Projects in genres: Human Rights

Synopsis

Palestine and Israel. Conflicting narratives and a world of preconceptions. Can we see this world differently? The House of Tomorrow takes a new approach to an old conflict inspired by the forward vision of extraordinary women who are changing their own worlds a step at a time - not by overlooking the conflict but by seeing what people can do despite it. Shot on location, the film takes us from the high rise tech buildings of Tel Aviv to the holy sites and bustling markets of Jerusalem, from the cobbled lanes of Bethlehem to the expanding streets of Ramallah, capturing the energy and tension of a world defined by it’s clashing viewpoints. A contemporary and fast-paced documentary, The House of Tomorrow focuses on the future and the idea that people can have a hand in their own destinies, however unlikely and whatever the odds.

Synopsis

The film follows Alice and Jerusha, two young, beautiful, spirited Kenyan girls preparing to leave the children’s centre they have grown up in. An exploration of femininity, adolescence and a portrait of young women 'coming of age' in Africa.

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When you change where you are do you change who you are? Set in modern day Tehran, and the UK, I Am Nasrine follows the paths of Nasrine and Ali, sister and brother in a comfortable, middle class Iranian home. When Nasrine has a run-in with the police, the punishment is more than she bargained for. Nasrine and Ali set out for the UK, torn about leaving behind their home and all that they know, embarking on a reluctant exile. Still, for Nasrine, there is undeniable excitement about the prospect of starting a new life in the West. Nasrine is quick to settle into her new life, making friends, forming bonds, including Nichole from the gypsy/travelers community. All the while her brother Ali struggles with the realities of life in the UK and his awakening sexuality. Then comes 9/11. Things spiral further out of control when an unimaginable tragedy occurs. Nasrine must discover incredible courage within her to accept what fate has dealt her; discovering that the end of her journey is really just the beginning. Can hope, simple untainted hope, overcome the darkest of tragedies? I Am Nasrine explores these questions and more, and offers answers that are sure to surprise.

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A real story about the emotional and psychological impact of sex trafficking from the point of view of the victim.

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SOUTHBANK UNSEEN will blow our minds and get us thinking through four, visually dynamic and aurally arresting, documentary dramas that delve into the unseen. These short documentary dramas give us an alternative view of London’s South Bank from the eyes and ears of four extraordinarily gifted individuals.

Synopsis

Richard Jobson’s new film surrounds 15 testimonies from British servicemen and women who were involved in the Iraq conflict in Basra. They have a ghostly presence as they talk about their experiences in a near documentary style, after each testimony the camera glides into the lives that might have been and the people they left behind. Jobson says ‘Like many people I was angered by the Iraq war and like most people did nothing about it. This is my response to that apathy. In the film although it appears that the speakers are the ghostly presence, it is in fact we the audience who are the Somnambulists, it is we who were sleepwalking in the build-up to the war and its tragic aftermath.’ The story was heavily influenced by the work of photographer Joanna Kane whose exhibition 'The Somnambulists' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery left Jobson deeply impressed by its haunting vision of the space between life and death.

Synopsis

This cross-media documentary (film, installation and website) explores the life and writings of Daniel Paul Schreber. Now famous as an Outsider Artist, Schreber was a successful lawyer, who in 1893, started to receive messages from God via a ‘Writing Down Machine’ that spanned the cosmos. He spent the next nine years confined to an asylum: this is his story.

Synopsis

Husham works tirelessly to build the hopes, dreams and prospects of the 32 damaged children of war, under his care at a small orphanage in Baghdad’s most dangerous district. When the landlord gives Husham and the boys just two weeks to vacate a desperate search ensues.

Synopsis

Luc Besson takes on the inspiring true story of Burmese pro-democracy activist, leader and political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) and the tenacious long-distance bond she maintained with her British husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis) while under house arrest for over a decade.

Synopsis

Agnes was diagnosed with dementia in her fifties. Five years have passed and she is still struggling with her new identity, and the loss of who she once was. We follow Agnes in her quest for renewal and along the way our notions of what it means to have dementia are challenged and given a fresh perspective.

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A minor earthquake shakes London in the night. Tom and Rose’s perfect marriage collides with sexual fantasy and exposes the cracks in their relationship. The aftershocks are more far-reaching than Tom and Rose could have imagined.

Synopsis

The documentary, "Cartografía de la soledad" (Cartography of Loneliness), is akin to a map tracing the emotions and feelings of women who find themselves totally alone on losing their husbands in three countries, India, Nepal and Afghanistan. The choice of these three countries which are so near each other and have significant ethnic and religious differences is not by chance. India is the country with the most widows in the world, totalling over 45 million. In Nepal, half of the female population is widowed or have been abandoned by their husbands: they are called "child widows" or baikaylas. Afghanistan has the highest proportion of widows in the world after 30 years of war. Tradition, society and religion have determined the course of their lives following their husbands' deaths. Many widows are abandoned by their families, or victim of women trafficking, or condemned to social ostracism. War, AIDS and child marriages are the main factors behind these figures. After living with them for 4 months, there have been impressive stories in a very determined historical, social and religious context, and also the medicine, human rights and education are intertwined in their lives.