Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

A son’s search to find out about the mother he never knew, piecing together fragments of the past to make sense of the present.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

"The seeds for the multicultural society we live in now were formed on the dancefloor back in the day" says Don Letts by way of introduction to Nicolas Jack Davies’ documentary about Trojan Records, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The company was founded by Windrush immigrant Lee Gopthal, against a backdrop of rising racial hatred. 'Rudeboy' charts the label’s evolution from 1960s ska and rock-steady to the chart-topping hits that introduced reggae to a global audience, while also recalling the prejudice that the music’s pioneering artists and producers had to overcome in London. Blending original interviews with evocative archive footage and cinematic reconstructions, the film is a timely celebration of British Jamaican working-class youth culture, style and ingenuity.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere
Official Selection IDFA 2018 - International premiere
We Are One: A Global Film Festival 2020 - Selection Curated by BFI London Film Festival

Synopsis

This documentary is shaped around a large painting by Caravaggio (John in the Wilderness, aka John the Baptist). We view the painting through the question of reproduction. The story follows a copy of this painting made in Shenzhen that then goes to a poet in London, who personally struggles with the painting and the image he sees of himself in it. A group of his artist friends attempt to solve his problem. The events in London are paralleled with a slice of life depiction of a Chinese artisan’s family in Shenzhen, south China, reproducing 'John in the Wilderness'.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

Following his Oscar winning 'The White Helmets', Orlando von Einsiedel turns his camera on his own family as they attempt to cope with a devastating loss.
When his brother, newly diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffering from intense depression, took his own life at 22, Orlando and his other two siblings buried the trauma, rarely talking about it. Over a decade later, the remaining family set out on a hiking tour, visiting landscapes Evelyn liked to walk, to reflect on his life and death. The result is an intensely personal and moving take on the emotional impact of suicide within a family and a powerful account of the benefits of creating safe spaces for emotional communication. Shot in a subjective style and against the stunning backdrop of the British countryside, Evelyn is an emotionally raw film that documents the difficult, yet rewarding, attempt to navigate the rocky highlands of collective trauma. (LFF Brochure)
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Documentary Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

In the 1970s a group of workers faced with economic crisis, austerity and threats of technology taking their jobs, responded with an audacious plan, developing alternatives to the military products their company made, including wind turbines and hybrid cars.
""It’s an insult to our skills and intelligence that we can produce a Concorde and not enough powerful heaters for all those old-age pensioners who are dying in the cold." A worker at Lucas Aerospace eloquently sums up the core problem of contemporary Western society – one that caters to the interests of a wealthy few. He’s one of the designers of the ambitious strategy proposed by the workforce, in 1976, to shift their company’s assets to manufacture socially-useful products, which was ultimately undermined by both the government and corporate interests.
Director Steve Sprung brilliantly draws their story into the present, delivering it with great intelligence, clarity and civic commitment. 'The Plan: That Came From The Bottom Up' is a gripping essay, reflecting on the dark consequences of capitalism on society and proposing an encouraging alternative for a troubling present. "(LFF Brochure)
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Documentary Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

An intimate documentary portrait of Kimberly and Kai Shappley directed by Daresha Kyi and produced by Lindsey Dryden and Shaleece Haas: A Christian mother rejects her community’s beliefs as her 7-year-old transgender daughter navigates life at school, where she’s been banned from the girls’ bathroom.
Official Selection SXSW 2019 - Documentary Shorts Competition

Synopsis

In 2014 the 1983 "lost 4th Public Image Ltd. album" called Commercial Zone was financed through an indigogo crowdfunding campaign, recorded, produced and distributed ending a three decade long journey for this post punk opus musical project. The end result was called Commercial Zone 2014.

Synopsis

The English composer, folk song collector and country dancer George Butterworth was killed in 1916 at Pozières, France during the Battle of the Somme. He was 31. In the chaos of war Butterworth was buried where he fell and his remains were never subsequently identified.
This documentary tells the story of George Butterworth's life and music for the first time in a film, from his earliest childhood to his final hours in the violent confusion of the trenches. We follow Butterworth on his forays collecting folk songs to discover how they informed his own music. We learn why Butterworth once described himself as a 'professional morris dancer', and explore what led him to destroy so many of his own compositions before he died. Tracing his journey to its tragic conclusion we go with Butterworth into the trenches of northern France where he eventually led a battalion of Durham miners.
Featuring classic recordings of Butterworth's music by the London Philharmonic under Sir Adrian Boult, plus exclusive live performances by Roderick Williams OBE, folk singer Peta Webb and archive recordings of English folk singers, this is a powerful portrait documentary revealing the emotional heart of George Butterworth's remarkable story.

Synopsis

Interweaving the directors’ lived experiences of present-day Nicosia with their memories as children whose fathers served with the RAF in Cyprus, FATHER-LAND explores notions of home, loss and displacement in the politically charged space of the UN Buffer Zone, the demilitarised strip that has partitioned the island since 1974.

Synopsis

Contrasting artistic visions, misplaced confidence and blatant ignorance collide on the backdrop of an increasingly fragile and divided world.

Synopsis

Female sumo wrestling champion Hiyori confronts obstacles both inside and outside the ring in an attempt to change Japan's national sport forever.
Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2019 - International premiere

Synopsis

In a world of constant flux and chaos, it’s almost a shock to discover some experiences remain unchanged, natural, primitive even.
In the middle of London lies Hampstead Heath, 320 hectares of forest, parkland and wildlife, plus three unique, gender-segregated swimming ponds. People take the waters in them all year round, just as they did in the time of Keats and Constable.
Capturing all the beauty of the English seasons, Patrick McLennan and Samuel Smith filmed the swimmers over 12 months as they shivered, laughed, complained, ruminated, philosophised or simply sought respite from all that life threw at them.
THE PONDS is a heart-warming celebration of eccentricity and sheer bloody-mindedness as these unusual people, united by a shared passion, meet to take on whatever the weather… and life… throws at them.