Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

Filmed over seven years in England and the United States, Dance of Identity is an intimate, powerful portrait of love, resilience, and family against the backdrop of a global culture war. The documentary follows Sophie, a British trans woman and amateur ballet dancer, and her partner Sandi, as they build a life together. From Sophie’s triumphant public ballet performances to the couple’s fairytale wedding and the high-stakes birth of their child, their personal joys constantly clash with a shifting political landscape. As politicians and media headlines weaponise trans existence, the couple faces rising hostility, social media attacks, and legal threats to Sophie’s fundamental rights. Yet, through nine years of waiting for gender-affirming healthcare and navigating bureaucratic hurdles, theirs is a story of defiant hope. Dance of Identity reveals the profound impact of political rhetoric on the private sanctuary of a family, ultimately celebrating the triumph of love over systemic adversity.

Synopsis

An intimate portrait of Paolo Avenati, a once-aspiring filmmaker living with a progressive fatal mitochondrial disease, and his fiercely devoted mother, Loretta. As the illness takes over Paolo's mind and body, leaving him completely dependent on his mother, she becomes his voice, revealing the quiet realities of caregiving and anticipatory grief. Moving between moments of tenderness, humour and sorrow, the film traces a mother’s enduring love as she learns that sometimes the deepest expression of love is learning how to let go.

Synopsis

Imperial Illusions explores how Britain crafted a myth of benevolent empire to justify domination and exploitation, and how, as the empire collapsed, that myth was replaced with a heroic narrative of victory over fascism. The film investigates what happens when a nation buries the violence of its past, and how that denial continues to shape political, social, and cultural realities today. Through the histories of Kenya, India, and Northern Ireland, the documentary uncovers the lasting impact of suppressed memory and asks what it means for both Britain and its former colonies to confront the truths long left in the shadows.

Synopsis

Caught between her indigenous Buryat roots—where art is a shamanic window between worlds—and a Western market that treats culture as a commodity, artist Yuma Radne constructs a monumental canvas to confront the psychological distortions of colonization at the edge of an irreversible era. "Either you make art, or you suffer. It’s like a curse." For painter Yuma Radne, the act of creation is not an aesthetic choice, but an ancestral code carried in the blood. Moving from a remote Siberian village to the high-stakes European art world, Yuma finds herself navigating a surreal landscape where sacred cultural identity is rapidly converted into a luxury product. Through intimate studio dialogues and raw philosophical reflections, the film captures the gruelling physical and mental labour behind her graduation masterpiece, The End of Times. Centred around a gargantuan erupting booze (a traditional Buryat dumpling) mutated into an absurd, monumental symbol of a colonised and erased national identity, the film transcends a typical artist portrait. It becomes a vital, cosmic meditation on why humanity continues to create art in the face of systemic collapse—and a powerful testament to an indigenous culture refusing to be reduced to a souvenir.

Synopsis

Cumbrian poet Emma McGordon wrestles with mental health and class-based barriers as she tries to turn her poem into a film.

Synopsis

The final part of a documentary trilogy that began with 'Further Beyond' and 'TheFuture Tense', 'ACT 3' completes Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s exploration of ideas around identity, place and memory. Here, they delve in to their past work and creative collaboration across 40 years to explore the possibility of their future identities; and how they choose to imagine the final third of their life. Mining the intimate relationship of artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore – who are the subject of their current feature film – and taking their typically droll, existentially-inflected, meta approach, the documentary ultimately becomes a moving meditation on the meaning of life, art and love. Official Selection Telluride Film Festival 2026 Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

European archival footage from the 1950s documents the life of indigenous, nomadic Sahrawi children and youth in Western Sahara / Morocco. Seventy years later, local young people from Laayoune (El Aaiún) revisit locations that may have appeared in the footage. From ocean to desert to oasis, under trembling starlight, they share their thoughts on life, dreams, and utopia as they search for an uncertain upstream. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

HOOD 2 FARM is a documentary series following South London rapper Fekky as he transitions from city life to learning agricultural practices in the British countryside. The show captures his hands-on experiences across various UK farms as he navigates the realities of rural life and personal growth.

Synopsis

Filmmaker Patrick Hough journeys through the haunted landscapes of Ireland, where colonial violence, ecological loss and queer desire remain inscribed in the land. Moving between forests, mountains, archives and cruising grounds, the film traces the extinction of the Irish grey wolf alongside the cultural suppression that followed Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Fragments of history surface through objects and places: a death mask of Oliver Cromwell, medieval myths of werewolves, maps drawn to measure and divide conquered territory, and landscapes where wolves were once hunted to disappearance. These materials are interwoven with contemporary nocturnal scenes of queer gathering and protest, where shame gives way to transformation, pleasure and resistance. Blending essay film, documentary and poetic fiction, LANDSCAPES OF SHAME asks how violence survives in landscapes, language and bodies - and what forms of wildness still remain. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

Using ideas from Carl Jung - exploring and accepting the inner world, Carolyn Abbate - analysis of dissonance to find the narrative voice - and Hilde Lindemann Nelson - using narrative to repair damaged identity, I filmed my process of creating puppets and recorded some of the thoughts that arose as I made them. I utilised emergent practice in the filmmaking, which meant letting go of preconceived ideas to let narrative arise in the moment. I wanted my puppets to unite, rather than fight in the traditional Punch and Judy manner.

Synopsis

In 1981, twelve young Asian men in Bradford faced terrorism charges after defending their community from a violent racist skinhead attack. They made petrol bombs for self-defence. Known as the Bradford 12, by arming themselves, they took direct action to ward off the greater threat of skinhead violence. The state labelled them terrorists, but the people rallied behind the slogan, “Self-defence is no offence.” Their case exposed the intense racial tensions in Britain. Their arrest sparked fierce protests nationally and internationally, with thousands demanding justice for the Bradford 12. The lengthy, tense trial revealed a police force indifferent to racist violence, one that believed discrimination was necessary and had Special Branch surveillance on key defendants. Ultimately, the Bradford 12 were acquitted - a landmark victory affirming the right to organised armed self-defence for oppressed communities. Their courage and solidarity challenged systemic racism and continue to inspire the fight for justice. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

A dementia group explores memories of travel through creativity, revealing how past experiences can enrich the present.