Projects in genres: Human Rights

Synopsis

The story of two full-of-life, lonely and desperate strangers. One has risked his life to come to the UK to seek asylum; the other is a bold, vivacious woman clinging on to life, looking bleakly to her future whilst not quite being able to let go of her chaotic past. Jostling between comedy and heart-breaking moments of vulnerability, our story treads the fine line between pathos and humour, where human nature and tragedy are just a part of everyday life. Cindie is jobless, childless, and her life has been spiralling - addicted to her love of a party, vaping and drink. A working-class woman about to turn 40 and at her lowest ebb, she’s offered a lifeline via a sham marriage by fixer Amel - to a political refugee, Tariq, 27. In 2025, the number of people crossing the Dover Straits to the UK to seek asylum has doubled to around 60,000; this number continues to rise. A story about drag, immigration, class and true friendship. And so much more than that - it’s a love story, a modern fairy tale, and love is something we can all relate to regardless of sex, race, or religion – love is universal.

Synopsis

Five lives, one city, the fate of a nation at war. A civil servant, a tea lady, a motorbike medic and two street boys, five stories weave together in search of freedom through dreams, revolution, and civil war from the metropolis of Khartoum Sudan to escape in East Africa. In 2022 four Sudanese filmmakers, in collaboration with a British director/writer, began documenting the lives and dreams of five citizens in Khartoum. After a military coup brought down the civilian government, a war broke out between the army and the RSF militia that displaced over ten million people. Filmmakers and subjects escaped to East Africa and determined to continue the film another way. This film is a lyrical and cinematic window for global audiences to emotionally connect into the lives and dreams of the everyday people of Khartoum at a pivotal moment in African history. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection Berlin Film Festival 2025 - European premiere Berlin Film Festival 2025 - Berlin Film Festival 2025 - Winner - Peace Film Prize Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

"The Sight is a Wound" confronts the impossibility of image-making in the face of genocide. Through the burning of over 50 paintings, the film interrogates the ethical failure of aesthetics, where witnessing collapses into complicity. It is an act of refusal—excavating absence, exhaustion, and the limits of representation.

Synopsis

Haunted by rising sea levels, a daughter digs up her father’s grave to move his body to higher ground.

Synopsis

This is more than a film, it is a cry of revolution from children all around the world who continue to ask "Can I Go Home Now?" while being terrorized by wars. Filmed in the current war zone of Ukraine as missiles flew overhead, CAN I GO HOME NOW? is a heartbreaking, moving, and powerful documentary film that gives a voice to children suffering from ongoing horrific wars. No adults are allowed to speak in this film. Rarely do children get to have a say in a war fought by adults, and this film gives the children a voice and a chance to speak up as they tell the story of this war in their own words. The film witnesses their experiences, fears, and hopes in a war zone. Despite their circumstances, they dream and hope for a better future. The film is a lesson in courage about the impact of wars on children worldwide and a testament to human resilience. This film is a testament to the fact that wars that affect children cannot be allowed to happen anymore.

Synopsis

After discovering something dark about his father, Jamie travels to Jordan. Carrying his father’s camera around his neck, Jamie meets Hassan, a friendly tour guide. Flashes of the past haunt Jamie as we gradually understand that Hassan and Jamie may be more connected than originally thought.

Synopsis

Using both verbatim reconstruction and lip-synched archive, NO MAN IS AN ISLAND examines a tragic story of social shaming in a small island community. As panic about the imminent decriminalisation of homosexuality rises, the media provides a mechanism beyond the judicial one of keeping gay men in their closets.

Synopsis

After a terrorist bombing, junior intelligence officer Helena Brennan is tasked with gathering information about a radical Muslim cleric - the notorious and elusive al Sharif. On travelling to Pakistan, Helena becomes involved in a botched mission to capture one of al Sharif’s key lieutenants. One of her colleagues is murdered, and the other is kidnapped and later executed, as Helena’s world disintegrates around her. She must hunt down the perpetrators to find redemption. That’s the story. But the film doesn’t show you how the story unfolds. Instead, you encounter its characters alone in a black void, staring into the camera’s lens. Their faces are the film’s landscapes. They report on the lives they are forced to live and the harrowing world that we’ve imagined for them. THE VIEW FROM ABOVE is a film that asks spectators to confront the brutal, misogynist and white-supremacist ideologies of the stories we consume as entertainment. It seeks to reveal the role that so many contemporary thrillers force audiences to play and invites them to regret learning their lines.

Synopsis

TRANS CAMERA ACTION uses digital and analogue filmmaking methods for a meaningful exploration of the construction and impact of trans and non-binary representations through conversation with trans and non-binary film workers. The film also includes experimental and allegorical views of trans representations in 16mm and 8mm film.

Synopsis

Based on a true story - Ivan and his father, operating a small hospital at the frontline, are tested when a platoon of Russian soldiers approach their building, forcing them to make a difficult decision to protect their patients and their own lives. BAFTA Film Awards 2025 - Winner - Best British Short Film

Synopsis

A documentary that looks intimately at the incredible life story that shaped an iconic female musician who defined an era - The Selecter’s Pauline Black. Pauline Black goes on an odyssey looking at her personal experience of identity and how it has informed her life and art. The Two Tone movement was the perfect setting for Pauline with her mixed British, Nigerian and Jewish heritage. It was the catalyst that allowed her to explore and express all sides of herself and figure out who she is. Looking at her own groundbreaking experience, Pauline traces how her legacy is relevant to the world around her today where modern society pushes the boundaries of gender, politics, race and identity. “More than anything I wanted my family to finally say my name, Pauline Black. They could never bring themselves to say the B word. After years of being called half-caste or coloured, I could say it loud and proud, Pauline Black. I wanted to assert my new identity, fashioned in my own image, not somebody else’s idea of who I should be. My rebirth was complete. The ‘rude girl’ I had invented had a new name, Pauline Black.” Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - International premiere

Synopsis

A woman at the end of her life wanders lost in the woods where her memories find her. Seamlessly blending historical archive footage with dramatizations, the narrative explores how nature connects us to our past.