Through a series of oral testimonies and carefully composed portraits, Alone Together, the Social Life of Benches explores how individuals and groups spend time in two distinctive public London locations.
Made by Esther Johnson as part of an Arts & Humanities Research Council project, this poetic documentary illuminates the thoughts and memories of frequent users of General Gordon Square, Woolwich, and St Helier Open Space, Sutton.
Revolving around the micro-space of the humble bench, the film incorporates contributions from a diverse range of visitors. These testimonies highlight themes such as the psychological feeling of being in a space, the rhythm and flow of visitors to a place, the importance of design for everyday street furniture and access to communal outdoor space.
The film acts like a stranger who joins you to ‘watch the world go by’, and to break the ice by starting a conversation with their fellow bench user.
A young boy releases a cloud into a church and it builds to a storm. Elwood’s Ark is a poem that challenges notions of religion and redemption. It traces the journey of the water we drink, back 13.8 billion years through time and space to the beginning of the Universe.
Spoken in the words of a child, the film warns of a coming apocalypse. It is an apocalypse of our own making - an apocalypse in which divine intervention will not play a part, and only we ourselves may prevent.
Based on real case histories of human trafficking in Britain, Tariro is a hard hitting drama following three women whose lives cross and while established agencies intervene, they don't all have happy endings: one dies and another struggles to adapt.
This harrowing story digs deep into the emotions and lays bare some of Britain's hidden secrets.
A Death Row inmate petitions the court asking to be executed. As he goes on to tell his story, it gradually becomes clear that nothing is quite what it seems. 'The Fear of 13' is a stylistically daring experiment in storytelling, a psychological thriller constructed from a single four-day long interview. In a monologue that is part confessional and part performance, Nick, the sole protagonist, tells a tale with all the twists and turns of classic crime drama. But as the story unfolds, it reveals itself as something much deeper, an emotionally powerful meditation on the redemptive power of love and literature. A final shocking twist casts everything in a new light.
BFI London Film Festival 2015 - World premiere
Filmed over 5 years, A Syrian Love Story charts an incredible odyssey to political freedom in the West. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.
Winner, Jury Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015
Disillusioned reporter, Godwin, arrives in a West-African village to cover a local festival, but soon finds himself swept up in a witchhunt.
A series of misfortunes leads villagers to accuse a young, mute girl of being a witch. Their Pastor insists that the only hope of salvation lies in her exorcism and death. His compelling rhetoric and ability to incite fear into the people splits the village and threatens to tear their fragile world apart.
Godwin and a young school teacher attempt to save the girl’s life, bravely fighting back against corruption and false prophets.
Based on True Events, The Cursed Ones is a story of morality, religion, corruption and community in the dark heart of Africa.
The Nuns of the ‘Sisters of Mercy’ Convent, in the middle of the West Bank wilderness, have their daily routine of silence and prayer disrupted when a family of Jewish settlers come knocking at their door for help after crashing into the convent’s wall.
Parents and health care workers are caught in the cross-hairs of violence and politics as they attempt to protect their children from Polio in Pakistan. Once on the brink of eradication, the disease has again become a global threat - with Pakistan at its epicenter. Will these everyday heroes succeed and end Polio in our lifetime, or will another young generation be at risk?
In 2012, jihadists took control of northern Mali. They imposed one of the strictest interpretations of sharia law in history. On 22 August they banned music – radio stations destroyed, instruments burned and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death. This film follows Mali’s musicians as they fight to keep music alive in their country. Through personal stories we draw the audience into the human side of this ongoing conflict and ask the burning question: what does the future hold for Mali? The film culminates with the first public concert in Timbuktu post jihadist takeover and music ban.
