Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

The action of this short, comic film noir unfolds as Mike explains how he's come to be buried alive. It's a tale of the underworld, in more ways than one, as cross and double-cross lead to a trip to the countryside that is anything but a picnic.

Synopsis

Tatjana dreams of escaping St Petersburg, and thinks she has found a man who can take her away. Meanwhile in Mexico City, Champinon is overshadowed by his confident, good-looking best friend and struggles to find himself a girlfriend.  In Los Angeles, Asha discovers the man of her dreams has been cheating on her, and in Kenya, Matthew rebels against his religious upbringing by reaching into Nairobi's burgeoning hip hop culture, attracting swift discipline from his father. The heat is on and our cast of characters react to the building pressure to create Transit: Tatjana leaves Russia for Mexico City in search of her lover, and Asha for Nairobi to shoot a documentary for her graduation project. In their new locations our characters meet and our four stories become two when Tatjana finds Champinon and Asha finds Matthew. Love follows but their relationships are not as simple as they first appear, as we discover that all their stories are interlinked.

Synopsis

On a windswept beach, a lone figure trudges across the sand. Deep in concentration, his eyes are trained on the ground ahead. This is the story of an old man's relentless search. He can only ever rest when he finds his treasure.

Synopsis

Based on the book by acclaimed author and playwright Athol Fugard, this deeply affecting film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who shoots a woman outside her home and steals her car, unaware, in his panic, that her baby is in the back seat. Pumping with the high energy of Zola's 'Kwaito' music, Tsotsi is an extraordinary and gritty contemporary portrait of ghetto life set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg townships.  

Synopsis

Ever sat on an underground train and felt you were being watched? You might have been an unsuspecting participant in a game of Tube Poker, the gambling phenomenon that is sweeping the globe.  

Synopsis

When Allen is hospitalised in a coma, fiancée Cathy and best mate Danny use a Handycam to 'communicate' with him. What starts out as a birthday present for Allen, to 'have a laugh' when he gets back and see that he hasn't 'missed much', shifts an already complex relationship into uncharted territory.

Synopsis

A group of enterprising students strive against the odds to achieve their dream of acting on the big stage. The youngsters decide to stage Shakespeare's Macbeth at Crewe's Lyceum Theatre and recruit Eric Shepard, a once feared and respected theatre director, whose own career has been cut short by injury. The film, like the play they eventually put on, is a triumph of perseverance and self-belief.

Synopsis

Maurice and Ian are old friends, veteran English actors who never quite hit the bigtime. Now in their seventies, they continue to work (Maurice, for example, is playing a corpse in a television drama) but spend much of their time discussing their ailments over breakfast in a favourite café. When Ian's great-niece Jessie arrives from the provinces, she quickly tries her great-uncle's patience. But Maurice is taken with the girl, and proceeds to show her the cultural sights of the capital. Maurice tries to teach Jessie something about life, but in the process he is surprised to discover how very little he actually knows now that his own life is drawing to a close.

Synopsis

As a young couple discuss the idea of giving up smoking, the sounds of a neighbouring argument spill into their flat. The argument makes them question their own marriage, while doing nothing about the neighbouring situation. Meanwhile, a young teenager argues with his mother as he tries to sneak out to a party with friends. His mother blackmails him into staying home, using his guilt against him.

Synopsis

Alienated and battle-scarred, Wes returns home late from school delaying a trip to visit his dying Nan. Martin Radich's film considers the pleasure of memory and pain of loss.

Synopsis

A long English summer and Katie is bored. As a last resort she seeks out sherry and companionship from Dorothy, her grandmother. Dorothy wants to go home though and the two form an unlikely alliance whose days are numbered.

Synopsis

Terrified of holding the 'worst-ever party', the over-honest and over-obsessive Lance faces his fear when his parents go away for a dirty weekend. He and porn-addicted best mate Henry plan the party, the only problem being that they are each planning different parties. When Steph, Lance's perfect woman, turns up with the man-eating Abby and the man-hating Heather (plus some unexpected gatecrashers) and when Henry's plan kicks in, Lance sees his dreams painfully fall apart as the worst-ever party gets progressively worse. But is there light at the end of a very dark tunnel? We've seen Trainspotting. We've seen Twin Town. We've seen the gritty social dramas. But set in the definitively middle-class 'Royal Tunbridge Wells Spa Town', We've got the Toaster shows a different Britain from the urban and social decay portrayed in most home-grown pictures. It's a comedy that lovingly skits middle England. Toaster is as much about what happens before and after a party as what happens during one. The sleep-over. The clean-up. The neighbours. The parents. The myth. The way it can change your life for better and for worse.