Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Funk Queen Betty Davis changed the landscape for female artists in America. She “was the first…” as former husband Miles Davis said. “Madonna before Madonna, Prince before Prince”. An aspiring songwriter from a small steel town, Betty arrived on the '70s scene to break boundaries for women with her daring personality, iconic fashion and outrageous funk music. She befriended Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, wrote songs for the Chambers Brothers and the Commodores, and married Miles – startlingly turning him from jazz to funk on the album she named “Bitches Brew”. She then, despite being banned and boycotted, went on to become the first black woman to perform, write and manage herself.
Betty was a feminist pioneer, inspiring and intimidating in a manner like no woman before. Then suddenly - she just vanished. Betty Mabry Davis is a global icon whose mysterious life story has until now, never been told. Creatively blending documentary, animation and nonfiction techniques, this movie traces the path of Betty’s life, after years of trying, the elusive Betty, forever the free-spirited Black Power Goddess, finally allowed the filmmakers to creatively tell her story based on their conversations.
Official Selection IDFA 2017 - World premiere

Synopsis

In December 2016, an armed man stormed a Washington D.C. pizza parlour in search of a non-existent child sex ring he'd read about online. What can his story teach us about knowledge, belief and the stories we choose to put our faith in?
Official Selection IDFA 2017 - World premiere

Synopsis

An examination of William Pye’s work of the late 1960s and early 70s, culminating with the siting of his sculpture 'Zemran', on London’s Southbank. The archive super 8 of Pye at work, plus examples of his metal sculpture, is augmented with new footage and electronic music created by Ian Helliwell.

Synopsis

Inspired by American touring blues acts like Muddy Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharpe and with the complicity of a 19-year old student from Teheran, in 1962 guitarist Alexis Korner and harmonica player Cyril Davies opened the Ealing Club, London's (and Britain's) first Rhythm and Blues venue.
Soon young music fans from all over the country start attending Alexis and Cyril's shows and sit-in during their set. The list of youngsters who learn the blues at the Ealing Club includes: Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Paul Jones, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Dick Taylor and Eric Burdon (just to name a few).
The Ealing Club, a.k.a. 'The Cradle of British Rock' (Mojo Magazine), a dingy and smokey concrete-floored basement barely mentioned in music history books will only last three years, but its pivotal role in nurturing the golden generation of Classic-rock musicians and kick-starting the British Blues movement remains undeniable.

Synopsis

A chorus of internet comments draws a 'live' animation portrait of Britain, in all its pastoral glory. The disconnect between patriotic, sentimental perceptions and reality builds an incongruous vision.
The film's script draws directly on user comments found below videos and online newspaper articles concerning the British countryside.
Official Selection Sheffield Doc Fest 2018 - New UK Shorts - World premiere
Official Selection DOK Leipzig 2018 - International Programme - International premiere
Official Selection Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2018 - Artist Film Programme

Synopsis

Hedi Jouini is the most popular musical star in Tunisian history, known as the “Frank Sinatra of Tunisia”. His songs continue to inspire revolutionaries and conservatives alike, striking at the heart of the post-colonial social and political upheaval of Tunisia and its continuing search for identity in the wake of the Arab Spring. But why did he keep his fame hidden from his family? What dark secrets did he keep from the nation that worshipped him? ‘The Man Behind the Microphone’ reveals the incredible story behind a man and his music, and o ers fascinating insight into Tunisia’s cultural evolution. The film builds a profound portrait of the godfather of Tunisian music – father to a nation yet not to his family.
Official Selection IDFA 2017 - European premiere

Synopsis

From BBC Earth Films, the studio that brought you 'Earth', comes the long awaited sequel, 'Earth: One Amazing Day', an astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands, from exotic jungles to urban jungles.
Astounding breakthroughs in filmmaking technology bring you up close and personal with a cast of unforgettable characters; a baby zebra desperate to cross a swollen river, a penguin who heroically undertakes a death-defying daily commute to feed his family, a family of sperm whales who like to snooze vertically and a sloth on the hunt for love.
Told with humour, intimacy, emotion and a jaw-dropping sense of cinematic splendor, 'Earth: One Amazing Day' is the enchanting big screen family friendly adventure that spectacularly highlights how every day is filled with more unseen dramas and wonders than you can possibly imagine— until now!

Synopsis

When we started this journey several years ago, there was no expectation at all that Shirley would ever sing again. What initially attracted us to making the movie was Shirley’s deep commitment to English folk tradition, and her little-known involvement in arguably the most important field-recording trip of all time; back in 1959 with her then-lover, the iconic ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. The film was going to be about the past, and about the 30 years she had spent living without the thing she loved most. It’s been an absolute privilege to be with Shirley on this long journey back to her singing again, and along the way, the film has evolved into something we never expected.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere

Synopsis

One night Majella O'Donnell took her teenage son Philly to be shot in both legs. Majella, Philly and his shooters all live within an extraordinary community in Derry, Northern Ireland. The “Troubles” officially ended in 1998 but they are still at war. They do not accept the government or police.
All this happens within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.
How do you bring your son to be shot? What happens afterwards? How does family life continue? How does a community respond? When do wars really end? For five years Sinéad O’Shea has filmed this shocking but darkly humorous portrait of a post conflict society.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - World premiere

Synopsis

Experimental artist and auteur Andrew Kotting creates a groundbreaking crossover between narrative film and contemporary art piece, based on the award-winning play by Hattie Naylor. The film is inspired by the true story of Ivan Mishukov, who walked out of his Moscow apartment at the age of four and spent two years living on the city streets where he was adopted by a pack of wild dogs. In the recession-ravaged city, Ivan’s human world was dominated by deprivation and violence; his only hope was to turn to feral dogs for company, protection and warmth. Kotting’s spellbinding and utterly original story of survival conjures the streets of Moscow in the 1990s through the eyes of a child, drawing on a range of innovative modes and techniques to produce a montage essay on the state of the world.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere

Synopsis

From the earliest days of movie-making to the present day, through rare and unseen footage, we see the changing relationship the British have with their land. From images of local celebrations and festivals to agricultural practices through the seasons, village life and lost crafts.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - World premiere

Synopsis

Across the water on the island, four individuals experience the end of life. Showing rarely seen and intensely private events, the film follows the progression of illness for each character and, for one, the last days and hours of life, the moment of death, and after death care. A lyrical, slow cinema description of the temporality and phenomena of dying, this film sensitively witnesses the transition away from personhood.
This is a palliative island, the Isle of Wight, an enigmatic landscape where all around rituals persist. Parallel to bedside vigils and the rhythm of breathing, we see rescue owls on the hospice ward, the rugged coastline, and the constant ferry arrivals. A choir rehearses Brahm’s 'German Requiem'. In the hospital pathology lab, microscopic close-ups of cancer show the interior of the bodies, our biology, our creatureliness. Death is presented as natural and everyday but also unspeakable and strange.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere