Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Fifty years after THE WICKER MAN, director Robin Hardy’s lost papers come to his filmmaker son Justin. Enlisting his brother Dominic, they journey to discover the complex nature of independent filmmaking and fatherhood. Justin’s view of the film is tainted because it robbed him of his father, home and mother; Dominic is more distanced, his experience relating to its subsequent cult status. But what was Robin’s creative contribution to the iconic shocker? Fans may not always like what the brothers find but will come closer to understanding the evolution of a fantasy classic and the maverick director behind it. Official Selection FrightFest 2024 - Word premiere

Synopsis

The story of Scottish pop music from the 1960s onwards told by the visionary women who got on stage and made music together. We discover the little-known role that women played in Scotland's emerging music scenes through interviewing those who tried to break the glass ceiling, from the vocal harmony groups of the sixties to DIY indie-fanzine-inspired groups of the 90s, as well as activists, artists, and experts. Weaving together personal anecdotes with a scrapbook audio-visual aesthetic, as the film takes us through each decade, a colourful mixtape is formed spanning multiple musical genres. Narrated by award-winning musician Carla J. Easton, a former member of the girl band Teen Canteen, the film takes a critical look at the barriers women have faced making music in the past, and still face today. It asks how we can inspire young women to make music, if those who do so are continuously erased from our cultural history. Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024 - World premiere

Synopsis

An animated documentary, telling the story of Katie who found empowerment, friendship, and healing by plunging into into frigid waters of the North Sea. Addressing themes of isolation and connection, mental health, wellbeing, and climate change, Katie's story relates the physical and mental benefits of cold-water swimming. Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024 - World premiere

Synopsis

Following an almost fatal injury, rugby player Ed Jackson’s recovery is charted through a new-found love for mountaineering. This courageous documentary is starkly honest and unsentimental in its examination of a life forever changed. Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024 - World premiere

Synopsis

A man's solitary life in a Scottish highland forest is portrayed through the changing seasons, with occasional encounters disrupting his otherwise isolated existence. The director revisits forest-dwelling hermit Jake Williams, the subject of his earlier film TWO YEARS AT SEA (2011). Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024 Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025

Synopsis

Intimate and fragmented moments unfold in a community of zoos and animal rescue centres across Argentina. As histories of these institutions are uncovered, dedicated workers commit both day and night to caring for the remaining enclosed animals, fostering a mutual bond that transcends imagined boundaries between human and animal. Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024 - North American premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024 - Documentary Competition Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025 Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025

Synopsis

Two guys on a journey to keep the cameras rolling for 24 hours in East London with no plans of what, or who, they will capture. What ensues is a film that is immediately caught in the tension of contradictions, the cities dizzying highs and bottomless lows immediately visible under the same microscope slide. Displaying London’s unique brand of unbridled chaos, alongside the soul-crushing melancholy of the city, in a haunting, deeply affecting, and hilarious way.

Synopsis

In a derelict mansion on the outskirts of London, we witness eight actors - four Macbeths and four Lady Macbeths - work in pairs to investigate Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy. Sophie Fiennes' richly detailed and immersive film offers privileged access to the vital experience of making theatre with pioneering practitioners Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod of the ground breaking international theatre company Cheek By Jowl. Cheek by Jowl is the international theatre company of Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod. Its landmark productions, performed in more than 50 countries in the 44 years since the company was founded, have influenced the creation of theatre and the experience of audiences the world over. Actors including Adrian Lester, Tom Hiddleston, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, David Morrissey, Gwendoline Christie and Matthew MacFadyen all developed their talent working with Cheek by Jowl in their early careers. "The setting of Twyford Abbey is dramatic, but Shakespeare’s text is also haunted by the ghosts of actors and audiences who have passed through it, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future." Sophie Fiennes Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2024 - International premiere

Synopsis

A telephone conversation between an expatriate brother and sister tackles the bitterness involved in being uprooted from the olive trees that stood as witness to their family's inherited memories in a country that has never known peace. Official Selection Beirut Shorts International Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Three Black queer femmes in their mid-thirties take a road trip across the American Midwest in search of their friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Official Selection BlackStar Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection Berlin Film Festival 2025 - International premiere Official Selection BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

A nature reserve on the English Channel is a place of wonder and solace, shaped and haunted by violence. HEADLAND is an intimate look at life on a pebble beach reclaimed from the ocean, interweaving the tradition of sea rescues with recent Channel crossings, as witnessed by the last of the Dungeness fishermen.

Synopsis

Every year, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy, an arboreal wedding is held to celebrate spring renewal. Here human and nature perform an ambiguous dance in order to reach heaven