Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Everything Was Life is an animated documentary looking at the practice of female genital mutilation.

Synopsis

This documentary tells the story of the protracted war in Chechnya from the perspective of Soviet and current Russian dissidents. Comparisons are drawn between the Chechen invasion and that of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and how the Chechen invasion helped to bring the ruthless KGB to absolute power in Russia today.

Synopsis

Silent Voices is based on interviews with over 100 people affected by domestic violence in the UK which have been translated into seven stories in the form of seven interwoven 'Talking Heads'-style monologues. Each character tells their extraordinary story of their relationships and the resultant impact on their lives and those around them.

Synopsis

This documentary presents the architectural concept of 'Cargo Fleet', which juxtaposes materials from the shipbuilding yards of the North East of England into the urban landscape of Islington. The house is revealed through the reflections of a group of people - actors, dancers, musicians, and artists. Their experience of the place unfolds like a tapestry to which the muses themselves then add their voice. The director plays with contrasting forms and styles, weaving music and language together. She reveals the interior and exterior in shifts of mood and ambience, presenting the viewer with an aural and visual feast.

With poetry by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Shakespeare, San Juan de la Cruz and Alexander Pope. Music by Andrew Peggie and Raiomond Mirza.

Synopsis

The Rest is Silence follows the journey of an unclaimed body on its progress from discovery to interment. Its focus is on those who guide the corpse through the necessary procedures. For the person who has become this corpse, it is a poignant progression towards a state of silence.

Synopsis

Lahore with its collection of people becomes a character for this short documentary. The children of Lahore all have their individual lives and dreams like us all, but are burdened with extreme poverty. Waiting for Sunrise deals with the poor and dispossessed - and really the poorest of the poor in Pakistani (urban) society.

Synopsis

Filmed in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, LOOKING FOR ABRAHAM is a four-minute excerpt from a stand up routine captured during happy hour in a European hostel. The comic cultivates a relationship between the audience and himself that unnervingly veers between public performance and private confession. In an environment where this self-effacing routine could be his genuine act, the audience sits uncomfortably as they try to draw the line between fiction and reality.

LOOKING FOR ABRAHAM was selected for New Contemporaries 2005

Synopsis

2Be is an original, dynamic, musical-documentary about human rights.
 
Filmed over a period of five months, 2Be follows students from Abbeydale Grange School in Sheffield, UK - a school where over 51 different languages are spoken - as they develop a series of musical sequences about human rights.
 
The contrast between their revealing personal stories and triumphant performances creates an intimate and inspiring documentary.

Synopsis

A detailed behind ths scenes documentary on how to make an ultra-low budget short film. From rehearsing with professional boxers to the final shoot.
 
Players include professional boxers such as Ricky Hatton W.B.U. lightweight champion, Michael Gomez British super featherweight champion. Shooting at locations such as the Salford Lads Club - where The Smiths shot their front cover.

Synopsis

An observational documentary about Natty, a 19-year-old from Birmingham, who has just been released from prison, where he was sent for violent crime. Will financial and peer pressure lead Natty back into gang crime? Through the course of filming, Moby Longinotto raises difficult questions - should we be observing these lives and if and when should we be getting involved?
 

Synopsis

On 12 August 1969, the disaffected Catholic population of the Bogside district of Derry, Northern Ireland, took to the streets in the wake of a Protestant Apprentice Boys parade in the city. The riots continued for three days and ended when British troops were deployed, a decision that was to shape the future of Northern Ireland for over thirty years. This film takes us ‘behind the barricades’ on both sides to reveal the inside stories surrounding the battle.

Synopsis

Coloring the Media begins with the premise that since the invention of the camera, Native Americans were the very first people to be documented either in photographs or in moving pictures. This film explores this journey as European Americans used the camera as a propaganda tool to depict native peoples in America as less than human. Through the development of stereotypes, and inadequate research, early films depicting native peoples set into motion a language of film that is still being used today. This language came to affect all peoples of colour around the world as they were often portrayed as ignorant or noble savages whose only good was to make the European look superior, civilized and just in their cause - which was more often than not the civilization of the savage.

By using contemporary films such as Smoke Signals; and documentaries such as Healing the Hurts and Spirit combined with interviews with Native people, Coloring the Media takes us on a journey and asks how the past can affect the present and shape the future for Native Americans and also for people of color. As Black and Asian people living in Britain speak about their experiences and the struggles they face today, we see how the language of film set into motion in the early 20th century still plays an important part in the portrayal of people of colour.
Coloring the Media offers a refreshing investigative insight into the past and present. For future generations it offers a solution of change through the voices of people, and asks one important question: 'What is it going to take to make this change happen, now, today?'