Projects in genres: Climate / Environment

Synopsis

Dreams Rewired traces the desires and anxieties of today’s hyper-connected world back more than a hundred years, when telephone, film and television were new. As revolutionary then as contemporary social media is today, early electric media sparked a fervent utopianism in the public imagination – promising total communication, the annihilation of distance, an end to war. But then, too, there were fears over the erosion of privacy, security, morality.   Using rare (and often unseen) archival material from nearly 200 films to articulate the present, Dreams Rewired reveals a history of hopes to share, and betrayals to avoid.

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A modern community on the cusp of change; a people intrinsically linked to nature and tradition, though their whale hunting practice is about to be challenged by the outside world.

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An ambitious scientist takes the perilous decision to inseminate herself with an embryo combining both human and animal cells. Discovering that she is carrying a "pig child" she is torn between scientific drive and maternalistic urges.

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Charting a year in the life of a tenant hill farmer and his family as they try to breed the perfect sheep. Through the rain, shine, sleet and snow we see them toil away against the stunning landscapes of North East England, and witness the hard work and good humour that binds this remote community together. Beautifully observed and laugh-out-loud funny, this heart warming film provides an insight into the past, present and future of a way of life far removed from the high-tech hustle and bustle of modern life. Sheffield Doc/Fest 2016 - World premiere

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Gloucestershire, 1796. A poor day labourer is offered work but must first let his son be used in a medical experiment. Based on the story of James Phipps, the eight-year-old boy used by Dr Edward Jenner to test the world’s first smallpox vaccine.

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A creative documentary exploring the work of fringe scientists, mycologists and artists, and their relationship with the extraordinary plasmodial slime mould. The slime mould is being used to explore biological-inspired design, emergence theory, unconventional computing and robot controllers, much of which borders on the world of science fiction. Fantasia International Festival 2014 - World premiere

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As editor of The Sunday Times for fourteen years, Sir Harold Evans proved to be the right man in the right place at the right time. In an investigative climate all too rare by today's standards, Evans had the freedom and resources to allow teams of journalists to work on long-term projects, including the exposure of Kim Philby as a Soviet spy. Evans' longest and most hard fought campaign was for the victims of Thalidomide. Originally developed by the Germans in World War II to counter effect sarin gas, post-war the drug was blithely prescribed by British doctors as an antidote to morning sickness, unwittingly leading to tens of thousands of children being born with serious defects. The Sunday Times' fight to win compensation for their struggling families would take more than a decade, as Evans tenaciously pursued the drug companies through the English courts and beyond. Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014 - World premiere

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A technographic study of e-recycling and neo-colonial mining filmed in the Agbogbloshie ewaste ground in Accra, Ghana. The video constructs a critique of the capitalist myth of the immateriality of new technology - thus revealing the mineral weight with which the Cloud is grounded to its earthly origins.

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A businessman seizes a new opportunity to make money.

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Adeline For Leaves explores nature, science and mythology through the eyes of an eleven-year-old botanical prodigy and her recently deceased, elderly mentor.

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What do you need for nuclear war? First of all, a good script.

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From multi-award-winning director Gillies Mackinnon this is the fascinating story of visionary Scottish engineer and developer of radar, Robert Watson-Watt (Eddie Izzard). Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014 - World premiere