant observer, noting with pen or camera all that passed before him - from punk to Thatcher, from Hampstead Heath to film premiere.

Now those images serve to place his art in his time, to produce a fascinating history that we can put to use. As well as the feature films and Super 8 films, which span three decades, there are the extensive video clips he recorded from the early seventies, for artists from the Smiths to the Pet Shop Boys, and from television to film festivals in Japan, Berlin and Cologne.

At the centre of the film is the time capsule that Derek left. Before his death, and in the midst of that great creative period that would produce Edward II, Caravaggio and Blue, he recorded a day long interview in 1990 with Colin MacCabe. It is his message in a bottle; a survey of his life from the point of view of his death; a talisman for the future.


 

Synopsis

A restless spirit longs to return home. After the removal of Saddam, Ali, an Iraqi exile is invited to return to Baghdad. As the moment of his return draws closer, it re-ignites a series of memories that Ali had long forgotten and reawakens anxieties, which he thought that he had left behind when he fled as a child from East to West. As these feelings become more intense, Ali is forced to re-evaluate the meaning of his journey. What awaits him now in post-Saddam Iraq? Ali’s fears and doubts are only alleviated when he connects with the memory of his own childhood in the Middle East, where as a little boy he set his spirit free on the wind.

Synopsis

This film was 4,600 million years in the making.
The makers of Deep Blue present the ultimate portrait of life on earth. A stunning cinematic experience that combines rare action‚ unimaginable scale‚ impossible locations and intimate moments among our planet’s best-loved‚ wildest‚ and most elusive creatures.

Synopsis

East 3 explores the Arctic town of Inuvik. The film investigates life in the sub-zero temperatures of the Canadian wilderness. In this often disturbing film we are taken on a surreal ride through this remote community.

Norm Anikina is an Inuit who lives a traditional hunting/trapping lifestyle, a lifestyle that is in jeopardy.

Inuvik Community Greenhouse - this project aims to get the community growing their own food in spite of the sub-zero temperatures.

Beaufort Delta SPCA - Linda Eccles set-up the local SPCA in after seeing horrendous dog cruelty in the region.

Traditional Pastimes - The Northern Games consists of sports such as caribou head skinning, while the beats of native drum dancing tell tales of tradition and life in the north.

Synopsis

Departing delightfully from the usual solemn tone for documentaries on arranged marriage. East London girl Shahanara is changing from pink hot pants into a saree, to meet her husband at the airport. But she only agreed to marriage to try and heal old wounds with the family. She says that they think she is a 'slag' because she had turned her back on Bangladeshi traditions.

Synopsis

A mockumentary which traces the life of Scottish director Bob McArthur who worked in Hollywood until the early 1970s. His career as a director was effectively ended in 1974 when production of his South American film was halted by its producer. He returned to Scotland to research and develop a film project about Robert Louis Stevenson. Following in the author's footsteps, McArthur disappeared for years in the South Seas.

Now McArthur is being honoured in Scotland with a lifetime achievement award. As the award ceremony approaches, his story is uncovered through archive material and the memories and opinions of those who have known him.

Synopsis

A tea break-sized glimpse into the many and varied ways that Britain’s favourite brew is enjoyed today– and it’s not always a simple case of tea bag and milk.

Synopsis

Foreigners is an animated documentary about foreigners who live in London. The film, which is based on interviews with ten young people from all over the world who live in the city, pieces together vignettes from multiple points of view that reveal London as an international metropolis which is both exciting and alienating. The interviews suggest a fresh look on contemporary English culture, and raise more fundamental questions about cultural differences and human nature.

Synopsis

Young people follow the legacy of the iconic 2 Tone record label in their home city of Coventry. The city's most famous musical export being the band The Specials, who had the hits 'Ghost Town' and 'Gangsters'.

The film was made by Leofric Films and GYGL, funded by First Light Movies.

Synopsis

A comedy of conflicting ambitions, the feature documentary Heavy Load captures the excitement, sweat and romance of playing in a band through the eyes of a unique set of characters. Heavy Load is a punk band made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, doing what they do, not for fame or celebrity, but for the joy of making noise. The band survives through a combination of raucous energy, attitude and sheer volume. 'We like to take a classic song and crucify it!' says guitarist Mick. Inspired by hopes of playing Glastonbury, how far can the band take their dreams into the mainstream?

Synopsis

Like the other films (George Orwell, Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, Elizabeth David) in this critically acclaimed and award-winning biography strand, HG Wells takes a bold and innovative approach to dramatising the story of the author’s life, by using HG Wells’ own words.

HG Wells wrote his four best-known works, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and the Island of Dr Moreau in the space of just four years from the age of 29. His fame only increased with the eerily prophetic non-fiction writing which followed. Wells predicted the invention of tanks, nuclear war, biological warfare, television and the internet. Wells’ celebrity status enabled his pursuit of free love, winning him lovers like novelist Rebecca West and the enigmatic Russian Moura Budberg. It also gave him unprecedented access to world leaders like Roosevelt and Stalin.

This story tells the story of Wells’ transformation from self-confident womaniser, socialist radical and young literary prophet to burdened missionary, dedicated to creating a World State that will avert man’s headlong course towards imminent annihilation.