Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Mark Cousins' upcoming film project will be 16 hours when completed (in Spring 2019). The first four hours episodes are narrated by Tilda Swinton. The complete film will be made up of forty “chapters” to be narrated by Tilda Swinton and other key women in cinema. Following in the footsteps of Mark Cousins’ 'The Story of Film: An Odyssey', giving a guided tour of the art and craft of the movies. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world’s greatest directors – all of them women. “Many films about cinema feature mostly male directors – 'Women Directing Film' challenges that. It tries to change the canon. It’s not about the lives of these great directors, it’s about their work. It is a film school, where all the teachers are female. The intention of this film is to, as Diaghilev and Cocteau said, “astonish us.” To campaign for equality in cinema is compellingly right and part of that campaign must be to celebrate the great women directors from around the world and from every decade, to insert them into the canon where they rightly belong and from which they have been excluded by many film historians, mostly male.” (Mark Cousins) “Cinema: the great empathy machine. The ultimate invitation to walk in other people’s shoes, to look through their eyes, follow their thoughts, make their connections. This is the radical project of cinema itself. It transforms - it liberates us as we watch. It makes us fit for evolution.” (Tilda Swinton) Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2018 - TIFF Docs

Synopsis

A feature documentary about Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic and Olympic athlete who shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013, and whose culpable homicide sentence was later overturned and replaced with a murder conviction by the South African Court of Appeal in December 2015. The film explores the tragedy of Steenkamp’s death; alongside a look at South Africa’s turbulent society. Over twenty years after Nelson’s Mandela’s seeming triumph over adversity, the country, born out of the violence of apartheid, has so far been unable to overcome the profound damage inflicted upon it – mired in racial tensions, a culture of gun crime, corruption and violence – and failing institutions seemingly unable to resuscitate the dreams of a nation.

Synopsis

The Lebanese Civil War saw 170,000 dead, 1 million displaced and 17,000 people still missing. During the conflict thousands of teenagers picked up arms to fight. In 1990, the Taif agreement brought the war to a close, integrating warring parties into a power sharing government. With an amnesty pardoning all crimes against civilians and no plans to reintegrate militiamen back into society, many fighters became anonymous, silent and were left to disappear into a society ravaged by internal strife. Moving through the testimonies of Assad, a right wing Christian intelligence officer; Ahed, a Palestinian refugee fighter and Nassim, a Communist commander, About a War unpicks the personal motivations, trauma and regret of militiamen who picked up arms during the civil war. With no official account of the conflict, their testimonies build a multi-perspective picture of a crucial turning point in Lebanese history that radically transformed the Middle East. Nowadays, ex-fighters Ahed, Assad and Nassim work towards breaking cycles of violence among young people in Lebanon. While their own personal confessions delve deeper into issues of violence and politics in the Middle East, they also stand as a cautionary tale for a country that continues to be marred by inequality and sectarian divide.

Synopsis

AQUARELA takes audiences on a deeply cinematic journey through the transformative beauty and raw power of water. Filmed at a rare 96 frames-per-second, the film is a visceral wake-up call that humans are no match for the sheer force and capricious will of Earth’s most precious element. From the precarious frozen waters of Russia’s Lake Baikal to Miami in the throes of Hurricane Irma to Venezuela’s mighty Angels Falls, water is a AQUARELA's main character, with director Victor Kossakovsky capturing her many personalities in startling visual detail. Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2018 - Out of Competition - World premiere

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 documentary following shoes donated from children in the suburbs of Scotland to young Syrian refugees in the settlements in Lebanon. At its heart this a children’s story. It is as much about the children who donate as those who receive the shoes.

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