Projects in genres: Literary Adaptation

Synopsis

British auteur Michael Winterbottom sets his unique spin on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles against a contemporary Indian backdrop. Freida Pinto stars as the titular Trishna, a young woman who is seduced by the wealthy son of a property developer. As the romance develops, their relationship also becomes increasingly sordid and volatile.

Synopsis

A girl dying of leukemia compiles a list of things she'd like to do before passing away. Topping the list is her desire to lose her virginity. Now Is Good tells the bracing story of Tessa (Fanning), a seventeen year-old girl passionate about life who is suffering from leukaemia. With limited time to live, she takes the challenge of living her adolescence in fast-forward and compiles a catalogue of what she feels every teenager should experience, losing her virginity being one. With the help of best friend Zoey (Scodelario), she sets the list in motion. While her family deals with fear and grief, each in their own way, Tessa explores a whole new world and discovers the feeling of falling in love, which proves to be the most exhilarating experience of them all.

Synopsis

A short film based on adaptations of three stories by O Henry. Adapted to take place in modern day London, it explores the theme of the characters' alienation (from reality and one another), which is so relevant to our contemporary, multicultural urban reality.

Synopsis

William Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy transposed to the contemporary high school setting of chavs, goths, emos and geeks. A kindly old headmaster is forcefully usurped by his ambitious deputy, who promptly suspends the old headmaster's daughter, Rosalind, the most popular girl in the school. Orlando, the school nerd, unexpectedly wins a wrestling match and becomes the object of Rosalind's affections. When the school is sent on a field trip Rosalind, with her friends Celia and Touchstone, decides to gate crash the trip disguising herself as a boy 'chav' which results in one of the most captivating and amusing love stories in Shakespearian literature.

Synopsis

"If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise..." An experimental reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood, this visual collage combines elements of fairytales and horror to reveal something unexpected lurking in the forest.

Synopsis

"A polyphonic meditation on time and urban space" (Sukhdev Sandhu, BFI 2012). "If you let it, a street will grow" says a voice in this film-poem which offers a lyrical, painterly defence of the everyday and a celebration of multiculturalism, even as it poses questions about the process of regeneration. Shot on location in the London Borough of Hackney, the film interweaves rarely seen archive, super 16mm and super 8mm photography. Slow, still shots of streets, parks, cemeteries and markets are juxtaposed with the East London paintings of Leon Kossoff, Jock McFadyen and James MacKinnon. With a script based on poet, Michael Rosen's play for voices, a heightened soundscape mixes documentary with poetry, music, song and location recordings. As we slip between past and present, real and imagined, famous and unknown "the world comes to Hackney": From Shakespeare in Shoreditch, to a Jamaican builder, from an 18th Century feminist abolitionist to a Turkish barber, from Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" to the Jewish 43 Group taking on Oswald Mosley in Dalston, the audience is invited to apprehend the city as fragmentary and multi-layered, "past in the present, present in the past."

Synopsis

A euphoric blend of drama and documentary, Tempest is both a celebration of contemporary urban youth culture, and a 21st Century re-imagining of Shakespeare's last great play. 17 young actors from South London struggle to put on a production. Their story unfolds alongside Prospero's as The Oval is transformed into Shakespeare’s magical island and the outcast Duke casts his magic spells.

Synopsis

James believes he will lose his job if he can't find a vital part of his work uniform. The search unearths more than just his belt.

Synopsis

In a bold new feature version of Jane Eyre, director Cary Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini infuse a contemporary immediacy into Charlotte Brontë’s timeless, classic story. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama, the heroine of which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers.  

Synopsis

Adapted from the internationally praised bestselling novel, One Day charts an extraordinary relationship. Emma and Dexter meet on the night of their university graduation - July 15th, 1988.  She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, every July 15th reveals to us how 'Em' and 'Dex' are faring, as their friendship ebbs and flows with the passing of the years. Through laughter and romance, heartbreak and exhilaration, they experience the grandeur of life. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along.

Synopsis

Hester Collyer leads a privileged life in 1950s London as the beautiful wife of high court judge Sir William Collyer. To the shock of those around her, she walks on her marriage to move in with young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page, with whom she has fallen passionately in love. Set in post-war Britain, this adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s classic play, The Deep Blue Sea is a study of forbidden love, suppressed desire, and the fear of loneliness, but is at heart a deeply moving love story. Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, what - or whom - should Hester choose?

Synopsis

Young Christians Beth and Steve, a gospel singer and her cowboy boyfriend, leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland. When, after initial abuse, they are welcomed with joy and elation to Tressock, the border fiefdom of Sir Lachlan Morrison, they assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.