Projects in genres: Music

Synopsis

A poignant and poetic exploration of the rise and decline of Luton’s once vibrant Caribbean culture. Through intimate personal stories, rich historical context, and a cultural lens, the film traces how a thriving legacy rooted in migration, music, resistance, and community has been gradually eroded over the years. From the golden days of sound system culture and bustling youth clubs to the bouncing spirit of Luton Carnival formerly Europe’s largest one day Caribbean carnival, the film reflects on how these vital cultural institutions have been systematically dismantled through decades of underfunding, neglect, and shifting priorities. These weren’t just events or social spaces, they were expressions of identity and anchors of community. With vignettes/reenactments shot on 16mm film and interwoven with candid communal conversations, this documentary offers a poetic and thought provoking insight and invites audiences from all backgrounds to engage in deeper reflection on the value of heritage and the fragility of community spaces. The film ends on the question of: How do communities reclaim their space, their voice, and their future? Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

In this South Asian team sport, players repeating ‘kabaddi’ frantically cross boundaries on the court, tagging their opponents before returning. Ka ba Ddi is a high-energy team sport originating in South Asia played between two teams of seven players on a divided court. Players respond to boundaries, bodies think in relation to each other: lines of the court, focal points for players movements. Stretching back into their own territory; a vocabulary of movement that make connections with what is happening in the wider world, in domestic UK politics but also internationally. Territory has never felt so terrifying or so contested. The rules based order of Kabaddi stipulates that one team sends a single "raider" into the opposing team's territory, the aim is to tag/touch as many players as possible from the opposing side before retreating back into your own territory. Rules govern our bodies, we live in a series of ever increasing courts both materially and ideologically. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Short Film Competition

Synopsis

Delving into the life of a Palestinian in the UK, separated from a culture and a way of life, this film captures the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity, delivering a powerful statement about the intersection of personal struggle and political conflict and offering hope, challenging narratives, and inspiring solidarity. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

A family band. Three burnt out brothers, an undervalued sister, a cornucopia of addictions, oversized egos, murderous resentments, delusions of grandeur, washed out morals and rapidly fading success culminates in a whirlwind dark comedy. A portrait of chasing success in the music industry, exposing the toll of addiction and the mental battles that come with the price of ambition.

Synopsis

Locked and loaded with film tape, a man explores an abandoned rave house, once known as The Warehouse, that was once the beating heart of the South West’s clubland.

Synopsis

The true story of two Scottish lads from Dundee conned the music industry by pretending to be an established Californian rap duo, appearing on MTV and bagging a record deal until their scam unravelled. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection Glasgow Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

ROCK SONG began as a story about a thrill-seeking rock, chasing speed and adrenaline by rolling down the hill. During the film’s development, the director experienced a traumatic event that reshaped the story and its purpose. It became a survival project, a way to understand the pain, and also transfer some of it into the world of rocks. Through the rock’s journey: falls, cracks and discovering different parts of the forest, ROCK SONG reflects the experience of hurt, carrying the damage, and slowly figuring out how to heal. The film translates the director’s changing emotional states into movement and texture, while holding onto the hope of getting better in time. Made through stop-motion animation with hand-dyed fabrics and embroidery, the film’s soft and tactile world creates a quiet sense of comfort, contrasting with the difficult emotions that shape the film. ROCK SONG also considers the inner life of a rock, imagining how it might perceive its own existence. It explores the unknowable inner reality of things and how empathy can extend beyond the human. Official Selection Kaboom Animation Festival 2026

Synopsis

The layered structure on which BROKEN ENGLISH rests is the fictional ‘Ministry of Not Forgetting’ (led by Tilda Swinton and her trusty interviewer George MacKay), who take Marianne Faithful on a journey into a rich and event-filled past. Images, clips and interviews are interspersed with musical responses by Beth Orton, Courtney Love and Nick Cave, creating an inventive and soulful portrait of cultural icon Marianne Faithfull. Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Documentary Special Presentation Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2026 Official Selection CPH:DOX 2026

Synopsis

A music video inspired by Jacob Collier’s song 'Lark in A Sky Shop'. It explores the depth of tension within one’s soul and life, stretched between light and darkness, day and night, oppression and freedom, and the turbulent navigation through it all. It’s about being pressed, found, and brought into a spacious place. It’s a dialogue, a confrontation, a story full of twists and turns, which ultimately suggests the possibility of discovering a source of life, freedom, and everlasting love.

Synopsis

NOVA '78 resurrects the legendary Nova Convention, the groundbreaking three-day gathering held in New York in 1978 to celebrate William S. Burroughs and the artistic revolution he inspired. Built from newly restored, previously unseen 16mm footage shot by Howard Brookner, the film captures extraordinary performances and intimate backstage moments featuring Patti Smith, Frank Zappa, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and many other defining voices of the era. More than a concert film or historical record, NOVA '78 is an immersive time capsule of a fleeting moment when literature, music, art and radical ideas collided to reshape contemporary culture.

Synopsis

A time capsule from the underground. NOVA 78 resurrects the electrifying Nova Convention of 1978 featuring never-before-seen footage of William Burroughs, Frank Zappa, Patti Smith and other icons restored over a decade in the UK and reimagined as a cinematic event for today’s audiences. Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2025 - World premiere

Synopsis

A guilt-ridden writer, haunted by the past, embarks on a melancholic train journey home. Memories of a tumultuous adolescence resurface, forcing him to confront a dark secret that led to his mother's confinement in an asylum. Through fragmented recollections and lyrical confrontations, he navigates a path towards redemption and artistic awakening. This film is a Welsh-language "operatic film", a genre-bending exploration of grief, memory, and the power of artistic creation. Drawing inspiration from Wales' literary cornerstone, 'Un Nos Ola Leuad', this introspective drama is a fever dream woven from personal trauma and artistic expression. Score composed by Gareth Glyn, performed by the Welsh National Opera orchestra In Welsh with English subtitles Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere