Projects in genres: Human Rights and with status: Post-production

Synopsis

An English photographer looks back at his latest assignment: a reportage on Father Renato Chiera an Italian missionary working with children in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Mixing documentary and narrative DEAR CHILD tells the stories of teenagers caught up in drug trafficking, and their attempt to change their lives. It is a poetic film about the fight of a community against violence, poverty and despair. It is a film about love.

Synopsis

When the Calais Jungle was ignored and condemned by authorities, ordinary people stepped in to support the refugees. This is the untold story of the volunteers and those they tried to help. ON OUR DOORSTEP delves deep into an aspect of the refugee crisis that rarely reached the press. With NGOs being blocked by red tape and the absence of any positive action by French or British authorities, the film is a behind-the-scenes look at the unprecedented grassroots movement that rose to aid the refugees in Calais, and the community that sprang up there, before it was forcefully demolished. This is the story of what happens when young and inexperienced citizens are forced to devise systems and structures to support 10,000 refugees; and are left unguided to face the moral and emotional conflicts, blurred lines and frequent grey areas of giving aid to vulnerable people. People who do not want to be there. Originally arriving at the Calais Jungle as a volunteer, Thomas Laurance ended up documenting what he saw over the year he spent there, until the camp’s destruction in October 2016. This film is the result of the remarkable and intimate access he gained to both volunteers and refugees.

Synopsis

A portmanteau documentary made by displaced Syrian filmmakers through workshops in Beirut, Amman and Istanbul. Each film is distinct, but what they have in common is their ability to surprise and move us with otherwise untold known stories told in a highly accessible and creative way, reminding us of the strains of exile and the resilience of the human spirit.

Synopsis

Nelson Mandela recounts his life story, from birth, through life to death surrounded by his grandchildren in unique drama-documentary featuring extraordinary unseen footage. Narrated by Mandela himself, one of history’s extraordinary enduring figures, his account reveals previously unheard, personal and touching testimony, teamed with emotional conflict. Travelling through time back to his beginnings as a rebellious young man in South Africa; his rebirth as a lawyer; 27 years imprisonment on Robben Island and finally to his release and free and fair elections and victory against Apartheid rule. The interviews and narration are the last oral and video account by the great man before his death. The film was edited by Gregers Salls (SENNA) and officially supported by the Mandela Foundation, and Mandela’s own family.

Synopsis

A teenage British Kashmiri, Noor, retraces her roots in search of her father. She is joined by Majid, a local Kashmiri boy. Unwittingly they become involved in a 70 year old Kashmir conflict in one of the most deadliest parts of the world. Set against the spectacular backdrop of Kashmir, this epic tragedy unravels through the playful eyes of love-struck teenagers who, in their search, uncover the hidden secrets of the lost fathers of Kashmir.

Synopsis

In a time of wall-building, a story of the two sides: our side and their side. A tale of two people on the frontline, a migrant seeking asylum and an immigration officer seeking redemption. Strange to go through hell to end up in an English detention centre. Strange to listen to tragedy and tick a box. An uplifting story about acts of rebellion by the people at the heart of our strange new world.

Synopsis

Donald, a man in his 50s is a salt-of-the-earth-Yorkshire-man. When his billionaire boss, Demi, dies, Donald is tasked with destroying evidence of his ‘other women’. But Donald doesn’t account for the effect meeting Demi’s hauntingly beautiful 26-year-old mistress Amber will have on him. Despite trying to keep Amber at arm’s length, Donald has to collude with her to delete a sexy video that would implicate his boss and mean certain death for Amber. Donald embarks on a journey that leads him face-to-face with Amber’s notorious gangster cousin KD. He discovers Amber was forced to marry KD when they were sixteen, and after being raped by him she risked hell by lying to get an Islamic divorce, leaving both sides of the family devastated. Now fully qualified as a lawyer, Amber is set to escape to London when the bombshell hits: KD is to marry her naive sixteen year-old sister, Miriam. But soon, we realise it’s part of KD’s twisted plan to win back the love of his life, Amber. The only woman he has ever wanted. Nursing his own tragic past, Donald is compelled to help Amber, and is dragged deeper into a world of hypocrisy, betrayal and ultimately murder, leaving an honest man broken. Donald snaps.

Synopsis

The story, told in parallel of Mexican brothers that want to go back to the US illegally after being deported for life, and that of an American woman who lost her house due to the world economic crisis and today believes she can get it back through Trump’s promises. Their journeys take them on road trips to meet with their past and with relatives who they believe can help them achieve their dreams. Brothers Chuy and Chato preparing their last attempt to cross to the US meet their mother in Tijuana. The encounter provokes a shock that makes them question their life and what they are looking for. American Vanessa on her way back to the farm in Montana where she grew up follows Trump’s campaign and rallies. The journey, and her return to her roots, opens wounds and raises questions that make her realise what she’s really looking for. An unique encounter with families in Mexico and in the US who, regardless of their different backgrounds, experience similar situations due to not having a sense of belonging.

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Pema lives in the remote mountains of Tibet. For generations, her family has farmed their barley fields in peace. But when Pema’s father is taken away by the authorities, her world is shattered. A Buddhist nun from the local nunnery walks into Pema’s life and invites her to join a group of locals escaping persecution by walking over the Himalayas, into India. Pema is torn: can she leave her mother, grandmother and younger siblings at this time of crisis? Has she the right, or the courage, to join her friend and seek a new life for herself? As Pema struggles with her dilemma, there is no news about her imprisoned father. The clock is ticking, for everyone. A film about the price of freedom and who pays for it, told through the eyes of a teenage girl. Shot entirely on location in the Himalayas with a non-professional cast, and made by filmmakers determined to give a voice to the oppressed of Tibet through a universal story about the love of parents for their children.

Synopsis

Based on the true story of the the 1983 escape by 38 prisoners from the HMP Maze high security prison in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Prisoner Larry Marley, the chief architect behind the break-out, strikes up a complex friendship with a prison warden prior to the escape.

Synopsis

Through the eyes of people who became convinced of a date for the end of the world, Right Between Your Ears explores how people believe, how we turn beliefs into certainties, and mistake them for the truth. A stock trader with a young family, a philosophy student about to graduate, a retail manager who became so convinced she quit her job of 18 years. As they face the consequences of their conviction, neuroscience and social psychology offer insight into how we can become convinced we’re right, even when we're wrong.

Synopsis

An ordinary man is arrested in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Suspected of terrorism, he is held for 'enhanced interrogation'. Alone in the dark, he hallucinates a series of psychological tortures. When he is rescued we discover the real brutality that he has been subjected to.