Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Featuring a district in Yerevan, Armenia, where the legacy of the Soviet Union still occupies the minds and daily lives of the residents living in these huge unfinished monolithic structures, which were originally planned and positioned to spell out the letters CCCP.
The film highlights the community's everyday issues and concerns, linking the past and present with all its changes and difficulties of the people once living in a superpower that has now become a decaying empire.
Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2019 - International Competition

Synopsis

Revealing how a unique and extraordinary window of opportunity was opened to the small and powerless Zionist movement: examining the complex and surprising, circumstances and characters, that made the world’s most powerful empire, pen the Balfour Declaration in 1917, promising a homeland for the Jews of the world in Palestine, a land that was not Britain’s to give!
Following the twists and turns that led Britain to retreat from its promises, and from its legal obligations in the Mandate to create a Jewish homeland and adopting an anti-Zionist policy with the most deadly consequences possible. And, showing how the Zionists adapted to this new reality, and how the end of the century’s Second World War left stark choices for the British as well as the Zionists. The film follows that often violent path from war’s end, to the British departure in 1948 and the Declaration of an Independent Jewish state.
Combining rare archive material, with testimonies of people who lived during the Mandate period, some of which has never been seen or heard before, and interviews with eminent historians and politicians.

Synopsis

Chris Eden-Green has been producing films about steam trains since 2012, and has a strong following of loyal rail fans from all over the world eagerly awaiting his latest DVDs and YouTube programmess. Fans liken his programmes to 'Top Gear' for steam trains. ('Top Gear' is a popular British TV show about cars).
He knows he'll never be a millionaire from doing this but he's passionate about steam trains and he doesn't care much what you think about that.
His fans have supported him via crowdfunding to take a trip to Germany to make a film about German steam trains. Together with his friends Sam and Adam they drive from Kent in England, to the Netherlands then on to Germany where they are challenged by the weather and unfamiliar timetables at Brocken Mountain, in the beautiful Harz National Park in Saxony, Germany. Very picturesque, if only the damned weather would behave itself!
Chris has Aspergers but it doesn't define him. Making films about trains is his way of escaping from the often frustrating world that surrounds us all. Things may be shitty sometimes but if you focus on what is happening right now, you'll be alright.

Synopsis

When the youngest member of a reputable all-star cheerleading team struggles to ‘hit’ her stunt during her coach’s rigorous training sessions, the rest of the team suffers.

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of Chelyabinsk, one of Russia's most industrially brutal and polluted cities, 'Harmony' explores social and gender dynamics of Russian youth through the paradigms and preconceptions of the country’s most prominent sports: ice hockey and rhythmic gymnastics.
The two respectively embody Russia’s nationalistic interpretation of hyper-masculine and feminine ideals and are examined through straddling the boundaries of documentary verite and visual art. Here, sport gathers broader meaning —reflecting the traits and obsessions of society as a whole.
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

A mixed-race child, Marvin Rees grew up in Bristol's ghettos in the UK with prostitution, violence and poverty on a daily basis. Ever since, Marvin had the desire to go against the injustices he experienced and decides to run for mayor.
As a complete amateur, he steps into the world of politics. Despite his charisma and intellect, his biggest battle is believing anyone will take this black guy from the ghetto serious.
In a tight race, he must accept his loss in front of rolling cameras. Though feeling personally ashamed, losing has even a greater significance as the city carries a history of exclusion and racism.
Bristol was part of the slave trade, was struck by a civil rights movement in the 1960's inspired by Martin Luther King and had the black youth revolting in the 1980's, which caused a nationwide riot. Today it is the increasing fear of muslims that shatters the city.
Despite his doubts, Marvin decides to run again. More professional, stronger and with the vital support of the muslim community. Will he manage to break the circle of history and become the first mayor of African decent of a city in Europe?

Synopsis

THE SEPARATION SYSTEM (2017/18) is a collaborative commission facilitated by FACT’s Veterans in Practice programme, produced by veterans through workshops at HMP Liverpool and HMP Altcourse with artist Katie Davies. Taking the form of both a single channel cinematic film and a two-screen immersive installation, the piece explores the distinct, yet interconnected, spaces of the military, custody and ‘civilian’ life. Exploring these spaces and the experiences within them through the notion of work, an everyday activity that unites these worlds and is familiar to us all, the film communicates what we, as a civilian audience, do not understand about the unique set of relations, actions and responsibilities held by the individuals within these spaces.

Synopsis

A reflection on the nature of time and memory based on the true story of the director’s family escaping the build up to what became known as "The Slansky Trials": the first explicitly anti-Semitic show trial in Eastern Europe.

Synopsis

An architect and filmmaker from Europe visit a town in the highlands of Liberia, once a thriving mining community, now decaying and desolate. These researchers discover through its buildings a story of the promise of prosperity and forgotten injustices. A film about architecture, and the spiritual cost of industrial mining.
Official Selection Cinéma du réel 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

Immerse yourself in the super-heavy Sheffield doom scene, with concert footage and interviews with Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) and members of Conan, Crowbar and Primitive Man. Heavy metal is a lifestyle. Fans and musicians live for doom and channel their anger into crushing, yet positive live shows.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018

Synopsis

In this film about the resistance to progress at the expense of history, Maeve Brennan's wonderfully poignant documentary intertwines three stories of men in contemporary Lebanon.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018

Synopsis

An Irish filmmaker grapples with the legacy of his estranged father, the late documentarian Arthur MacCaig, through MacCaig's decades- spanning archive of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Drawing on over 30 years of unique and never-seen-before imagery, The Image You Missed is a documentary essay film that weaves together a history of the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ with the story of a son's search for his father. In the process, the film creates a candid encounter between two filmmakers born into different political moments, revealing their contrasting experiences of Irish nationalism, the role of images in social struggle, and the competing claims of personal and political responsibility.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - World premiere