When Stuart Shorter – a homeless alcoholic with a violent past – meets writer and charity worker Alexander Masters, they strike up an unlikely friendship. As Alexander learns more about Stuart’s complicated life and traumatic childhood, he asks if he can write his story and Stuart advises him to tell the story backwards, so that it's 'more exciting - like a Tom Clancy murder mystery'. As their remarkable alliance develops, Stuart gradually recounts his life story in reverse, his resilient personality and dry sense of humour giving the story an almost tragi-comic edge.
Through post-office heists, attempts at suicide and spells inside numerous institutions, Alexander is given a glimpse into a totally alien world and begins to understand how Stuart's life spiralled so badly out of control.
The Secret of Moonacre is an enchanting tale of magic and adventure, following the quest of 13-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather who is sent away to live with her uncle Sir Benjamin in the mysterious Moonacre Manor. It is there Maria uncovers a dark and mysterious truth behind the feud that has been destroying Moonacre Valley and that she has only until the next full moon to undo the ancient curse and save Moonacre from destruction. Aided by a stable of wonderful characters and magical beasts, Maria sets out to bring peace to this magical world.
Two women meet in a cafe on Christmas Eve - as they talk one realises that the other is her husband's mistress by a strange turn of events she also realises that this relationship benefits her.
The film opens in England, on the hottest day of the summer of 1935. Thirteen year old Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous Victorian Gothic mansion. As the family gathers for the weekend, the combination of the oppressive heat and long suppressed emotions coming to the surface create an ominous sense of threat and danger. Briony, a fledgling writer, is a girl with a vivid imagination. Through a series of catastropic misunderstandings which take place that day, the lives of Briony, her sister and her sister's newfound lover Robbie Turner - who is also the housekeeper's son - will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach, becoming victims of the younger girl's scheming imagination. Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt of which will colour her entire life.
Based on the prize-winning novel by Monica Ali, Brick Lane is the story of a beautiful young Bangladeshi woman who arrives in 1980s London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home, for an arranged marriage and a new life. Nazneen's mother always told her she was a survivor, but trapped within the four walls of her flat in East London, and in a loveless marriage with the middle aged Chanu, she fears her soul is quietly dying. Her sister Hasina, meanwhile, continues to live a carefree life back in Bangladesh, stumbling from one adventure to the next. Nazneen struggles to accept her lot, and keeps her head down in spite of life's blows. But she soon discovers that life cannot be avoided - and is forced to confront it the day that the hotheaded young Karim comes knocking at her door. Set against the changing backdrop of multicultural Britain, Brick Lane is a truly contemporary story of love, of cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit.
They're the best there is. Two 'get it done guys' from opposite sides of the Atlantic.
But now they're packing it all in. One last job and it's all over.
But the job to end it all, may very well be the end of them.
Based on Mario Petrucci's award-winning book-length poem for Chernobyl, Half Life tells the story of the people who dealt with the world's worst nuclear disaster at ground level: the fire-fighters, the soldiers, the 'liquidators' and their families.
A twisted adaptation of the original folk legends of Little Red Riding Hood, from before it was mutilated by the Brothers Grim.
Little Red meets the wolf. But he'll live to regret the encounter.
Based on the critically acclaimed stage play by Glyn Maxwell, The Best Man tells the story of Bailey, the best man at his oldest friend's wedding. In his search for anecdotes to embellish his speech, Bailey has stumbled across a secret so shocking that it change everything. And now it's time for his speech. Just what does he know? How much will he reveal?
Moving between the fraught wedding reception and the darkest moments from their past, The Best Man is a tale of love and cheating - with a sting.
This film is about who I am and what I want. It's NOT about who YOU are and what YOU want. You always think everything I make is about you but it's not. It's all about me.
The poem Kissing in hats is a villanelle, a verse form where the regular repetition of two key lines gives added urgency to what is being said.
The effect is intensified here by double tracking of the speaker's voice, as a moving path scans a drawing of World War Two lovers kissing in hats
before the men must board their train. This is a new version with the text of the poem on screen.
