Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

The story about identity. A photograph of the filmmaker's husband from the time of his First Holy Communion at the end of 1950s in Poland became "the pretext", the beginning or the theme.

Synopsis

Following artist Bill Drummond over two years of his 12-year World Tour: At work in Kolkata, India, and in Lexington, North Carolina, doing his self-imposed 'work' – building beds, baking cakes, making soup, shining shoes – to the variously amused, perplexed or annoyed reactions of those around him.

Synopsis

An odyssey across a common land in the south of England told through the hands of the members of the Natural History Society who currently occupy it.

Synopsis

What does it take to change a child’s life? 'H is for Harry' is a coming of age story about Harry, a charismatic 11-year old boy, who arrives at secondary school in suburban London unable to read or write. With the help of Sophie, his extremely dedicated teacher, can he overcome the illiteracy ingrained across generations of his family?
Against the backdrop of a Britain riven with debates around class, identity and social mobility, the film follows Harry over two years as he fights not only to improve academically but also to believe in a different future for himself.

Synopsis

The story of sixteen men put on trial for sadomasochism in the dying days of Thatcher's Britain was told by the police, the prosecution and the tabloid press - but not by those in the dock.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Official Short Film Competition - World premiere - Winner, Best Short Film
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019 - Voices - International premiere

Synopsis

A feature documentary exposing the root causes of youth and gun violence within a Californian African-American community, and the scars left in its wake.
Dante a teenager takes us on this brutally honest journey through Fruitvale, Oakland, where he explores aspects of his life; questioning the poverty, deprivation and abundance of guns within his community.
Dante interviews local police officers, criminologists and local activists to give us the insight into the lives of many young black men living in contemporary American inner cities.
Welsh Filmmaker Alex Melhuish gained valuable access to this Oakland community whilst he was living there as a student.

Synopsis

Following animator JoAnne Salmon's story, from being 1 in 50,000 babies born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, to currently living her dreams as an animator.
Winner, MOFILM Many Voices - Year of the Women Award 2018
Official Selection Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2019 - Perspectives Short Film Competition

Synopsis

Exploring the status and potential of unrealised and fragmented histories from the legacy of Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz (1941 – 2011) to animist cinematic traditions in Taiwan. The project takes as its starting point an unfinished film made by Raúl Ruiz in Taiwan in 1995. Based in Paris since the late 1970s Ruiz came to Taiwan to film THE COMEDY OF SHADOWS / LA COMEDIE DES OMBRES with a script inspired by the Taoist philosophy of Chuang Tzu’s' Wandering on the Way' and Luigi Pirandello’s 'Six Characters in Search of an Author'. The project was filmed at Chin Pao San cemetery with a Taiwanese cast and crew but never finished.
The incompleteness of Ruiz’s film is the starting point for DOUBLE GHOSTS, that considers the echoes of this unrealized project to explore cinematic and political phantoms. Drawing on research and diverse collaborations with filmmakers Valeria Sarmiento and Niles Atallah as well as Chilote fishermen, the film is staged as a series of actions seeking to reactivate this lost film. Filmed on 35mm film in Chile and Taiwan, DOUBLE GHOSTS follows traces across the Pacific from Ruiz’s birthplace in Puerto Montt to the mountain cemetery in Taiwan.
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2019
Official Selection New York Film Festival 2019 - Projections

Synopsis

Can magic mushrooms cure depression?
Over 4 years, filmmaker Monty Wates was given exclusive access to the first ever medical trial to give psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms) to a group of volunteers suffering from clinical depression.
His remarkable film follows three of the volunteers and their families, and the ambitious staff running the trial, who are hoping this controversial treatment will have the power to transform millions of lives.
With deeply moving footage of the “trips” the patients go on, this intimate film is an absorbing portrait of the human cost of depression, and the inspirational people contributing to groundbreaking psychedelic research.

Synopsis

A feature film portrait of two powerful figures: Lord Stevenson and Professor Malcolm Carruthers. Powerful for what they represent and their life story and powerful for some of the most controversial and contemporary issues: mental health, cosmetic surgery and the use of testosterone.

Synopsis

Zahida Kazmi is the first female taxidriver in Pakistan and a local legend. Independent, feisty and street-wise, she is a master hustler. Twice a widower and 56 years old, she is fighting to make a living on the dusty roads of Rawalpindi. Also a mother to 7 year old Zara, she is continually juggles her home life with behind the wheel. Reciting beautiful poetry in nostalgic moments off the road, Zahida reflects on her fate. Zahida is a fascinating insight into the trials faced by a determined woman carving her own path within a patriarchal society.

Synopsis

Shergar was once the most valuable stallion in the world. His kidnapping in 1983 by the IRA still grips public’s imagination. What really happened with the prizewinning Irish racehorse? BAFTA-winning director Alison Millar goes in search of new evidence to try to solve the mystery.