Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Against a backdrop of cherished family photos and Carl’s striking artwork, the sisters look back on their childhood and share their dreams for the future. KIN charts the siblings’ transition into adulthood alongside the evolution of the digital photographic age and Carl’s art practice. Individual and collective memories play a central part in the film and become a vehicle through which topics such as conflict, separation and connection are subtly woven. Reflecting the depth of relationships and holistic support for artists and families within the Hastings-based art collective Project Art Works, KIN offers a perspective on caring for a sibling with complex support needs, rarely represented in the media. Informed by co-director Esther Springett’s own experience growing up and supporting her sister and family, the film lifts the lid on a lesser-heard sibling voice. Tim Corrigan (co-director) brings together beautifully crafted and touching scenes from Carl’s artistic life over the years, radiating from the Project Art Works studios. Official selection London Short Film Festival 2024 - UK premiere

Synopsis

STOLEN is the story of women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ in an Ireland that heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Over 80,000 unmarried mothers were incarcerated in institutions run by nuns from 1922 to 1998. Mothers and babies were cruelly separated shortly after birth with thousands of babies taken for adoption and their birth records rendered untraceable. 9,000 infants died from 1922 to 1998, a rate sometimes five times the national average. Others were fostered out as cheap farm labour from the age of six. It was a history that was largely ignored until the discovery that 796 babies had died between 1925 and 1961 in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home alone. Evidence of tiny remains found in an underground sewage plant on the site of the former home caused outrage and alarm escalated over what happened in other institutions such as Bessborough in Cork and Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary where more children died without burial records. The Irish government announced an investigation into Mother and Baby homes. Survivors relate their experiences of cruelty and loss and of happier outcomes in some cases, interwoven with historical analysis and artists’ responses to what happened. Official Selection London Irish Film Festival 2023 - World premiere

Synopsis

A Parisian grandfather searches for the granddaughter he has never seen, against a background of family trauma, and seeking to understand how his son became a notorious Islamic State terrorist. Official selection DocEdge Film Festival 2023 - World premiere

Synopsis

A champion and an expert safety diver seemed destined for one another despite the different paths they took to meet at pinnacle of the freediving world. The thrilling rewards and inescapable risks of chasing dreams through the depths of the ocean. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2023 - Premieres - World premiere Official Selection Hot Docs 2023 - Special Presentation Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2023

Synopsis

SILVER SERVERS tells the story of four ’Super Senior’ tennis players in their 80s and 90s - one of them the oldest living player in the world - as they prepare for the International Tennis Federation Senior World Championships; on their remarkable journey, they show us what drives them to keep on playing and competing, helping us realise what is possible in our own lives, whatever our age... and the joy in keeping on going. Tennis is the sport, but the game is life.

Synopsis

For the Welsh national Cheer squad, nothing means more than representing their country at the highest level. They’re willing to give it everything, but how will they fare in a final showdown for gold against cheerleading superstars Team USA? This empowering film follows the disabled and non-disabled athletes of Team Wales Adaptive Abilities on and off the mat as they prepare for the World Cheerleading Championships in Florida. After years of hard training, their chance to be named the best in the world comes down to a two-minute, 15-second routine for the judges. Grierson Awards 2023 - Nomination - Best Sports Documentary

Synopsis

Tilak, a gentle and reserved gay Nepali man in a rural setting is forced to marry a girl (Urmila, a school-teacher) by his family. How do the couple navigate social pressures (including not being able to produce a child) as well as take care of their needs.

Synopsis

In Accra, Ghana - a group of young men have formed a brotherhood rooted in a unique combination of acrobatics, dance and fire breathing. In lack of access to any formal training, they have developed their skills through internet tutorials and relentless practice sessions starting at 5am every morning. This troupe of highly-skilled performers have come to represent strength and positivity to their community, especially the youngsters they train and support with their earnings. They call themselves The Dragon Boys. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2023 - World premiere

Synopsis

Exploring the relationship between the director, an amputee, and her prosthetist during the making of a prosthetic leg. The filmmaker seeks to demystify an unfamiliar space and ask what it means to create an extension to someone else’s body, questioning prejudice widely seen within our society's consideration of body image.

Synopsis

A film about culture, colonialism and the power of photographs told by a community in West Africa. In 1911, the anthropologist Northcote Thomas made a study of the Igbo-speaking people of Nigeria. Among thousands of photographs he made are many portraits of men whose faces are covered with scarification marks known as ichi. These images of deeply-scarred faces appear to confirm colonial-era imaginaries of African customs. Returning the 110-year-old photographs to the communities whose heritage they depict, however, occasions a cultural revival as the traditional custodians of ichi tell their story and re-enact their lost art. Rather than marks of tribalism, ichi signified nobility, and protected people from being enslaved. Ichi cutting was brought to an end in the 1930s by missionaries who regarded it as barbaric. In the film, the few surviving men who bear the scarification marks recall their harrowing childhood experiences having their faces cut and undergoing this transformative rite-of-passage. Spirited despite their advanced years, they talk with a mixture of pride and regret at the loss of traditional Igbo culture. Made collaboratively with the Umudioka community of Neni, the film is filled with song, dance and masquerade, and offers a profound reflection on continuity and change.

Synopsis

Inhabiting a bizarrely unusual body (the body she loves), and navigating daily discrimination, Ella searches the world for another like her – "Is There Anybody Out There?" Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2023 - World Cinema Documentary Competition - World premiere Official Selection Hot Docs 2023 - Special Presentation Official Selection Krakow Film Festival 2023 - International Documentary Competition Official Selection Sheffield Doc/Fest 2023

Synopsis

The painter, now a filmmaker, talks through the making of a painting, and the making of a video from it years later. The oil on board surface is no longer still but animated with motion paths and filters.