Spending over a year in Lebanon on the borders of Syria, documentary directors Sophia Scott and Georgia Scott tell the story behind the news reports. The film is a reflection of the strange chaotic lives of the people living in the shadow of the Syrian war, giving an intimate look at how four Syrians, whose collective struggles constitute the new frontline of the refugee crisis, are trying to find ways to overcome the torment of their shattered lives. Interwoven through the film are the contributions of a German professor who works with the local Syrian and Lebanese communities in the north trying to build a new model for peace through interfaith dialogue and access to education for the displaced Syrian children. These are the Syrian people who we see in the news drowning in the Mediterranean.
These five protagonists are the people who will bring forward the global debate on the conflicts at hand from a human, rather than figures-based point of view.
Exploring supressed aggression and ambition. The outcomes of society’s moralistic expectations and repressing the competitive pressures placed on young girls.
A young British girl of Ghanaian descent goes on holiday to Accra, Ghana for the first time. Staying with her wealthy Aunty Barbara, Jennifer meets Efua, a young domestic maid who Aunty Barbara treats very harshly. Jennifer struggles to watch this treatment however she is forced to because of cultural restrictions.
A video piece exploring the connections between thinking and drawing. Filmed with Mina Pegourie, the cleaner of an artist in residence programme that Ana Mendes attended in France in 2014. Since she is unable to read or to write, Mina uses drawing as a tool for everyday life.
India 1947. A British detective is sent on a secret mission to intercept the killer who will alter history by assassinating the man of peace - Mahatma Gandhi. In a race against time, he overcomes local police, intense heat and his own inner fears until he reaches Gandhi and shoots.
The story of what happened to an English town during World War One with almost all of its men fighting abroad and its women and children left behind. The North East was in the front line, thanks to its shipyards and munitions factories.
Using archive and contemporary footage and audio, this film collages the stories of people from Tyneside and Wearside to uncover just what life was like on the home front, with bombs falling on Britain for the first time, conscientious objectors sentenced to death, and women working as doctors, tram conductors and footballers. The narrative moves from an Edwardian golden era, in which sport grew in popularity and aircraft and cars pointed to a bright new future, to a war that horrifically reversed this progress. In the Battle of the Somme, British, French and German armies fought one of the most traumatic battles in military history. Over the course of just four months, more than one million soldiers were captured, wounded or killed in a confrontation of unimaginable horror.
Adapted from the acclaimed novel 'Neither Wolf Nor Dog' by Kent Nerburn, the story follows a white author who gets sucked into the heart of contemporary Native American life in the sparse lands of the Dakotas.
The cast includes 96-year-old Lakota elder, Chief Dave Beautiful Bald Eagle.
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere
Djata is a carefree 12-year-old growing up in the dystopian Homeland. When he finds out that his father Peter has been imprisoned by the authorities and he and his mother are labeled traitors, Djata vows he will not rest until he sees his father again.
Based on György Dragomán's multiple award winning novel that has been published in 28 languages.
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere
By the early 1980s, after two decades of violence and unrest, the situation in Northern Ireland took a sudden and profound turn inside the infamous Maze Prison. Seeking the right to be treated as political prisoners rather than common criminals, Irish Republicans led by Bobby Sands began a prison hunger strike that would draw international attention to the conflict. In the 66 days that he refused food, Sands would be elected to the British Parliament, put the Irish Republican struggle centre stage on the world news agenda, and pay the ultimate price for his political convictions.
The film combines a powerful mosaic of archival materials, reconstructions and the illuminating accounts of former prisoners, commentators and key players in the drama. With Sands' evocative prison diary at its core, the film brings fresh insight to an iconic figure who single-handedly created a transformative moment in Ireland's history that had global aftershocks. (Hot Docs brochure)
Hot Docs 2016 - World premiere
On a dusty hillside surrounded by olive trees, the children of Ketermaya play far away from the horrors of Syria. But life in the Lebanese refugee camp is far from easy. Disrupted education, the loss of loved ones, and the scars of war and chemical weapons weigh heavily in this extraordinary portrait of family and childhood innocence. An important corrective to narratives surrounding refugees, and a moving fable of hope and resilience in unimaginable circumstances
