What price do the farmers of Punjab pay for the rice on our plate?
The north Indian state of Punjab was said to have produced enough food to feed the entire country during the Green Revolution. However, the overuse of chemicals introduced to enhance production poisoned the water with carcinogens and created an infertile soil addicted to chemicals. Just as the land is dependent, so are more and more farmers becoming addicted to drugs, which help them to work longer hours in the fields. The expense of the chemicals and drugs forces farmers to take loans from 'Arthis', the rich middlemen who increase their interest rates without warning. Over 50,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last ten years, by drinking the toxic chemicals that are murdering Punjabi soil.
After instigating the largest of leak of secrets in US history - when she disclosed 750,000 documents to Wikileaks - ex-soldier and trans woman Chelsea Manning was supposed to spend most of the rest of her life behind bars in an all-male military prison. But on January 17 2017, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence, in an unprecedented and controversial move that divided the United States and the world.
XY CHELSEA follows Chelsea Manning as she leaves prison after seven years inside, and begins a new life, whilst at the same time having to deal with the far-reaching consequences of her past - the historic leaks that lead to her prison sentences, the unintended celebrity status that is thrust on her as one of the world’s most notorious whistleblowers, and transitioning to become the woman she has always known herself to be.
An intimate character portrait of a fascinating, unique and complex woman, a true rebel and outsider, who after making history must now start a new life, in a world which is far from welcoming, and in the shadow of rising Nationalism and intolerance, which has fomented hate and division throughout America.
Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2019 - Movies Plus - World premiere
Official Selection Hot Docs 2019 - Special Presentations
In these dark times, you may think that every hazard has been identified, but nobody has taken in consideration how dangerous dance can be…
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Shorts Programme
For years Michael avoided seeing his father as he found him a constant reminder of his own possible fate. Now with signs that’s his father’s genetic disease has been passes down to himself, he’s back to help take care of him in his final days.
Cadence decides to run away during an unwished-for road trip with her mother. Looking through her binoculars she sees something unusual that will lead her to an unexpected meeting with two refugees.
Academy Award™ nominee Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA EUROPA, SPOOR, IN DARKNESS) brings to the screen the extraordinary untold story of Gareth Jones, an ambitious young Welsh journalist who travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and uncovered the appalling truth behind the Soviet “utopia” and Stalin’s regime. Initially a regular news investigation, Jones’ quest quickly turned into a life-or-death journey… his experiences helped inspire George Orwell’s famous allegory Animal Farm.
Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Competition - World premiere
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Debate Strand
In a dystopian near-future London, a privileged white woman browses a futuristic VR streaming platform and comes across a VR film where she will experience a tense encounter with a pair of policemen…through the eyes of a black man.
A journey of relationships between women.
When society refuses to hear them, the Birangona, heroines of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, hold closely to tell their stories to each other and the next generation to understand their identity. To never forget how as women they have refused to be diminished as they have tried to heal and overcome the ravages of conflict, violence and prejudice. To create the future with the power of unconditional love.
Spending his last night as a civilian in his dream-like local tennis club, Michael, a young British soldier confronts a glimpse of the near future waiting for him on the other side of the night.
Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020 - International Competition
Using as base Thomas Edison’s 1894 filming of the Sioux American Indian ‘Ghost Dance’, the piece explores dance as a form of resistance against the imposition of foreign powers, using footage of the Sioux dancing against the white settlers in North America and protest dances in other locations including Gaza, South Africa and Peru.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Experimenta Strand
Following three transgender friends as they navigate some of the harsh realities of being trans in the UK, find their community, and dare to dream of a life without limitations. It's a coming of age story of friendship and hope, love and loss, strength and pride.
After being torn away from her family, 14-year-old Esther must assume a new identity in order to navigate her survival on a remote snow bound farm amidst the hostility of Nazi-occupied Norway.
Trondheim, Norway, 1940s: Esther (14) had been enjoying a peaceful, middle-class existence with her Jewish parents under the German occupation. However, one night, German officers arrive and arrest Esther's father, Hans, on account of his Jewish background. Esther and her mother escape in a truck but soon run into a German patrol. Hidden in a chest Esther is the only serving refugee - finding herself utterly alone in the snow she runs for cover in the woods but soon succumbs to the cold. She sees and follows a local farm boy, Aksel (16) back to his parent's farm.
When the German patrol arrives at the farm Esther decides to escape. She runs through the forest where she stumbles upon the frozen body of her mother. Aksel finds Esther clutching her mother's dead body some time later, and leads her back to the farm. But it soon becomes apparent to Esther that she will never survive as a girl and she decides to transform herself into a young boy.
