Projects in genres: Music

Synopsis

Billy Elliot is a coming-of-age story of Billy, who through his unexpected love of dance, embarks on a journey to self-discovery in the world of picket lines, cultural stereotypes, family crises and a headstrong ballet teacher.

When eleven-year-old Billy stumbles across a local ballet class that comes to share the village hall with his boxing club, something in the magic of the movements captures his imagination. Meanwhile, Billy's father and older brother, both on strike, struggle to put food on the table and finally explode when they discover Billy has been squandering his boxing money on less than manly pursuits.

Billy's ballet teacher eventually persuades him to accept free private training, telling him she wants him to audition for the Ballet School, but when the audition comes Billy is tragically forced to miss it as a result of his brother's scuffle with the police.

Distraught by his family's lack of understanding, Billy unleashes his feelings in a dance meant only for his friend Michael to see, but is caught mid-routine by his father. Rooted to the spot by the power and animation of his son's talent, he solemnly agrees to ensure Billy finally makes it to London for the gruelling audition.

Synopsis

Goldie, the Godfather of Drum and Bass, takes us on a roller coaster ride through his frenetic life. A journey that takes us from Wolverhampton to Tokyo, Miami to Hong Kong; through his years in council care and his life as a musician and international pop star. Along the way we meet his family, his collaborators and his celebrated friends, David Bowie and Noel Gallagher.

Synopsis

A highly stylised intimate portrait of the fantastic life of Louis Armstrong. The film charts the story of the innovator, the first great jazz soloist, bandleader, pop star, actor and American cultural ambassador, Louis Armstrong.

Narrated by Danny Glover, The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong is a sensitive insight into the life of the man behind the trumpet; an epic story that spans 70 years from his childhood days on the streets of New Orleans to the glamorous Hollywood films like High Society and Hello Dolly, punctuated by timeless hits like What a Wonderful World and When You're Smiling.

Synopsis

Human Traffic focuses on the lives and loves of five friends - JIP (played by John Simm), LULU (Lorraine Pilkington), KOOP (Shaun Parkes), NINA (Nicola Reynolds) and MOFF (Danny Dyer) --who suffer their weekday jobs to 'live it large' at the weekends.


Jip and Lulu are having relationship problems: Jip is insecure after failing to perform during several one night stands and Lulu's talent for picking the wrong bloke is getting her down. Nina and Koop have a great relationship - except he doesn't trust her, and Moff, their friendly dealer, is heading for a fast burn out.


Beneath the heady cocktail of music, clubs, drugs and bullshit, Human Traffic is also a film about friendships.

Synopsis

A sexy, glamorous, romantic comedy, in the style of classic 1930's Hollywood, with world famous songs by Cole Porter and Irving Berlin.


In 1939 the King of Navarre and his three best friends swear an oath to give up women for three years whilst devoting themselves to the study of philosophy. One of the terms of their pledge specifically prohibits women from their presence, but the arrival of the Princess of France and her three beautiful attendants on a diplomatic visit, throws the plan into disarray.


In secret the King and each of his friends pursue the girls and the entire court become intoxicated by love.


The mood is broken by the news of the death of the Princess's father and the girls return to France. France has fallen to the Nazis.


Before they leave, the heartbroken men must prove that their love is not just an infatuation and remain faithful to them. And as proof of their devotion the loving couples are happily reunited at the end of the war.

Synopsis

A hilarious comedy . . . It's 1977 and our love-struck young hero drops his sequins for safety pins.. and deserts disco for Punk.





Vince Smith is eighteen, shy and maybe in love . . . with Joanna, who works in the same office. By day he's a lawyer's clerk, but by night he's an aspiring disco dancer . . .





Joanna Robinson is also eighteen, not shy and really likes Vince, especially teasing him. By day, she's also a lawyer's clerk, but by night, she's a punk . . .





Harold Smith is Vince's dad. He's retired, likes his pipe, his telly and sitting quietly in a corner being ignored by his glamorous wife Irene and the rest of the Smith family. Until one Christmas day he does an amazing magic trick . . . which catapults a reluctant Harold into the limelight of the North of England.





Whilst Harold's previously peaceful world is thrown upside down by his new-found magical powers, Vince has fallen head over heels for a spiky punk girl.





Father and son are in turmoil but together they discover it's not what you are, it's who you are that makes for true happiness.

Synopsis

A thrilling and visceral opera on wheels; an update of the legend of Satan's fall from Heaven to Hell, via London 1998; a frenzied leather-and-oil spectacular.

Synopsis

In April of 1994 rock legend Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Pacific Northwest home, an apparent victim of suicide. Cobain, lead singer and songwriter for the seminal band Nirvana, touched the core of a generation with music that reflected the growth anguish, loneliness and confusion of growing up in a world shattered by unraveling families and values. His death, though foreshadowed by admitted troubles with drugs and depression, shocked the world.

Three years later, British filmmaker Nick Broomfield set out to make the first feature film about Cobain's tumultuous life, tragic death and very public romance with wife Courtney Love.

But Broomfield never got to make the film he wanted to make - due to restraint and interference by Love, her various media companies, agents and representatives. So, instead he made Kurt and Courtney - the story of how he tried to make a movie about Generation X's most famous lovers, the people he met and the powers that tried to stop him along the way.

Kurt and Courtney is not a rockumentary. In fact, Courtney Love prevented Broomfield from licensing all but one of Nirvana's songs. Instead, the film is a human mystery - an inquiry into how Cobain lived and more importantly, why it is that he died so young and so sorrowfully. But it is also an inquiry into the treacherous nature of fame, ambition and media control - and the role they played and continue to play in the legacies of Kurt and Courtney. Finally, the film has elements of a chase, as Broomfield and his kamikaze video crew attempt to find the elusive Courtney Love and get her to answer the questions they hoped she would volunteer to answer in the beginning.

Synopsis

Based on Jim Cartwright's play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice", Jane Horrocks stars in this bittersweet-comedy as the mysterious "LV", who lives in the attic of an unkempt house on the corner of a dead-end street in a seaside town in Northern England. Ever since her father's death, LV has been silent, spending her days listening to his incredible record collection and living in the enchanted charm of his favourite singers and performers. Meanwhile, her motor-mouthed mother Mari - all brass and no class - is living it up, continuing on a booze cruise for exciting lovers.


Then a new man struts into Mari's life: Ray Say, a sleazy and spectacularly unsuccessful local talent agent who Mari thinks of as 'Elvis Breath' and her best chance yet for 'loving'. Meanwhile, LV has a revelatory run-in of her own with a man almost as shy as she is - a telephone repair-man named Billy who isn't much for vocal communication. It is the first time anyone, other than her father, has paid attention to her.


But just as things are opening up for Little Voice, Ray Say hears the magical strains of Judy Garland coming from her room - and realises that's no ghost, it's Little Voice. Stunned by her talent, he smells the big times. Dreams and desperations collide as he and Mari stake everything on making the terrified and resistant Little Voice into a star.


At last, Little Voice agrees to go public with her amazing impersonation, but just once . . .

Synopsis

In the spirit of The Full Monty and The Commitments, Swing is the heartwarming, triumphant story of working class friends who break free from their bleak Liverpool lives to follow their dreams and launch a swing band.


Young Martin finds himself in prison, the fall guy for his brother. When Martin gets out, the guards hand him two years of unopened love letters and a warning: get a job or end up back in jail. Home is just as he left it - hopeless. Martin's only hope comes from the sage advice from his sax-playing cell mate, Jack, who taught him how to see his future and how to play it. Martin decides to start his own band.


He recruits bassist Buddy, a skirt chasing football star, drummer Oi, an ex-skinhead, and a brass section made up of bar flies who owe his dad a favour. But the one person who can transform the band from a dream to success is the beautiful singer Joan, the love of Martin's life. Joan, married to Martin's arresting officer, wonders if this is just another one of Martin's dead end dreams.


Martin convinces them all, most of all Joan, that their dream is worth fighting for. Despite a raid staged by Joan's jealous husband, the band's break-through gig is a smashing success and it lands them a recording contract, a happy ending! That is . . . until the police find that Martin's brother backed the band with stolen money and Martin ends up back in jail. But this time Martin walks out of jail with Jack and finds Joan and his band waiting and ready to swing!

Synopsis

The famous operatic duo of Gilbert and Sullivan were famously incompatible. Gilbert was as bombastic and confrontational as Sullivan was affable and debonair. The new film from internationally renowned director and Oscar-nominee Mike Leigh paints a vibrant picture of their lives and offers a unique evocation of Victorian London.

Synopsis

Anita's got attitude and ambition. She plans to be a DJ, dancehall diva, dropping sweet lyrics to wind up the dancefloor. She has a style to make bodies wind... for she is Princess Neeta... 'Mistress of the Mic'... if it wasn't for.... her two kids, if it wasn't for Byron, the kid's father - a singerman himself, who ain't around that much but thinks his babymother should be at home looking after his children. If it wasn't that her mother loves the church so much and disapproves of the dancehall.

Babymother is Anita's story. At first a woman-child, selfish yet naive, street-smart yet vulnerable. A girl as yet unable to face the responsibilities of her children or her life. A girl travelling along the bumpy road to adulthood, through the tough, deeply male world of reggae music. Set against a backdrop of Harlesden's tenement housing, Babymother is a journey into the explosion of colour, passion and style that is the dancehall!