Schiller said there is a watcher at the gate of the mind, and it is the watcher that prevents creativity, because creativity and insanity are almost the same thing.
The ventriloquist’s doll can kill off the watcher of the mind allowing access to spontaneity and imagination.
Acclaimed ventriloquist Nina Conti, takes the bereaved puppets of her mentor and erstwhile lover Ken Campbell on a pilgrimage to 'Venthaven', the resting place for puppets of dead ventriloquists.
She gets to know her traveling partners along the way, and through them deconstructs both herself and her lost love in this ventriloquial docu-mocumentary requiem.
Mired in the nervous desperation of Havana, Raul dreams of escaping to Miami. When accused of assault, his only option is to flee. He appeals to his best friend, Elio, to abandon everything and help him reach his destiny, 90 miles across the ocean. Elio's commitment is tested when he is torn between protecting his sister and his own desire to get out. On this one night, full of hope and fraught with tensions, they face the biggest challenge of their lives.
The use of oil painted animation brings to life the stories of three powerful women in post conflict Sierra Leone; revealing the violence and corruption women face as they fight for fairer representation in the governance of their country.
Stella's beloved dog Frida has been sold. In a neighborhood where people have withdrawn into their cocoons, Stella must emerge from hers and take up a bizarre job if she wants to get Frida back.
‘For No Good Reason’ is a visually stunning unique biographical film about artist and cartoonist Ralph Steadman. Johnny Depp is a friend and thought-provoking observer of Ralph’s art, who inspires insight as the film unfolds and in the finest Gonzo tradition questions of witness and authenticity are constantly challenged, as the film smashes narrative conventions, moving seamlessly from interview to animation and soundscape.
We observe Steadman over fifteen years as he creates a wealth of art. For the first time his art is animated, including illustrations from Hunter S Thompson’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’.
Unseen intimate footage of Hunter S Thompson, much of it filmed by Ralph himself, reveals their deep life-long friendship and true working relationship.
Featuring Richard E Grant, Terry Gilliam, Bruce Robinson and with music from Slash, The All American Rejects, Jason Mraz, Crystal Castles, Ed Hardcourt and Beth Orton.
A touching and at times funny film about honesty, friendship and the ambition driving an artist, this is a true record of the demise of 20th Century counterculture and hipster dream with Ralph Steadman the last of the Gonzo visionaries.
Imagine waking up in the morning to find that the world sounds utterly different - and music is suddenly unrecognisable. All the songs you loved and all the songs you've yet to discover are suddenly out of reach. Could you find a way to get music back again... and could music find you?
1 in 7 of us will experience deafness in our lifetime. So what would happen to the music you love, if your hearing was lost?
Made by a partially deaf filmmaker after the future of her own hearing was called into doubt, this moving and intimate documentary follows music critic Nick Coleman, dancer Emily Thornton and pianist Holly Loach over 2 years, as they journey deep into sound and silence. It combines intimate filming with original animation, a rich musical soundtrack (often manipulated to reveal what deafness actually sounds like), and new insights from the world's top neuroscientists (including New York Times bestseller Dr David Eagleman), to tell the story of the great human love affair with music.
"A unique insight into the human condition ... likely to stay with you long after the credits have rolled." ~ DocGeeks
Filmed at the Sighthill Stone Circle, built in 1979, Glasgow
"Like slow breathing, it seemed to emanate from inside the walls" LUX Salon, Erik Martinson (2016)
"An Endless Theatre: the convergence of contemporary art and anthropology in observational cinema" University of Edinburgh (2013)
Tramway, Glasgow (2012).
Unravel follows women workers in textile factories who sort, shred and prepare clothes for recycling that come over from Western countries. They reflect on these clothes and construct a picture of the lives of the owners, using their imagination and the rumours that travel with the cast-offs.
On The Edge is a witty, surprising and ultimately feel good portrait of an isolated village of 59 people and 100 sledge dogs, surviving against the odds.
On 3rd September 1860 Charles Dickens burned his lifetime’s correspondence. Alone on the darkest night of his life he reads a letter full of love and restraint from Nelly Ternan, showing us the private world of Charles Dickens through the eyes of a young woman forever hidden from his public.