Projects in genres: Comedy

Synopsis

Paul Callow has a dream. Fed up with city life and driving trains, he longs to commune with Nature and write novels. But that’s easier dreamt than done. The trauma of having two people fall under his train in as many weeks does little to improve his mood, until he hears that three fatal accidents in a month, qualifies you for early retirement with 10 years’ salary - lump sum!

Paul suddenly sees a way of clearing his debts and escaping to a better life. All he has to do is find a willing victim. After some bizarre encounters, he eventually meets up with itinerant Irishman Tommy Cassidy furious at being saved from certain death by jumping off a bridge. Paul offers him £1500 cash to wait till Monday.

Racked with guilt at having abandoned his family 8 years ago, Tommy decides to salve his conscience by paying them a visit and Paul insists on tagging along to protect his ‘investment’. But Tommy’s wife Rosemary and his daughter Frankie, now a beautiful, feisty and independent young woman, both harbour a deep-rooted grudge. Over the course of the weekend, relationships between all four are changed forever but when Monday morning arrives, Paul and Tommy are confronted with the harsh reality of the deal they struck.

Surely they won’t go through with it. Or will they? After all - A Deal is a Deal.

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'Little Jack' (Freddie Highmore) is an adorable young fox who is busy enjoying a blissful life, chasing frogs, butterflies and playing in the forest with his loving family. Until one night when his perfect world is turned upside down when his father, 'Jack' is captured and forced to join the circus.

'Anna Conda' (Miranda Richardson) is the cunning circus-owner whose desire for bigger and better performances leads her to kidnapping the forest animals. With the help of her magician husband, 'The Ringmaster' (Bill Nighy), the animals are hypnotized into performing in her shows.

On his rescue mission Little Jack gets help from some unlikely heroes, including a nature loving boy in a wheelchair called Alex and Arabella, a young acrobat. Little Jack's task of rescuing his beloved father leads him to make a new friends, including a gorgeous circus fox named Darcey (Sienna Miller). Together they set out to free all the animals so they can return home to the beautiful forest- just as nature intended.

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A disagreement about the nature of love between a postman and his friend leads to an unexpected confession about a love letter that was never sent.

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A secret agent spoof starring a seven foot tall Austrian action-hero bull and a skinny, self-assured, snappily dressed English goblin playboy! It's Dangermouse for the 21st century!

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Nineteen, washed up and pissed off, Daryl is going nowhere fast. His 'not quite' girlfriend wants to get on Coronation Street! His mother does his head in and there's the boat! That big daft, stupid stuck boat.

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James never misses his dreams - he records them straight to VHS using Dreamspoon wireless technology. But when a work colleague, Erica, stops by one evening, she finds something surprising amongst the titles.

A bittersweet comedy. If you hoard your dreams, someone is going to want to watch them.

Synopsis

'At last, the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. He still might.'

Bill Hicks is considered by many to be the greatest comedian of the last 20 years, ironic given his anonymity in his native America. He was a preacher, a philosopher, a raging prophet who believed he could save his audience by confronting them with truth - and dick jokes. He was considered criminally unpatriotic at home for skewering the hypocrisies of the government, media and organised religion, but he broke out internationally and stunned UK audiences made him a star.

Just as he was on the verge of conquering the USA, he was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. He was 32 years old.

15 years after his death, his popularity continues to grow, his CD's and DVDs selling more than ever and Bill himself regularly rated in 'best of' lists. Now, for the first time, his fascinating and ultimately uplifting life story is told by those that knew him best. Made in close association with Bill’s family and friends, it features unprecedented access to unseen archive material and a stunning new animation technique throughout.

American: The Bill Hicks Story is the definitive record of one of America's most iconic modern heroes - a fearless voice as relevant today as ever.

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Automorphosis looks into the minds and hearts of a delightful collection of eccentrics, visionaries, and just plain folks who have transformed their autos into artworks.

On a humorous and touching journey, we discover what drives the creative process for these unconventional characters. And in the end, we find that an art car has the power to change us - to alter our view of our increasingly homogeneous world.
 

Synopsis

Clarence is faking it. Love, friendship, hardwork. Madness.

He drinks to avoid his unhappiness. His girlfriend, Sophie, is better than the drink, but still doesn't let me escape his unhappiness. And his job is certainly not helping.

Basketcase tells the story of Clarence's descent into madness - or not - and his desperate quest to blame anyone but himself.

It's a sardonic fairytale; a dismal parable. No wonder they're laughing.

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After five years together, Angela longs for marriage, but Paul doesn't believe in it. Angela thinks he doesn't believe in them and leaves him. In his drunken quest for solace, Paul begins a soul-searching journey, trying to overcome his fear of commitment. Will it be in time?

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As the first Carbon Neutral, Vegetarian, Organic expedition ever to attempt the North Pole, Mark and Brian have high hopes of not only doing their bit for global warming, but also, if all goes well, of getting into the Guinness Book of Records.

Unfortunately, not only is this a world first: it's a first for them too. Brian and Mark have never done anything like this before.

Luckily they are followed by Steve, their hardened arctic cameraman, to follow their journey for the digital channel, Adventure Plus. That is until they shoot him.

All alone on the ice the boys are left to fend for themselves and hadn't reckoned on the polar bears, the competitive Norwegians or on Mark's rapidly loosening grip on reality.

Noone said saving the planet would be easy. But does it have to be this hard?

Beyond The Pole is Touching the Void with laughs, Withnail and I on ice. Funny and subversive, it’s the story of two men trying to find their place in the world before the end of the world. And it asks one question of us all: how far would you go to save the planet?

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Richard, bored of his mundane existence as a cycle courier, attempts to make his film A Distance Too Far in a bid to escape to a better life. Driven by the belief that it will propel him, his friends and his girlfriend to fame and fortune, and the fear of ending up like his family, the completion of his 'masterpiece' becomes the sole focus of Richard's life.

So with a budget creeping into positive numbers, Richard employs a rabble of egomaniacs and incompetents. These include his loyal friend Ray, chicken slaughterer (and now producer). Richard's likeable, mellow and quirky personality transforms into that of an angry, unappreciative tyrant who becomes hell bent on success. His relationship with girlfriend Jemma deteriorates, as he is unable to think past his ruthless ambitions. Eventually, his constant barking takes it's toll on the cast and crew, culminating in Richard throwing a tantrum and banishing them all from the set.

Even Ray, who has been funding the production with extra hours at the meat factory, is ejected.

Met with indifference after crawling back to his former crew, Richard realizes his dream is over for now and that his life, without the millions and the showbiz golf-buddies, isn't so bad the way it is.