Projects in categories: Documentary

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Divis Tower and Mountain and a dead rapper

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Crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS, poor education, inferiority complex, low expectation, poverty, corruption, poor health, and underdevelopment all plague people of African descent globally. Why? Five hundred years from the onset of slavery and subsequent colonialism, Africans are still struggling for basic freedoms. Why? Filmed in five continents, 500 Years Later examines the collective atrocities that uprooted Africans from their culture and homeland. 500 Years Later is a timeless and compelling journey, infused with the spirit and music of liberation that chronicles the struggle of a people who have fought and continue to fight for the most essential human right – freedom.  

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Republic of Georgia. Region Svaneti. A portrait of a mother, Nargisa Niguriani. 30,000 people live in Svaneti, the one family that do not practice and enact vendetta justice is Niguriani. Nargisa explains the protocol of vendettas, and why she would still kill for her children.

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A Street Named Humber reflects concerns of regeneration and a city's heritage, of the traditions of the past and a changing future. Insights are gleaned from the individual memories of a microcosm of people from this vibrant and historic Yorkshire market street.

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After is a documentary animation that traces the emotional journey of three people as they journey from isolation and despair to discover a newfound hope in their lives.

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After Refuge explores the effects of immigration on cultural identity. Pari, a young refugee from Afghanistan, recounts her experience of fleeing her home country and settling in Britain; trying to find her new identity without losing her roots.

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Taking the situation in Darfur as its catalyst the film is the contemplative journey of the film-maker to the land of her birth at a time of crisis. She examines the race dynamic in Sudanese society through the prism of her own experience of race in Britain and Sudan. Darfur is on everyone's mind, from pedlars in the souk to professors at the University and the film offers a unique opportunity to see and hear Sudanese people articulating how they feel about the Darfur crisis, about race and politics in their country and about the place and role of the international community in their affairs.

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The film follows the rise of punk rock duo 'Selfish Cunt' from their early gigs burning Union Jacks in protest at the war in Iraq, through critical recognition in the mainstream press to recording in New York and finally a concert at London's Brixton Academy. The film questions whether punk rock can be reinvented in the 21st century, whether performance can ever be political and what it really is that lead singer Martin Tomlinson is so angry about. The film paints a picture of London's underground art scene as it collides with the mainstream and questions whether any of these categories really mean anything at all.

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Bata-ville is a bittersweet documentary record of a coach trip to the origins of the Bata shoe empire in Zlín in the Czech Republic. Against the backdrop of regeneration in their local communities, former employees of the now-closed UK shoe factories in East Tilbury (Essex) and Maryport (Cumbria) are led on a journey that begins as a free holiday but soon becomes an opportunity for a collective imagining of what entrepreneur Tomas Bata's maxim 'We are not afraid of the future' means for them in 21st- century Britain. Inspired by the contrast between the idealism of Bata and the more recent industrial decline of East Tilbury and Maryport, host/directors Pope and Guthrie lead this unorthodox coach party on a journey through Bata's legacy.  

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Tragically blinded in a random street mugging, Hugues de Montalembert defied expectation and continued to travel the world, alone. In Black Sun film-maker and composer Gary Tarn constructs a poetic meditation on an extraordinary life without vision.

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Riding high on his third Shafta Lifetime Achievement award, Rod Shuffler proclaims his intent to realise an Oscar-worthy feature film, to secure his place in Hollywood. Working closely with his old-boy network and production company 'Blue Hardest', auditions are held and Rod reluctantly casts newcomer Sandy Shores in the role of Chastity Cincture to play opposite adult film legend David Goliath as Dirk Starbutt. After a less than successful screening of rough-cut dailies to the financial backers, Rod must relinquish creative control. The financiers are pushing for run-of-the-mill hardcore adult entertainment but Rod resists steering in that direction, instead opting for a simulated sex scene. With the financial backers less than impressed with simulated sex, the decision is made to rewrite the script and have Chastity murdered.

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Derek Jarman's family, friends and closest collaborators recall the life and genius of one of Briatin's greatest film-makers - featuring clips, stills and a gorgeous use of Super 8.