Projects in categories: Documentary

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A documentary about hyper-creative grassroots filmmaker, Neil Nevada.

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In this unfiltered portrait comprised of prose and pirouettes, Marie-Astrid Mence narrates her uncomfortable journey from adolescent to ballerina and her struggles in an industry that fails to see past her skin colour.

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A Black queer elder and a young adult meet for the first time, as they prepare to embark on a journey around their city by the sea. SPACE/ WALK is a joyfully honest exploration of surviving and thriving within an atmosphere that was never designed to support their existence.

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A mixed media piece integrating the stylization of documentary and spoken word. Inspired by Shenny de Los Angeles’ one-woman show “What Happens to Brown Girls Who Never Learn How to Love Themselves Brown?”, this piece invites you to witness the meaning of beauty through three generations of Dominican women. The grandmother, the mother, and the daughter. In learning about the ritual to beauty that was passed down to each woman, there is a pain buried deep in the denial of their blackness. It is only through the secret voice in the water, that the daughter is able to release herself from a pain she’s been holding onto since she was born. By forgiving herself and the women before her, will she finally see just how beautiful she is when she’s free? Official Selection BlackStar Film Festival 2022

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TOPOWA! is an inspirational journey of 12 young teacher musicians, many of whom grew up as street children in some of the toughest slums in Uganda. We follow them from their home in Kampala to some of the biggest music stages in the world where they perform with Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and virtuoso trumpeter Alison Balsom OBE. It's a story of resilience and hope, carried along by a joyous celebration of music and life. At the heart of this film: the power of music to change lives and a charity called Brass for Africa. From the dusty dirt roads of Katwe slum to the paved streets of London and the fields of Cheltenham Festival. We follow Julius, Sumayya, Tadeo, Gilbert and the Brass For Africa band as they are welcomed to the UK for an unforgettable experience that will transform their lives forever and empower the next generation of musicians to follow their dreams - 'Topowa! Never give up!’

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A young man's epic journey across Africa in search of a colonial killer. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2020

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A psycho-acoustic exploration of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire. "Radio was the most important thing in my life and music, music, music!" A true pioneer in audio exploration and psycho-acoustics, Delia Derbyshire conceived one of the most familiar compositions in science fiction, the Doctor Who theme, while working in a BBC basement. Her soundscapes felt like they connected to another realm. Kicking off with the discovery of 267 tapes in an attic, along with a treasure trove of journals hidden in her childhood bedroom, this film tunes in to Derbyshire’s frequency; that of a life-long non-conformist, whose peals of laughter in an archive interview tickle with delight and eccentricity. Featuring a rich archive, interviews, fictional embodiment and Cosey Fanni Tutti’s psycho-sonic channelling, director Caroline Catz traces acoustic pathways on her archeological dig into Derbyshire’s resonant life. (LFF brochure copy) Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2020 - World premiere

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Confused by graffiti scribbled in a British backstreet demanding "Go Home Polish", a photographer embarks on a thousand mile walk back to his birthplace in search of home.

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In #FollowMe we meet women in or from Iraq, who are using social media to challenge norms and traditions in their country. They risk their lives to promote an empowering image of Arabic women, educating and inspiring their followers. As a consequence of their actions, some of these women are forced to flee Iraq to stay alive. During the making of this documentary, a revolution breaks out in Iraq; the stakes are raised and we embark on a perilous journey with the women as social media becomes their weapon, not only against a deeply repressive and male-dominated society but also against their government. The film experiments with building up an online world discovering their personal stories through Skype conversations and social media platforms. #FollowMe gives a different insight into a world of young Iraqi women that is not widely presented. Additionally, it shows the Iraqi Revolution from a different perspective than that presented by the news.

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Reminiscing an 1980s childhood spent pirating Bollywood VHSs in Wolverhampton, Dawinder Bansal’s plucky narration speaks lovingly of her Asian community and the films that united them. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2020 - World premiere

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This is a story about a unique crew of Dorset bus drivers whose amateur dramatics group decide to ditch doing another pantomime and try something different. Having never done anything like it before, they spent a year creating a serious adaptation of the sci-fi, horror film, 'Alien'; finding ingenious solutions to pay homemade, homage to the original film. The show is a crushing flop but fate gives them a second chance to find their audience. Whilst still adjusting to the idea that their serious show is actually a comedy, the group find out they’re suddenly being whisked from their village hall to a London West End theatre to perform this accidental masterpiece for one night only. With wobbly sets, awkward acting and special effects requiring 'more luck than judgement’, will their West End debut be alright on the night? This bus driving crew are our space heroes. Their bus station is our space station. Dorset is outer-space and where is the Alien? It’s behind you! Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2021 - Documentary Spotlight - International premiere

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BLACK BAUHINIA () is the first feature-length documentary film on Hong Kong localism and the independence movement, which fundamentally transformed Hong Kong’s domestic and international relations. The debut film by director and co-producer Dr Malte Kaeding offers a balanced and critical assessment of a subject so complex and sensitive that local filmmakers have shied away from it. Based on Malte’s decade-long research on localism, he follows two young localist leaders’ emotional journey from electoral successes into prison and exile. The collaborative style of filmmaking allows for intimate reflections on the costs of resistance, self-sacrifices, and the meaning of home. Throughout the film’s three-year production period, localism inspired the 2019 Hong Kong protests, while the ensuing government crackdown rendered the documentary into an outlawed element of resistance. BLACK BAUHINIA captures the ideas of a young generation that dared to challenge an authoritarian China.