Projects in genres: Human Rights

Synopsis

BRANDED is a woman’s defiance, in the face of atrocity, to uphold Art and Freedom. Set at some time, in the past, present, or the future. A Ukrainian woman, captured by a regime that forbids artistic expression, challenges her oppressors. She is anonymous, without a presence in the world, the non-existence of a political prisoner. Pacing around the cell, her words directed at the Wall behind her. The Wall that protects her from what is beyond. From other cells, noises of torture are heard. The sounds of conflict increase as the war comes closer. Knowing she will die, her dreams are of the life she used to have, with freedom, laughing and painting in her studio. Her concern is not for herself when she asks, is this the end of Art? She has a vision and imagines Leonardo da Vinci visits her, and asks him, will Art survive? Her desperation increasing, she paints with her own faeces and urine on the Wall. Collapsing, she imagines a future artist visiting her cell. He tells her, Art cannot die, artists are the future. Kateryna Polishchuk, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, is the voice of the woman in the cell.

Synopsis

Impersonating the style of an NHS training films from 1960s-70s and shot on 16mm, the film is an exercise in queering the healthcare information film. Using a collated archive of healthcare experiences recorded with Birmingham's trans+ community the film explores the critical state of trans healthcare in the UK through ‘medical drag’ re-enactments. Official Selection Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Gaza, December 2023. A confrontation with a disturbing photograph on social media triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker.

Synopsis

In the early hours of 6 February 2023, a Mw 7.8 earthquake hit a large area of Turkey and Syria. It’s destructiveness was exacerbated by the instability that had torn the region apart. Waad Al-Kateab’s film is powerful record of the disaster, drawing images from TV news reports, social media, CCTV and drone footage, alongside archive material of the region. The shock of the earthquake soon gives way to a damning record of human failure, with Al-Kateab focusing on two Syrian families over the course of ten days, sensitively recording their desperate efforts to find their loved ones. Highlighting official incompetence and a paltry level of humanitarian aid, Death Without Mercy is, above all else, a moving testament to human dignity. (Sheffield DocFest 2024 Programme) Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2024

Synopsis

During the conflict in Northern Ireland a practice developed that saw actors hired to dub those associated with the IRA on broadcast media. Via unseen archive footage and interviews with key figures, THE BAN reflects on the British government’s use of the threat of ‘terrorism’ to justify censorship. Official Selection International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2024 - International premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

In 1938 Peter Lucas keeps a journal of British inaction against fascism. His wife Prudie designs ‘Lovers of Gudrun’, for Stockport Garrick Theatre. As Czechoslovakia is occupied, with Peter consumed by politics and Prudie obsessed by Gudrun, fault-lines in their personalities and marriage crack under pressure of impending war.

Synopsis

THE CALLERS tells the stories of people who have called England’s oldest LGBTQ+ phone helpline for over 50 years, seeking guidance on everything from where to find the nearest leather bar to how to come out, navigate an open relationship, impress a new lover or mend a broken heart.

Synopsis

In a future drained of colour where energy credits are the new currency, a zero credit balance leaves one man with no option but to physically power his ailing husband’s hospital treatment. But as his energy fades, so does the possibility of a future together.

Synopsis

For decades, a secret unit in London’s Metropolitan police infiltrated local activist groups and formed romantic relationships with their targets. Now, three women are revisiting scenes from their lives in order to reclaim the narrative, and make sense of what happened. Official Selection Hot Docs Festival 2024 Official Selection DOC NYC Film Festival 2024 Official Selection Dinard Film Festival 2024

Synopsis

The archival kaleidoscope of NOTES: REMEMBERED AND FOUND presents four generations of women - director/artist Maria Anastassiou’s infant daughter is also present in the lm - circling around, approximating, interrupting, and reconguring the origin story of the family’s displacement during the war in Cyprus 1974. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024

Synopsis

When the water company and local authorities fail the community, the wild swimmers of Bristol fight back through activism, swimming like a mermaid and getting married. Do humans have the right to nature? In this tender film, director Charlotte Sawyer tells a story of a community of wild swimmers in Bristol (UK) affected by raw sewage pollution of the river Avon. England is one of the only two countries in the world to have a fully privatised water and sewage disposal system, and with only 14% of English rivers in good ecological health, the mission to keep the rivers clean is not going well. In a series of moving, exciting and thought-provoking scenes, the swimmers create a stunning, light-hearted yet fascinating tapestry, probing how activism starts from the grassroots, and carries a profound universal lesson for all of us. There’s a wedding, drum’n’bass, an inflatable turd, and a whole lot of cheesecake in this poignant reflection on people’s innovative battles for the natural world they cherish.

Synopsis

This emotionally charged journey, filmed over seven years, follows the extraordinary story of Rudrani Chettri and her friends from baby blessings, red light districts and dazzling Hindu festivals to the glamorous world of photoshoots, designers, hair and make-up, lights and electrifying action. We discover the transgender trans - Hijra community of Delhi as they set about creating India’s first ever trans modelling agency and an extravagant, paradigm-shifting, catwalk event. Far from a bleak story of suffering and discrimination, this film explores the world of India’s ‘third gender’ (Hijra) in a positive way, full of laughter, drama, excitement, and pathos. We discover a complex world where traditional Hindu values clash with modern human rights. We immerse ourselves in unfamiliar places but find identifiable stories of love and loss, hope and poverty, beauty, glamour, and catwalk glory. Official selection BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2024 - UK premiere