Projects in categories: Documentary

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

Synopsis

Walking the liminal space between perception and memory the film charts the emotional recovery of a family as they come to terms with their father's suicide that left them in financial ruin seven years ago. As they piece together fragments of a broken past, questions of memory, identity and love must be faced before the family can embrace the future. Combining family home video archive with intimate footage captured in the West Midlands over two years, director Lucy Cohen examines how tragedy struggles towards hope. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Documentary Competition - World premiere BAFTA Nomination 2018 - Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Synopsis

A poetic study of the life and work of artist Margaret Benyon, pioneer in the artistic use of holography. Giving voice to the unsung legacy of a pioneering woman artist, 'A Blemished Code' is an impassioned meditation on the representation of female artists, the balancing of creative and domestic life, and the inherent tensions of being a woman working with new technology. The inner life of the subject is represented throughout by a brilliant musical score featuring sung script and compositions by Stevie Jones, Mai Mai, and Leigh Ferguson. (LFF brochure) Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Experimenta Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

11 July 2013, 3AM. After months of training, under the cover of darkness six women begin their illegal ascent of the tallest building in Europe... What spurred them on and what kept them going? Were they prepared to fail, or worse, to fall? Behind the climbers was a team of tacticians, climbing experts, supporters (and lawyers) who planned and rehearsed with them - but ultimately had to let them climb alone. A story of courage, endurance and the power of teamwork. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Debate Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

The Slits who formed in London in 1976 were the world's first all girl punk band. Contemporaries of bands such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols, they were the pioneering godmothers of the musical movement know as "Punky Reggae". This documentary tells the story of the band and the lives of the women involved, from the band's inception in 1976 to the bands end in 2010 at the death of lead vocalist Ari Up. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - World premiere Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018

Synopsis

A man seeks happiness and belonging in the company of the largest crowds he can find. Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018 - International premiere

Synopsis

Victoria Sin unapologetically takes up space when they are in drag, giving spotlight and agency to the daily labours of femininity that are invisible and policed. Commissioned by NOWNESS, this film demonstrates the transformative power of Victoria's drag, positioning Victoria where they belong - in cinematic grandeur, with a gaze that they own. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Create Strand - Short Film Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

Tracing the movements of the New Silk Road, this essay-documentary follows distribution networks which are expanding across vast regions between China and Europe. Mapped through footage, interviews, field recordings and found WeChat videos; government efforts to speed up the movement of trade collide with more-than-human choreographies of sand, people and goods. 'Paralogisticians' hack infrastructural space through transnational guanxi and long distance friendships. Desert sands made restless by Westerly winds disrupt roads, railways and sometimes engulf whole cities. Through a disorientation of the senses – bodies and landscapes become mobile. Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

An enduring love story of one man's time in London during the early 1960s. Coming of age as a young homosexual in a society where male gay sex was illegal and prejudice ran deep, Bryan Robert Bale discovered the illicit ways gay men still sought to love freely. BAFTA Film Awards 2019 - Nominated, Best British Short Film

Synopsis

Mediation through image and sound exploring the means and the end. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Experimenta Strand - World premiere