Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

A documentary chronicle of a rural landscape in transition, bearing witness to the struggles of three cattle farms to survive against the odds.
For more than a year, starting in Spring 2015, film maker Mick Catmull followed farmers at work on 3 west Cornwall holdings, all less than 200 acres in size, filming every aspect of cattle rearing and recording often poignant conversations.
In the last 10 years, more than a third of Britain’s small farms have vanished, unable to survive in a commercial world dominated by retail giants and modern agribusiness. The small farm has been a Cornish constant for countless generations. But for how much longer? Every year more small farms are broken up and sold off to large landowners, speculators and even city bankers wanting to try their luck at a bit of hobby farming.

Synopsis

A film created from the treasure trove of BFI archive. The story traverses a century of gay experiences, encompassing persecution and prosecution, injustice, love and desire, identity, secrets, forbidden encounters, sexual liberation and pride. The soundtrack weaves the lyrics and music of John Grant and Hercules & Love Affair with the images and guides us intimately into the relationships, desires, fears and expressions of gay men and women in the 20th century- a century of incredible change.
Starting with the first gay relationship on film released in 1919, 'Different From the Others', this documentary offers a wealth of unknown newsreel and amateur film from the 20s and 30s, the sub textual references in 40s cinema, the arrests and prosecutions of gay men for ‘gross indecency’ in the 50s, the early gay rights marches and decriminalisation of the 60s and 70s, the campaigns for an equal age of consent and against section 28, the Pride movement and AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s, the sexual liberation of the 00s queer and transgender scene and the chemsex, gay parenting and marriage campaign of recent years.
Official Selection Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017 - World premiere

Synopsis

A meditation on a lost era and the regenerative power of the sea, this project grew out of the haunting photographs of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photography project 'The Coal Coast'. Following in the footsteps of Agnès Varda, the scattered clues of England’s post-industrial northern coastline lead to the vivid re-enacting of the death of a young coal miner Billy, by his workmate.
The story inspired the New York-based percussion group So Percussion, who together with Amber created the film’s cathartic music.

Synopsis

Carne Ross was a government high flyer. A career diplomat who believed in Western Democracy. But working inside the system he came to see its failures, deceits and ulterior motives. He felt at first hand the corruption of power. After the Iraq war Carne became disillusioned, quit his job and started searching for answers.
This film traces his journey across the globe as he tries to answer the question so many people today are asking themselves – isn’t there a better way?
For Carne there is. Anarchism offers a solution to the brutalities of Capitalism and the dishonesties of Democracy. It offers a world where people have control over their own lives. From the protesters of Occupy Wall Street, to an anarchist collective in Spain, to Noam Chomsky, the grand old man of anarchism himself, Carne finds people who are putting the theory into practice. His journey eventually takes him to one of the most dangerous places on earth: Syria, eight kilometers from the front line with Isis, where a remarkable anarchist state has risen phoenix like from the flames.
A powerful film about one man’s epic journey from government insider to anarchist.

Synopsis

How do we grieve? Why do we grieve? And why are we afraid of those that do grieve? Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds son Josh died in a road accident in Vietnam seven years ago. They are now on a road trip across the USA to meet other bereaved parents in search of some answers answers. What they find are stories of grief that refuse social expectations about moving on or letting go.

Synopsis

A rare insight into a community of Buddhist monks and nuns, who have given up all their possessions, left their homes, and parted with their life savings; for one common purpose - to master the art of mindful living under the guidance of the world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.
With unprecedented access and filmed over three years in France and the USA, this intimate and meditative film reveals how this monastic community are transforming suffering within themselves and in those who they meet on their travels around the world.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk Martin Luther King Jr. nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is one of the most popular Zen Buddhist teachers of all time, and is widely acknowledged for introducing the concept of mindfulness to the western world.
The film touches on the universal themes of belonging, love, loss, hope and death, relevant for not just Thich Nhat Hanh's monks and nuns but for us all.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Journey Strand

Synopsis

How much would you sacrifice to fight for what you believe in?
An intimate and unique portrait of three people caught up in the chaotic and often violent development that is shaping modern-day Cambodia. Shot over 6 years, the film charts the growing wave of land-rights protests that led to the ‘Cambodian Spring’ and the tragic events that followed.
This film is about the complexities – both political and personal, of fighting for what you believe in.

Synopsis

Two Polish families in the UK discuss the experience of their migration.
19-year-old Ola came to UK to join her boyfriend. They both work hard and save money for the wedding.
For 36 -year-old Kamila love is not enough anymore, but she has a safe life with an Englishman.

Synopsis

Paula Rego is one of the most important living artists. She was the first artist in residence at the UK's National Gallery, has a public museum exclusively dedicated to her work and a Damehood from the Queen. And yet, despite over 30 books about her pictures, very little is known about her life. Now, at 81, she has agreed to tell her extraordinary story to her son, the filmmaker Nick Willing. The result is an incredibly intimate and personal account of her battles against the facist dictatorship in Portugal, the misogynistic art world in England, and her own demons of manic depression.

Synopsis

Five years ago Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer, started to use his camera to capture the life of his family, his village and the damages of climate change. When a violent storm throws him and a Norwegian filmmaker together we see him transform from a father, to community leader to an activist on the global stage.

Synopsis

Born in a violent and neglected favela community in Rio de Janeiro, Alan Duarte suffered immense personal tragedy. However, he dreams of finding salvation and building a better future for his son and his community through his boxing project.

Synopsis

Two trans people and their journey to learning to love their bodies.
A film about the effects hormones can have on your body as a trans person. Mainstream narratives often sensationalise the experiences of trans people with medical interventions, but this film explores the issue of hormones in more depth, in an honest, bold and vulnerable way.