Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Antigone, the ancient Greek heroine, ignites the spirits of four Syrian women living in Beirut’s refugee camps. Feminine wisdom, passed through the ages, connects the inner lives of these women and gives them a sense of belonging and rootedness. Through animation and intimate verite footage, this documentary illustrates that which is invisible to the eye: the thoughts, memories, and dreams of these mothers, sisters, and wives as they grapple daily with past traumas and future uncertainty.

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Zahida is the first female taxi driver in Pakistan and a local legend. A widower at 56, she is continually juggling her home life with behind the wheel. A fascinating insight into the trials faced by a determined woman carving her own path within a patriarchal society.

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In the shadow of the largest Native American political occupation since Wounded Knee, thousands of water protectors from around the world have descended on Standing Rock, North Dakota to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

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Drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive, 'Around India' features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as gorgeous travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers. Director Sandhya Suri weaves together archive footage to create an emotionally resonant story about life across India from 1899 to 1947. Taking in Maharajas and Viceroys, fakirs and farmhands and personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi, the film explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago, but asks us to engage with broader themes of a shared history, shifting perspectives in the lead up to Indian independence and the ghosts of the past. The film also features a superb new score that fuses western and Indian music from composer and sarod player Soumik Datta.

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Finally freed from Russian domination, Ukraine and its recent, controversial, revolution has led to a cultural explosion as the number of young artists mushrooms in the capital. Kiev Unbroken: Ukraine Reborn is the first feature length documentary to cover both the bloody Maidan Square uprising of 2014 and the artistic shockwaves that have followed it and which continue to this day - all in the midst of a country at war.

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A town on the borderlands of Texas. A place out of time. A desert where strange lights dance in the night sky. A mecca for lovers of minimalist art. A landscape of lost horses, freaks and food trucks. And then there’s the giant lemon. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2018 - World premiere Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2019 - Lab Competition BAFTA Film Awards 2019 - Nominated, Best British Short Animation

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A young girl is trying to do something good with her life and at the same time looking after her sick mum, who has been diagnosed with cancer. The girl embarks on a journey to become the Miss Sierra Leone UK 2017 to make her mum proud.

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Exploring the magic and dynamism of Blackness in a realm where time and space are altered. The now, the past and the future are rethought and reordered to create something soulful and mindbendingly visceral.

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Focusing on the final races of cyclist David Millar’s career, leading up to his last encounter with the Tour de France. The camera goes inside the peloton, is pushed up impossible climbs and forced down rapid descents, lies alongside David in his hotel room in post-race agony. The camera also rides in the support car, the source of comfort, supplies and fleeting relief from the cold. And all in the knowledge that every mile travelled is a mile closer to the end. This film reveals how the human spirit is driven by a force deeper than success and glory. Official Selection IDFA 2017 - World premiere

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How does memory work? How can experiences be handed down from generation to generation? How does the act of narration change the experience? Three young men and their grannies go on a quest for their historic and personal legacy. There’s the British spy with a bone-dry sense of humour, the Hungarian communist who survived the Holocaust and the German dancer whose look back turns out to be the most difficult. Unlike many recent documentaries which focused on conversation and raised their protagonists on a pedestal of awe, the “Granny Project” takes a different approach: playful, not afraid of confrontations, sometimes silly and seconds later honest and emotional. An unconventional attempt of the grandchildren’s generation to ask, on a different level, questions that drove their parents to the streets in the 1960s. This film neither aims to be antagonistic nor accusatory. Instead it’s perhaps naive but no less necessary attempt to understand the other. When the three grannies sit around a table with their grandsons and various interpreters we realise that two things at least are necessary to really bring the past and present in contact: an honest interest in one’s opposite party and a good translation. (Dok Leipzig brochure 2017) Official Selection Dok Leipzig 2017 - World premiere

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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

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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