A contemplative, static study of an unlikely landmark in an unlikely place. Normally only glimpsed in passing, Stott Hall Farm, a cottage built in 1737, floats islandlike in the middle if the M62 in West Yorkshire, whilst cars and lorries thunder past on both sides. Despite the farm seemingly being a monument to stubbornness, the urban myth being that the farmer refused to leave when the motorway was built in the 1970s, the truth of the story is that the east- and westbound carriageways could not meet due to the lie of the land, and the motorway had to be parted around the cottage to avoid landslips.
Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend.
Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents.
As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.
Moving between the vast enclaves of Middle Eastern high society and the stunning backdrop of London's West End, I Can't Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms.
The 1960's saw the closure of hundreds of psychiatric hospitals when people gained more and more awareness of lobotomy, lobectomy, electroshock therapy, insulin therapy, and when the discovery of Thorazine prompted patients' release to the community. After the onset of de-institutionalization, there has been an almost deliberate effort to bury the history of these places.
Ian Ference, an amateur photographer has visited dozens of derelict insane asylums - mostly by breaking into the guarded premises - in order to resurrect the memories of those forgotten patients.
Insanity Vault follows Ian through one of his crazy adventures in Connecticut.
The team arrives at Norwich State Hospital early morning and sets up for a long walk in the nearby forest and along a disused railway line which leads to the abandoned buildings. They progress in a military like operation towards the safety of the tunnels, carefully avoiding the patrol.
Ian sets up base camp in one of the halls, which was originally used as a non violent building. Walls are crumbling and fallen plaster covers the ground several inches deep in some corners. Discarded documents and artefacts are scattered around.
The forensic ward, which housed the guilty for reason of insanity and the violent patients, is disturbingly beautiful. Sun rays finding their way through the barred windows, contrast with the sternness of the corridors. In some rooms, the roof has even collapsed.
Irene, a feisty 92 year old with Alzheimer’s, doesn’t want to be put into a home for the elderly. A personal film about three generations of women coming to terms with a difficult decision.
Award-winning director Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham) is back with a new heart-warming comedy about a hysterical Indian mum whose match-making efforts turn deadly when she tries to marry off her frumpy daughter.
At the start of the bitter Winter War the Soviet Red Army invaded Finnish-Karelia forcing thousands of civilians deep into Finland.
Teenagers Annikki, Inkeri and Hilkka left their families to drive cattle through deep snow and hostile lands. A lifetime later they look back on their adventures.
Nazir Ali Khan is an immigrant Indian professor at a university in Birmingham who lives with his wife and two children Saira, 17 and Asif, 14. Nazir shares a great relationship with his children and indulges their love for all things English, but has taken great pains to keep the link to home strong.
When his beloved daughter is found in an illicit relationship, Nazir is suddenly on the brink of a tough decision to make. Should he save face? Or save his daughter?
Set in today's London, in a modern Indian-Bengali doctors family. Manju's sudden death, throws Sanjay into rediscovering his relationship and the lives of his daughters. Grappling with devastating loss, missing the mediating role of his wife, Sanjay faces new crisis with the modern lives of each daughter, specially with Dia the youngest declaring her love for a Muslim boy - Imtiaz. Sanjay recollects his childhood and the trauma of Hindu Muslim riots during partition of Bengal. Finally he gets to know that his elder daughter is not his own. He reconciles as he realises nothing is perfect.
The shadow of Shakespeare's King Lear bears on this contemporary, free adaptation and works as a sub-text with Sanjay and Dia within the contours of Lear and Cordelia.
Little Matador is a feature length documentary about children bullfighters in Mexico. Kids as young as eight are trained to kill bulls ten times their weight. The film follows three children who are fighting not just the bull but their own demons;
Michelito is ten. The adored child of a matador Dad, Michelito has killed over two hundred bulls. ‘Picasso was born to paint, Mozart to make music – and Michelito to be a matador,’ says Dad. Can Michelito fulfil his father’s dream to become the youngest matador in history?
Joel is nine. Neglected by his mum and step-father, he finds paternal love in the ring. Matador Ismael becomes Joel’s surrogate father and guardian angel. But if Ismael moves to Spain for his own career, what will happen to Joel?
Andrea is twelve. She started bullfighting when her father moved to America. Andrea has disowned her dad – who has found a new woman - and vows to save her mum from poverty by becoming a superstar bullfighter. But will Andrea ever get over her terrible nerves every time she enters the ring?
Little Matador is an extraordinary testimony to the lengths these kids will go to realise their dream.
After a tragic accident John begins an obsessive crusade to bring his comatose sister back to the waking world. In his sleep he walks the afterlife where she is trapped and soon John finds himself playing a game for her soul, a game that can’t be won, against the only opponent who can never be beaten, Death. His flat mate Kate struggles to deal with his increasingly irrational behaviour, as he spirals deeper into this dark world, convinced that he can rescue Lorna.
In the afterlife star-crossed lovers, Lorna and Dave search for one another to find the happiness they once knew in life. But with all odds against them the lovers realise that nothing is what it seems and that they are running out of time.
At the heart of this dark, parallel world Death taunts and seduces them with their deepest desires. With everything to play for, John will stop at nothing, even when he finds himself back at the site of the accident once more.
Two men strike a deal that reveals to be something altogether more sinister. Man Made is a dark and ominous short that addresses the issue of gender and power.
