Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Trailblazers takes the viewer on a series of intrepid journeys, visiting locations with presenters. The journeys take us to some of the world's most pristine environments, which by their nature, are adventures. All have a specific goal in view eg: to swim with the whale sharks, to visit a lost Peruvian City.

Synopsis

During the time of apartheid Nelson Mandela drove around South Africa in a limousine disguised as a chauffeur while organizing the armed struggle against the apartheid regime. But who was the distinguished looking white man sitting in the back seat? Meet Cecil Williams, an acclaimed gay white theatre director and communist. Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Panorama 40

Synopsis

From 'hot summer sex' in Majorca, to 'moral economics' in Scotland. To celebrate his 70th birthday, the acclaimed Scots-born writer and poet Alastair Reid reflects on life at the prestigious New Yorker Magazine and his unique friendship with Robert Graves, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda.

Synopsis

The richest man ever to appear on 'Coronation Street', Bill Kenwright retraces his steps from humble beginnings to West End glitz and glamour. Join one of Britain's most famous impresarios as he recasts 'Blood Brothers', watches Everton lose again from the directors box at Goodison and goes to Broadway for the Tony Awards.

Synopsis

Brenda and Alice live in a crumbling Victorian house in Peckham with gloomy, atmospheric interiors, exposed wiring and a jumble of furniture. They are in their eighties and have lived together in the house for over 30 years. Brenda lives downstairs and Alice lives upstairs. Like the Odd Couple their characters are chalk and cheese. This ten minute documentary film is a portrait of their lives and their relationship.

Synopsis

Cottage Cheese is a glimpse into the world of cottaging. While procuring sex in public toilets was almost the only choice for gay men in the 1950s, this aspect of gay culture has remained remarkably widespread through the years of liberation and the pink pound. Cottage Cheese features interviews with people who go cottaging, including a married man and someone who has been caught and prosecuted.

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A documentary journey into the life of a Buddhist nun as she goes in search of a female approach to spirituality.

Synopsis

As pure style, dreadlocks cross social boundaries of race, politics, sex and even economics. But for some their dreads are a statement of being, a way of life - and their only connection with their African origins and identity. Is white appropriation of dreadlocks the theft of black culture or a sign that the African spirit will lead us into the next millennium? The future's dread, the future's bright, the future's black.

Synopsis

In a small Tehran courtroom, the stories of three strong-willed women unfold as they use reason, charm, pleas for sympathy, anger, even a disarming wit to win what they each need - a divorce. Divorce Iranian Style is a unique window into the impassioned but very practical business of divorce - and marriage - in three Iranian women's lives. Jamileh, whose son saved her from the hand of her abusive husband; Ziba, an outspoken 16-year-old who proudly stands up to her 38 year-old husband and his family; and Maryam, remarried and desperate to regain custody of her two daughters. Stirring and poignant, this fly-on-the-wall look into the real circumstances of Iranian women's lives shatters the stereotype of women as passive victims in the Muslim world. (Edinburgh Film Festival Review)

Synopsis

Midway between the supernatural shenanigans of Halloween and the official pomp of Remembrance Day, 5th November is Bonfire Night in Britain. People go down to their local park to watch the fireworks and the burning of Guy Fawkes, executed for treason 400 years ago. Fire Festival takes a municipal Bonfire Night in Brixton, South London, as focus for a film about autumn, death and the spectacle of sacrifice.

Synopsis

Omar Sharif, the one Arab above all others who has bridged the cultural divide between the Middle East and the West, presents this independent television programme about the transformation of the United Arab Emirates from rags to riches. Judicious use of archive library material highlights the changes that have occurred in the society of the UAE over the 25 years of the federation. Local people, the Arab in the street, tell their own stories and give the programme a strong human interest.

Synopsis

Behind every face lies a story. Bobby, Sumi and TJ draw people's portraits in Leicester Square. What do they think about while they sit and wait for customers all day in this busy place? Where did they come from? Why are they there? The filmmaker explores themes of migration, memory and loss by drawing her own portrait of their lives.