Projects in genres: Music

Synopsis

Coming off the Robbie Williams tour, musical director eighties brit pop star Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy is fed up and completely disillusioned with the corporate music machine and decides to check out permanently and pursue his folk-political roots in the countryside. Along the journey he reunites his critically acclaimed band The Lilac Time to play the Green Man Festival in Wales, and rediscovers what it was originally about. 'We used to do it for the love, didn't we. People have forgotten that.' Duffy wanders as far as Cornwall before rediscovering meaningful poetic life. Sculptor Jon Edgar makes an appearance as he forms a terra cotta head of Duffy, who he believes will remain one of the key figures in arts and culture for future generations. It's a classic story of art versus commerce, disillusionment and rebirth told through one of the UK's most prolific recording artists, with archival super 8, stills, and historical footage from the 1960s through to the present. Much of the film is narrated by Duffy himself, the director Douglas Arrowsmith has poured over the archives and Duffy's own memoir to assemble an inspiring piece for any fan of music, poetry, and life's greater meaning.  

Synopsis

Nora is based on true stories of the dancer Nora Chipaumire, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. In the film, Nora returns to the landscape of her childhood and takes a journey through some vivid memories of her youth. Using performance and dance, she brings her history to life in a swiftly-moving poem of sound and image. The result is a film about family dramas, difficult love affairs and militant politics, which moves back and forth between the comic and the tragic, the joyful and the mournful. It is a film about a girl who is constantly embattled - struggling against all kinds of intimidation and violence - but who slowly gathers strength, pride and independence. Shot entirely on location in Southern Africa, Nora includes a multitude of local performers and dancers of all ages, from young schoolchildren to ancient grandmothers, and much of the music is specially composed by a legend of Zimbabwean music - Thomas Mapfumo.

Synopsis

Inspired by Monty Python's Life of Brian, Not The Messiah retells the story musically of Brian Cohen born in a manger to Mandy and a Roman centurion who grows up to become a member of the People's Front of Judea to oppose the Roman occupation of Judea and, mistaken for the Messiah, is arrested by the Romans and sentenced to be crucified.

Synopsis

Keva McCluskey, lead singer of UK indie band The Grams is the real deal. A genuine artist who is tortured by his own craft and his past. Keva is smacked with injustice when their inferior rivals Transbad Saints, led by the preposterous Helmet Horrocks, hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. Helmet can't accept this and the battlelines are drawn. The Grams camaraderie is soon rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. Keva has to confont his demons as The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.

Synopsis

10 years ago there was a Rock and Roll band called The Fury. Feted by Music Industry insiders, lauded by their fiercely loyal fans, they were tipped by many to be the breakout band of 1997. 10 years later, their debut album remained unreleased. The band split up. Rock and Roll Stole my Soul is a retrospective documentary that looks at the rise and fall of The Fury. Archive footage of the band ten years ago is combined with interviews of the band in 2008 to tell the story of how the band that could have had it all ended up with nothing.

Synopsis

Round highlights Man's position as a brief chapter in the Earth's long story and reminds us that nature will always have the upper hand.

Synopsis

Separado! Odyssey to a Parallel Universe. Star Trek meets Buena Vista Social Club in this psychedelic western musical as Welsh pop legend Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) takes us on a pan continental road trip in search of his long lost Patagonian uncle, the poncho wearing guitarist Rene Griffiths. In 1880, following a controversial horse race that led to an unresolved death, Gruff Rhys' family split as Dafydd Jones took his young family to join the burgeoning Welsh community in Patagonia, South America. There was to be no contact between the families for almost a century when in 1974 Rene Griffiths arrived in Wales with his Latin infused Welsh love songs and became an over night sensation. Director Dylan Goch follows Gruff Rhys on a tour that takes in the theatres, nightclubs and desert teahouses of Wales, Brazil and the Argentine Andes as he discovers what became of his family, the Welsh Diaspora and its musical legacy.

Synopsis

From BAFTA award winning director, Chris Menaul, comes the story of Mozart's definitive romantic comedy. A school for lovers must learn that when words fail, only music can speak to the heart. Adam, a rich industrialist aspires to a more cultured world. Spurred on by playful jibes that he’s little more than a city suit living the capitalist's dream, this frustrated amateur opera singer decides to put on an opera in his lavish country retreat. Once his friends see him belting out the notes, he feels sure it will spell the end to their shallow taunts. It might even help him win the hand of Celia, the female conductor he has been pursuing and is the first to be recruited for his showpiece. As for the other major roles and the production, Adam brings in the pros. A troupe of sexy, young singers with enough collective sexual tension to literally light up the stage. The opera they will be performing is Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, the master composer's fabled romp through the bittersweet themes of sexual infidelity. As the disparate group begins to rehearse, it isn’t long before life starts to replicate art and their relationships flourish and flounder.

Synopsis

A bullied teenage schoolboy teams up with two misfits to defeat the bully and win a girls heart in a classic tale of overcoming the monster. 'Napoleon Dynamite' meets 'The Goonies', in an 80s kid's comedy with a 21st century twist.

Synopsis

Stanley never goes outside. He likes to play with his clockwork toys and every night his mother kisses him goodnight. Stanley is twenty. The trouble is that Stanley thinks this is all quite normal, until an encounter with a mysterious girl turns his world upside down.

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Star Games is a visual narrative of a surreal galactic ballet that explains the origins of stars. The inhabitants of a futuristic metropolis train in their hundreds to contest in the Star Games. Patrolling zeppelins select individual gymnasts with a UFO-styled light beam. The gymnasts are pulled up towards the sky to perform a beautifully organic ballet before they dissolve into starlights. The film’s emotive meaning is that each star symbolizes a past human life. Its message is that human beings are never alone but embedded, just like stars, in a community of others celebrating life with each other.  

Synopsis

Sparks fly as the worlds of street-dance and ballet collide in Streetdance - the vibrant, uplifting and ground-breaking 3D feature film from award-winning music video directors Max and Dania, Vertigo Films and BBC Films. While training for the UK Streetdance Championships, a streetdance crew are forced to work with Royal ballet dancers in return for rehearsal space. With no common ground and with passions riding high, they realise they need to find a way to join forces to win.