STOLEN is the story of women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ in an Ireland that heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Over 80,000 unmarried mothers were incarcerated in institutions run by nuns from 1922 to 1998. Mothers and babies were cruelly separated shortly after birth with thousands of babies taken for adoption and their birth records rendered untraceable. 9,000 infants died from 1922 to 1998, a rate sometimes five times the national average. Others were fostered out as cheap farm labour from the age of six.
It was a history that was largely ignored until the discovery that 796 babies had died between 1925 and 1961 in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home alone. Evidence of tiny remains found in an underground sewage plant on the site of the former home caused outrage and alarm escalated over what happened in other institutions such as Bessborough in Cork and Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary where more children died without burial records. The Irish government announced an investigation into Mother and Baby homes.
Survivors relate their experiences of cruelty and loss and of happier outcomes in some cases, interwoven with historical analysis and artists’ responses to what happened.
Official Selection London Irish Film Festival 2023 - World premiere
A call-to-action short film that uses verbatim dialogue from disabled actors told from their lived experiences. The film unfolds through vignettes of the main characters, as we watch them smash stereotypes and reveal societal barriers, whilst breaking the fourth wall to reveal their inner most thoughts.
A Parisian grandfather searches for the granddaughter he has never seen, against a background of family trauma, and seeking to understand how his son became a notorious Islamic State terrorist.
Official selection DocEdge Film Festival 2023 - World premiere
Palestinian Shadi embarks on a secret adventure, and accidentally drags his proud family into a trap where they either collaborate with the Israeli occupation or be shamed and humiliated.
Tilak, a gentle and reserved gay Nepali man in a rural setting is forced to marry a girl (Urmila, a school-teacher) by his family. How do the couple navigate social pressures (including not being able to produce a child) as well as take care of their needs.
Grace Ridhi turns up to Mr Freeman's house to demand he pay for all the overdue bills he owes the council. Mr Freeman prefers a more spiritual approach to such things.
Inhabiting a bizarrely unusual body (the body she loves), and navigating daily discrimination, Ella searches the world for another like her – "Is There Anybody Out There?"
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2023 - World Cinema Documentary Competition - World premiere
Official Selection Hot Docs 2023 - Special Presentation
Official Selection Krakow Film Festival 2023 - International Documentary Competition
Official Selection Sheffield Doc/Fest 2023
Alo, an undocumented overseas Filipino worker, lives in an overcrowded house-share in London. He is struck by a latent neurological problem, which causes a bout of seizures and disrupts his situation in the household. The residents of the house are posed an ultimatum; should they risk Alo’s health or call an ambulance, potentially resulting in his deportation?
World Premiere: BFI London Film Festival 2023
Sundance London 2024
A heated argument occurs when Abdullah declares he is joining the British Military to the shock of his pacifist father Omar and anger of his fundamentalist older brother Moh. As their debate unfurls past resentments and revelations rise to the surface, boiling to a point where they can no longer contain themselves. The war on terror, the 7/7 bombings, the loss of the son's mother and the allegiance to either Islam or Britain. What will unfold. Family, Duty or Honour?
The isolated mountainous region of Tusheti, in Northeast Georgia, is the site for a reflection on the importance of ritual, the maintenance of community ties, and how modernisation and migration are transforming rural landscapes. Shot over several years, Let Us Flow uses inovative audio-visual techniques to make visible the symbolic and physical division of sacred spaces within the community and offers a nuanced perspective on a culture where ancestral shrines are only accessible to men.
In a verdant mountainous region of Georgia, tradition and modernity intertwine. Carrying on the traditions of their ancestors, the men in the film race on horseback down mountains and across wide, expansive valleys in a performance of masculinity. The filmmaker states, “As the film progresses it becomes a film about distance: the twenty meter distance the Tushetian women have to observe from their shrines, the distance between me and my protagonists, between languages and translation.” Medoidze is never seen in front of the camera, made visible only through her voice. Yet even with this distance between her and her subjects the film, as shot from her perspective, makes for a truly immersive piece of observational filmmaking.
An immersive audio-driven film that asks you to listen. Why is it that BPoC communities in the UK do not feel like they belong in the outdoors?
The film is based on audio interviews taken from a group of BPoC women outdoor activists who are changing the story.
When a disabled, unemployed mechanic is prejudicially denied the chance of applying for a job he’s best fit for, we’re taken on a musical journey of 80's Disco & Ballroom, through his anger and frustration (alongside his disabled peers) calling for access and change.
