Projects in categories: Documentary

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.