Francis is an account of the creation of a 9-year-old 'defective' animated character. As the draughtsman’s hand goes to work and Francis attains animated consciousness, his behaviour is observed and assessed by a child psychologist. The boy’s responses – initially slow and apparently flawed – develop in unusual comic directions as the examination progresses.
As his vocalisations begin to address the nature of his animated world and the psychologist continues to try and interpret his actions, it appears that Francis may ‘break out’ once and for all and become a ‘real’ animated character. Francis playfully addresses notions of construction and the role that language plays in interpreting, classifying and creating certain types. In an animated world populated by impressionable idiot figures, mischief-makers and oddballs with strange vocal mannerisms, Francis puts the cute but simple cartoon character into therapy for a case study of 'animated behaviour'.
'identities' charts the multicoloured, multicultural transgender community in Ireland. Five personal stories give shape to the vibrant, parallel worlds of Transvestism, Transsexualism, Drag, Sexual identity, and Gender Dysphoria.
Intercutting black and white interviews with fly on the wall footage, each character's daily experience is laid bare. Vivid art performances offer more abstract and deeply personal self-representation. Opening our eyes to the potential of existing in fantasy, reality is thrown into sharp relief. At its heart, this is a film about the human spirit. Overcoming stereotype and categorisation, the gender construct breaks open, allowing personality and human emotion a path to expression.
Peter Kandinsky, a freelance journalist and documentary film maker has decided to invest his own resources in a project - an interview with an openly gay politician and an ex-MP, Jeremy (Gerry) Robertson, to examine his personal life and views.
The viewers are led on a narrative journey - sometimes misleading sometimes mischievous - by ever evolving characters. Although the storyline is entirely fictional, the film is reflective of the youtube and myspace generation, where almost anyone can have access to publishing their own (including partial or deliberately misleading commentary) video films and online web contents.
Interview with a Politician is a fictional and yet racy, seemingly topical exploration of the ups and downs in mainstream politician’s life, as if through a stage-managed docu-drama.
Madrid 1922. A city wavering on the edge of change as traditional values are challenged by the dangerous new influences of Jazz, Freud and the avant-garde. Salvador Dalí arrives at university: 18 years old and determined to become a great artist. His bizarre blend of shyness and rampant exhibitionism attracts the attention of two of the university’s social elite - Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel.
Salvador is absorbed into their decadent group and for a time Salvador, Luis and Federico become a formidable trio, the most ultra-modern group in Madrid. However as time passes, Salvador feels an increasingly strong pull towards the charismatic Federico – who is himself oblivious of the attentions he is getting from his beautiful writer friend, Margarita. Finally, in the face of his friends’ preoccupations – and Federico’s growing renown as a poet – Luis sets off for Paris in search of his own artistic success.
Federico and Salvador spend the holiday in the sea-side town of Cadaques. Both the idyllic surroundings and the warmth of the Dalí family sweep Federico off his feet. Salvador and he draw closer, sharing their deepest beliefs, inspirations and secrets, convinced that they have found a kind of friendship undreamt of by others. It is more than a meeting of the minds; it is a fusion of souls. And then one night, in the phosphorescent water, it becomes something else.
A seemingly innocent kiss throws Federico and Salvador into the realms of the taboo. In the world of Spanish Catholicism, homosexuality is an affront against God and man. On their return to Madrid the two embark on an unspoken, secret affair. When Luis visits, he is appalled to realise that Federico is in love with Salvador. He leaves the city in shock rather than confronting his one-time friend.
Salvador visits Luis in Paris and returns determined to separate himself from both Federico and Madrid – Luis has convinced him that both are proving detrimental to his career. Federico, increasingly fearful of his emotions, now becomes terrified of the thought of losing Salvador. One fateful afternoon the situation escalates as, frustrated and manipulated, Federico has sex with Magdalena whilst Salvador watches. The episode leaves Federico distraught as Salvador becomes colder than ever and leaves for Paris.
Alone in Madrid, Federico struggles against his psyche, tortured by the damning implications of his own religious beliefs and the undeniable voice of his flesh. He is haunted by news of Salvador who is collaborating on a Surrealist film with Luis and has embarked on an affair with a married woman – Gala. Finally Margarita forces Federico to admit to himself his homosexuality and carry on with his life.
He departs for America, never expecting to see Salvador again.
Madrid 1936. Spain is teetering on the precipice of civil war. Federico, now a highly acclaimed and controversial playwright, receives an invitation to dinner from Salvador and Gala. But the hosts have a rather unusual agenda and the evening is a disaster. A week later, Salvador is hosting a party when he discovers that Federico has been assassinated in the outbreak of war. The walls of self-denial that surround the artist come crashing down as he realises, too late, the depth of his love for Federico.
A story of ritual, sexuality and relationships, through the life and work of one of the UK's most exciting dancers. Classically trained, Bharatanatyam in India and ballet in London, Mavin Khoo is a household name in many of the international opera houses and clubs of London through his diverse work.
Daz is looking for love. Saleem is looking for sex. Cruising at an underground archway, these two worlds collide. Back at Daz' bedsit, Saleem embarks on a dangerous, thrilling sexual adventure.
Both characters disparate worlds overlap and collide to tell a tale of loneliness and longing in a city late at night. Flirting with danger, the dialogue erodes to a series of images of tenderness, violence, power and control.
As Alison waits for her lunchtime appointment, a familiar figure enters the restaurant - it's Laura, her first love. Without warning, Laura drops a bombshell: she still loves Alison and wants her back. Before Alison can catch her breath, Sara, her girlfriend, rushes into the restaurant and wonders how Alison knows Laura, her mother.
Worlds collide as the lives of Cal and Olivier intersect in SHANK, a gritty coming of age/rites of passage drama.
Cal, an 18-year-old Scally lad and gang member has nothing in his life except drugs, sex, random acts of violence and a secret that he keeps hidden from his mates. An online hook up for sex with a stranger, Scott (36), temporarily satisfies but fails to dampen his unspoken desires for his best mate, Jonno. Nessa, their twisted, foul-mouthed and controlling, de facto gang leader, suspects that there is something going on between them but she can't put her finger on it. Jonno, putty in Nessa'a hands, can't express his own deep rooted and unrequited attachment to Cal. Manipulating situations that bring her closer to having her suspicions confirmed, Nessa sets out about dividing loyalties and encouraging conflict.
In the back of a London Taxi, the driver bears witness to four separate encounters. A couple discuss their chess moves on the way to the hospital. A woman leaves her husband for her lover. A man debates his life with his inner woman. And a spotty teen boy waits to take his girlfriend to Prom night. Ordinary people, ordinary lives. He's not here to judge them, he’s just here to drive.
British artist and living legend Andrew Logan, loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, takes us under his glittering wing and inside his outrageous, anarchic and spectacular costume pageant: the Alternative Miss World Show.
As the Show’s master of ceremonies and ringmaster, Logan is the high priest of an esteemed congregation. Artist David Hockney judged the first one, musician David Bowie couldn’t get into the second, film director Derek Jarman won the third and fashionista Zandra Rhodes designs Andrew's hostess costume. Other patrons include Mary Quant, Biba, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Brian Eno, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Divine and John Waters, Elton John, Larry Hagman, the Queen Mum and Tony Blair. He describes the Show as his most important artwork - a fabulous living sculpture that spans 40 years of arts and culture.
Over its 35 year history Alternative Miss World has both reflected and informed British arts and culture. The first was a backlash against the austerity of the early 70s. Since then, the Show has inspired glam, punk and new romantic. It dazzled in Thatcher’s recession, flaunted itself in the AIDS crisis, became darker in the corporate 90s and decidedly un-Cool Britannia in 2004.
Using live observational camera, archive and exuberant animation, this documentary charts the mounting of the 2009 Show, interwoven with its history - the rise, fall and rediscovery - of both the event and the artist at its centre.
