A sympathetic but searching portrait of Frank Ryan (1902-1944) IRA activist in Ireland, International Brigade Volunteer in Spain and Nazi collaborator in Berlin. Ryan enters a Faustian pact with a Nazi regime he believes will assist in forging a united Ireland. His collaboration is justified by the republican motto: "My enemy's enemy is my friend". But the former radical and internationalist pays a heavy price for this pact. The film raises important questions about collaboration between the IRA and the Nazis in World War II. It opens up a long suppressed debate about Irish neutrality in that war. Drawing upon Ryan’s correspondence and using a rich mix of period archive combined with live action - with a striking portrayal of Frank Ryan by Dara Devaney - the film makers tell a story of tragic proportions and probe the enigma that was Frank Ryan.
Theo is on a quest. He finds among his mother’s belongings a Super-8 film, in which his dad looks really happy, and a little in love. Maybe a lot. But not with Theo’s mother. Theo never really knew his dad and now that his mum is also gone, he’s intrigued to find out who else there was in his father’s life. His quest leads him into the past, and to Switzerland, high up into a remote Alpine valley. There he finds George who has been living as a recluse for a decade. For George, Theo’s dad was the love of his life. As the two men meet and get to know each other, slowly their lives start to make sense...
A comic story of loss, acceptance and a surreal vision of the afterlife, based on a Will Self story. Grown man, W, struggles to come to terms with the death of his domineering mother, only to discover that she's spending her dead existence very happily in a suburb of London.
11 year old Khalid is forced to run out into the middle of the night to save his 11 year old Christian friend, Obi, from a religious war neither of them understands.
"The moving finger writes, and having writ..."
Michael Smiley plays an unnamed reader who takes solace in books. When he finds random passages underlined in a library book his irritation with life builds to rage. Discovering the identity of the defacer he embarks on a twisted mission of revenge.
Bel Ami is the story of Georges Duroy, who travels through 1890s Paris, from cockroach ridden garrets to opulent salons, using his wits and powers of seduction to rise from poverty to wealth, from a prostitute’s embrace to passionate trysts with wealthy beauties, in a world where politics and media jostle for influence, where sex is power and celebrity an obsession.
Young orphan Pip is given a chance to rise from his humble beginnings thanks to a mysterious benefactor. Moving through London society as a gentleman, Pip uses his newfound position to pursue the beautiful Estella; a spoilt heiress he’s loved since childhood. Yet the shocking truth behind his great fortune will have devastating consequences for everything he holds dear.
Spring 1945. As the German front collapses, the Allied forces take control of Hitler’s country. With her Nazi parents imprisoned, 14-year-old Lore is left alone in charge of her four young siblings. The only place they can go is their grandmother’s house, 900km north. Embarking on a journey across the devastated country, the children struggle to survive, slowly realizing the reality and consequences of their parents’ actions. When Thomas, a young Jewish refugee, offers his help, Lore has to learn to trust a person whom she had always been told was the enemy.