Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Scott Walker, labeled the 'greatest voice of his generation' was lead singer of 60s sensation The Walker Brothers (‘The Sun Aint’ Gonna Shine Anymore’, ‘No Regrets’, ‘Make It Easy on Yourself’). His fan club outnumbered the Beatles‚ in 1965. From 1967-1969 he released three UK top-ten solo albums (and one #1) but suffered terrible stage fright and performed one of the great disappearing acts in pop history.

Often rumoured to be living abroad, working as a cab driver or simply dead, he reemerges decades later with one of the most modern, ear-challenging music albums ever created. Scott Walker: 30 Century Man is a filmed record of that journey seen through his own eyes and those of his many fans including some of the most famous names in contemporary popular music who also appear including David Bowie, Sting and Radiohead.

Synopsis

David has never felt at home where he lives in the English countryside. He's known since he was very young that he was different and now that he's fifteen he's decided to come out that he is gay. After being thrown out of his foster home and continually bullied at school, the village where he lives has turned its back on David.

But now David has the chance to show everyone in the village who he really is. For over a hundred years the annual summer carnival has been a celebration of traditional family values in the village that all its in inhabitants of all ages get involved in. Each year the prettiest young girl in the town is paraded through the main square as the carnival queen. But this year the festivities are going to be turned on their head,  because this year David is the first ever gay male carnival queen. Under huge pressure from the locals who feel he is bringing shame on their village- David, in his lilac dress, is determined to stand up be proud of himself in front of all his doubters.

Synopsis

Sons and Soldiers, series of four 3min films, captures poignant moments from the real lives of those caught up in the life and death dramas of modern soldiering. Sign Me Up is filmed in the Miners Club in a South Welsh village the night before a young man signs up for the basic training. Never Coming Back is the film about mother who lost her only son in Iraq. Amidst the grief and anger, her pride is undiminished. End of the Dream filmed at the post- traumatic stress disorder clinic records experiences of two men coming to terms with the legacy of their time at the front line. You’re In the Army Now features the spectacle of the Passing Out Parade at the UK Army camp; the moment when boys become soldiers.

Synopsis

A story of pregnancy told through the eyes of Gwen, her partner and their chosen donor. Sparky, is the successful result of fertility treatment, forming bonds outside of their sexuality, and creating extended families across the world.

Choice conversations, glimpse anecdotes, and an unobtrusive camera, combine to create an intense reminder of personal modern day achievement.

Synopsis

Tantric guru, Laurie Handlers (from NYC) travels across India with ten US tourists in search of spiritual enlightenment and the Real India. A rich, challenging and often hysterical roadtrip from the Ganges to the Taj Mahal. Squeamish tantric ritual, culture shock and the contradictions of new-age tourism combine in a documentary that is so surreal that it can only be real.

Synopsis

The first reported case of HIV in Papua New Guinea was in 1987. Since then, this 'Bad Sickness', perceived to be a punishment from God, has penetrated into the lives of the people and torn apart communities. In the atmosphere of silence, stigma breeds, and people are left to die.

This film features the lives of extraordinary people who have been affected by HIV and are actively challenging prevailing social attitudes and behaviours.

Synopsis

Bob Dylan once said 'I don't think I'm gonna be really understood until maybe 100 years from now'. Author of the Dylan To English Dictionary, a Dylanologist and originator of Garbology (the practice of rooting through rubbish in order to gain insight into prominent people's lives), A J Weberman has made it his life's work to understand Bob Dylan.

At times hilarious, at other times disturbing, this film is an interesting observation on our unbalanced desires to know more about celebrities and how far we are willing to go to get that information. Weberman does not see himself as a stalker and insists that Dylan should be grateful that he is around: 'I would have been to Dylan what Verlaine was to Rimbaud'. It's hard to see this as a tale of poet and critic, but rather a look at the bizarre relationship between the obsessed and the object of his obsession and how it can completely take over a man's life.

A hilarious recorded telephone conversation between A J Weberman and Bob Dylan from the 1970s punctuates the film in the form of animations, creating connections between Weberman's past and present. The film also enjoys a memorable cast of secondary characters including New York street poet David Peel, former child dancer Jay Byrd and Aaron Kay 'The Pieman'. To top it all, the film features a vivid Americana soundtrack performed by cast members, which adds a surreal commentary to the proceedings, creating a documentary like no other.
 

Synopsis

This documentary is a Trojan horse; strikingly using richly layered animation to smuggle through the audience’s compassion fatigue a story of two Ugandan women affected by HIV/AIDS. The Beloved Ones has a distinctive visual style, lyrical and impressionistic. This lends itself to the depiction of an Africa that despite its problems is a home to full lives, not just a series of tragic statistics.

Synopsis

A sensitive and detailed dialogue between the residents of an East London housing estate on the verge of significant and disruptive changes to their environment. The Devons charts the aspirations, frustrations and reality of life on the estate in order to understand and improve the inevitable regeneration process.

Synopsis

In a retirement home in Paris nothing much happens other than the odd bout of Muzak and trouble with the lifts.

But the arrival of some unusual visitors is about to disturb the peace - and set the scene for a strange confrontation between those at the beginning of life, and those at their very end.

Synopsis

What is it like to have God like surgical powers, yet to struggle against your own humanity? What is it like to try and save a life, and yet to fail?

British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh openly confronts the dilemmas of the doctor patient relationship on his latest mission to the Ukraine.

Synopsis

Like so many before, Jamie Morgan asked the question 'What's it all about?' His spiritual search took him to California, to a workshop run by a white-haired spiritual 'guru' promoting sexual adventure and the possible existence of aliens. Jamie shed his clothes, inhibitions and defences on an emotional, amusing and provocative roller coaster ride towards enlightenment.