Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Afterlife is a film about love and filial responsibility. It's the story of two siblings, Kenny and Roberta Brogan. Kenny is an ambitious young journalist, standing on the brink of a fantastic career opportunity in New York. Roberta has Down's syndrome and still lives at home with their mother, May. Two very different siblings. Two very different lives. But everything is about to change when tragedy strikes and they are forced to reassess their future.

Synopsis

Almost is an account of a decade in the life of Tom, Catherine, Frank and Dian, 30 year-old friends who grew up together in Maidenhead. We observe them struggling to reassess their position on love, poverty, parenthood, Italian coffee, dirty dishes, sex, real estate, multi-cultural London and gardening.

Synopsis

Naomi and Gary: They are a modern day couple. During the course of their story Naomi's emotional memories flood back and shatter the moment. Simon and Natalie: Simon helps Natalie at a taxi rank. The situation turns tense due to Natalie giving Simon a bogus phone number. Matt and Susan: They are both young professionals. Matt lacks confidence with women desperately trying to impress. Susan sees the situation for what it is 'a one-night stand'. Peter and Anne: Peter cannot believe his luck, as he lies next to Anne, the problem is he just can't understand that she is engaged to be married. The four strands have been intervowen driving the story forward towards their resolutions and the dawning of a new day.

Synopsis

America is a young Bolivian girl living in London. It is ten in the morning and a collect call from Bolivia will change the course of her day drastically. Her mother has died. She was killed while protesting against the USA's radical antidrug policy in the country. America promises her sister she will take the first plane to La Paz leaving today to be present at the burial tomorrow.   When she hangs up she embarks on a journey full of obstacles that she will have to overcome. She has two problems; the ticket costs £500 but she only has £100, and the plane leaves at 11:30 am. That is in 90 minutes. Her determination to get the money and see her mother for the last time in her life will be stronger than the antagonist elements oppressing her. To board the plane to La Paz will become her American dream. At the end of her journey, America will be determined to follow in her mother’s footsteps and show the USA that their repressive policy against the coca leaf is unjustified, even more so when respect for human rights and social welfare is at stake. Coca is not cocaine.

Synopsis

Theirs is, at heart, a love story: Andrew and Jeremy met each other at Bromptons Club, a legendary gay bar in Earls Court, London. Despite a considerable age gap (Andy is 49, Jeremy 69) and stark social differences, they fell in love and began sharing their lives together. Five years later, in May 2004, they got married at an emotional and intimate Town Hall ceremony. Andy is a retired bus driver from South London, handsome in that rough and roguish way. Jeremy is an English professor -  cute, fussy, vivacious and clearly from a patrician world. Both men experienced painful early struggles with their sexuality. Jeremy had a failed marriage to a woman, followed by a misguided attempt to 'cure' himself. Andy cruised public washrooms and indulged with much promiscuity - gay bars, drug addiction, crime, prison and rehabilitation. Jeremy has literary connections and moves in a sphere of chic dinner parties, poetry readings and gay picnics. Between their homes in London and their exploits in Palm Springs and Hollywood, we get to know these likeable, complex and sensitive men in a way that is rare in movies - which is to say we begin to care deeply about them and their relationship.

Synopsis

Normandy 1894. A seductive, bright and fiery young man in his early twenties decides to follow his passion for burglary, through adventures that will make his name famous. This young man is Arsene Lupin. Freely adapted from the novel by Maurice Leblanc, The Countess of Cagliostro, the film describes the formative years of this charming and ambiguous charcter.

Synopsis

Two New York art thieves come to England to steal an old master and are philosophising over life, death and the biology of the humble house fly, which eventually leads to a game of chess to see who will carry out an indiscriminate killing. The winner gets to pick the victim. Meanwhile two professional car thieves are doing their own deep thinking on whether or not to call it a day with car theft after one of their accomplices has been murdered. Meanwhile three drug dealers are getting ready for their latest deal and doing some philosophising of their own ...where are they going, what are they doing - Everything goes pear-shaped when the vehicle the car thieves steal belongs to the dealers - as the dealers give chase they accidently cut up a car containing the art thieves - in an ultimate road rage scenario the art thieves decide to kill the person who has just cut them up - This shattering pivotal coincidence leads to carnage, chaos, brutality and murder.

Synopsis

Two young men, desperate to escape the politically volatile Ivory Coast, embark upon a European journey seeking their fortune. They dream of one day returning as triumphant heroes. However, one is deported and returns empty-handed, cast aside by his family and friends. The other, running from the authorities, makes it to London where he hooks up with a young, white bisexual woman. Captivated, he follows her on to Paris amidst the throng of an underground music revolution. Ultimately this takes him home to Africa, his dream fulfilled - but at a price far greater than he ever could have expected.

Synopsis

Set in the 1970s, Breakfast on Pluto follows the exploits of Patrick Braden, an endearing, witty, clever and deceptively tough young transvestite. Abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown, Patrick is aware from a very early age that he has been born into the wrong body. He survives this harsh environment with the aid of his wit and charm, plus a sweet refusal to let anyone and anything change who he is.    With a burning desire to find his mother and reconciliation, he moves to London, and a hilarious, memorable and emotional series of misadventures sees Patrick, or Kitten as he prefers to be called, finally finding the love and happiness he craves.                  

Synopsis

Brothers of the Head  is the story of conjoined twins Tom and Barry Howe - a freak show turned proto-punk sensation. As teenagers in the early 1970s, the Howe twins were plucked from obscurity by a music promoter who groomed them into a rock-and-roll act. Against all expectations, the boys - performing as The Bang-Bang - quickly appropriated their status as 'freaks' and spat it back in the form of searing, aggressive rock. Grasping at the truth from an array of often unreliable accounts, the story follows the twins as they negotiate love, artistic rivalry, and the cruel suppression of their unique voice. Brothers of the Head  investigates our impulse to celebrate the extraordinary, and our tragic compulsion to claim, de-mystify and destroy it.

Synopsis

London, early 1900s. Two friends, Josef and Peter, are building a suspension bridge high above the city. Each is fearless, despite the dangers of their situation. Josef, in particular, enjoys the freedom of almost touching the sky, balancing dangerously between life and death. One day, while walking precariously on a girder, Josef turns to speak with his friend - Peter is gone. Josef is devastated at the loss of his friend and, following Peter's burial, he determines to forge a new life away from the sad memories of him. Spying an advertising poster for Dempsey's Circus, he sees the image of its star, trapeze artist Alice. A beautiful creative with whom he falls in love with instantly, and is determined to meet. Josef joins Dempsey's Circus doing menial tasks, but has a dream. One day he gets the opportunity to show Lord Dempsey, Alice's father and the circus owner, his vision to appear in an incredible trapeze act with Alice. Dempsey, a rough and unpleasant man, is sceptical, yet recognises the opportunity for his ailing business. Alice, although attracted to Josef, is wary and reticent after a lifetime spent in the circus, but Josef, full of love, only wants to fly with her like two birds. The day comes when Alice and Josef are to perform for the first time. Before an excited and expectant audience, tragedy ensues and Josef is never the same again, yet all is not as it seems. 

Synopsis

Based on the novel Unkenrufe by Günter Grass. A German art historian falls in love with a Polish art restorer in Gdansk. They go into business returning the remains of Polish German war exiles to the homeland.