Poly Styrene was the first woman of colour in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements.
But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship.
Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
Official Selection Glasgow Film Festival 2021 - World premiere
Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2021 - North American premiere
SOFT RIO plays between erotic and erratic productions of layered movement and sound. Inspired by Audre Lorde's 1978 essay "Uses of the Erotic", the film was shot on the stage of the Rio Cinema in London (once a striptease stage) featuring dancer Astrid Sweeney and sound by @xcrswx.
Sat backstage for the biggest audition of his life, Matty sticks out like a sore thumb. Surrounded by violins, clarinets and flutes, his love of drumming is a far cry from the musical elite. And there’s one other thing... Everyone’s voices have been swapped with their instruments.
Tina Turner overcame impossible odds to become one of the first female African American artists to reach a mainstream international audience. Her road to superstardom is an undeniable story of triumph over adversity. It's the ultimate story of survival - and an inspirational story for our times.
Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2021 - Berlinale Special
Hope is studying at The Royal Ballet, the most prestigious institution for dance. But as she approaches her final performance, the first time she is to perform since her mother's death, an undiagnosed eating disorder causes her to spiral out of control.
A reinvention of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
The radical new take on Dickens’ classic seeks both to exhume the original story’s gritty commentary on social inequality and the corrupting influence of greed, and to breathe new life into the lyricism of the original text by setting its scenes to extraordinary tableaux of modern dance.
The opening scenes of the film follow a Victorian family preparing a toy theatre for their annual performance of 'A Christmas Carol'. As the family's grandmother narrates the much-edited story and her grandchildren change the scenery, we enter the imagination of one of the children in the audience and watch as the cardboard stage, and the story with it, transforms into a darkly fantastical otherworld.
Through a series of vignettes, we see fragments of a couple’s relationship; in sync together, yet out of time with the world around them.
As the story unfolds, we slowly start to see their relationship deteriorate. She becomes out of sync with him and thus in sync with the world.
Edgar Wright (BABY DRIVER, HOT FUZZ) directs a loving, hilarious and career-spanning look at the brothers Mael, 50 years and 25 albums deep into a career that has seen them traverse more genres, audiences and career revivals than any artist could have endured alone.
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2021 - World Premiere
In this unfiltered portrait comprised of prose and pirouettes, Marie-Astrid Mence narrates her uncomfortable journey from adolescent to ballerina and her struggles in an industry that fails to see past her skin colour.
TOPOWA! is an inspirational journey of 12 young teacher musicians, many of whom grew up as street children in some of the toughest slums in Uganda. We follow them from their home in Kampala to some of the biggest music stages in the world where they perform with Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and virtuoso trumpeter Alison Balsom OBE.
It's a story of resilience and hope, carried along by a joyous celebration of music and life. At the heart of this film: the power of music to change lives and a charity called Brass for Africa.
From the dusty dirt roads of Katwe slum to the paved streets of London and the fields of Cheltenham Festival. We follow Julius, Sumayya, Tadeo, Gilbert and the Brass For Africa band as they are welcomed to the UK for an unforgettable experience that will transform their lives forever and empower the next generation of musicians to follow their dreams - 'Topowa! Never give up!’
A film highlighting the joy of reclaiming your trans body. Rowyn explores their journey of top surgery through music and dance, showing the difference of feeling at ease in your own body. We are all a work in progress, and progress for trans people is incredibly meaningful.
