Projects in genres: Science

Synopsis

Inside a Tanzanian hospital, serving 20 million people, UK surgeons and nurses work tirelessly to teach modern medical procedures to their African counterparts. Operating on those in need, they change the landscape of medicine in Africa forever. A film documenting a week spent in one of Tanzania's busiest hospitals, accompanying a group of 10 volunteers representing the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The film highlights the importance of the 17 year relationship between Northumbria and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, and concentrates on a project to introduce Laparoscopic surgery now in its 11th year and a more recent burns project. We follow Irish Surgeon Dr Liam Horgan , who now in his 11th year working with KCMC, manages to make medical history in Africa during the week. Uk born but now practicing in Australia, plastic surgeon Dr Jeremy Rawlins is introducing modern burns procedures to a country where burns cases are prolific in number but largely untreated. The film explores the dire need for improved conditions, equipment and knowledge of burns treatment as we concentrate on five patients. Not all outcomes are of a positive nature.

Synopsis

Six everyday scenarios play out in modern London summoning ideas of representation, spectacle and human behaviour.

Synopsis

A stop-motion sci-fi action thriller about squirrel apartheid. When a lone renegade grey squirrel and a hunted acorn find themselves trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island, they uncover a horrifying plot that threatens their future…can they survive Squirrel Island?

Synopsis

A film about the women who confounded ideas of what was appropriate or expected, and got involved in science in Victorian England. This is the story of Vanessa Kentworth and the rain. Based on true events and the work of the British Rainfall Organisation.

Synopsis

Adopting the form of a video game trailer, 'Immunecraft' is an animation developed in collaboration with immunologist Dr Megan MacLeod and presents a fictional game which gives users agency over a real life cell culture to compete against opponent players, and explores the parallels between popular gameplay mechanics and some of the most important principles of the human immune system, including cell memory and autoimmunity. It understands itself as a piece of speculative design futures, commenting on the principles of multiplayer online gaming in the age of DNA building blocks, printable organic electronics and biohacking, thus raising questions about bioethics.

Synopsis

A film exploring what can be seen and what can not, how scientists imagine their work and how they describe it. The film is based on the work undertaken in Dr Serge Mostowy’s laboratory on septin assembly in cells, using a zebrafish model. Lab members describe the intricate sub-cellular septin dynamics and structure. Their explanatory drawings, and discussion between scientists and filmmaker about how they see the research, are incorporated into the animation.

Synopsis

This piece exposes the parallels of computer coding and genetic coding in humans and animals. Voiced by an anonymous group of ‘hybrid’ machines, from some point in the near future, these ‘narrators’ look at these creatures as inefficient machines and consider ways of editing and improving their code. The film draws upon the research and tools used by Dr Darren Logan in his investigation of genetically influenced behaviour.

Synopsis

In June 2015 Alex Smith completed an Ironman triathlon, known as the toughest single day challenge you can undertake, carrying his 40kg disabled son the whole way. An epic achievement for his son, who is dying from a fatal muscle wasting disease: Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Synopsis

A young boy releases a cloud into a church and it builds to a storm. Elwood’s Ark is a poem that challenges notions of religion and redemption. It traces the journey of the water we drink, back 13.8 billion years through time and space to the beginning of the Universe. Spoken in the words of a child, the film warns of a coming apocalypse. It is an apocalypse of our own making - an apocalypse in which divine intervention will not play a part, and only we ourselves may prevent.

Synopsis

A film about us. It's a film about you, your children, your parents, your friends. It's about every one of us. It's about our failure: failure as individuals, the failure of business, and the failure of our politicians. It is about an unprecedented planetary emergency. It's about the future of us Based on scientist Stephen Emmot's eye-opening lecture on humanity's biggest threat: overpopulation.

Synopsis

Marla Coppolino has an unusual passion for the world’s smallest dwellers: land snails. In between science and art, Marla brings you into their tiny world. She embarks on a mission to enlighten you to the plight of the lowly land snail through creative, bizarre and unconventional means.

Synopsis

"The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to one of the world's richest seams of copper, coltan and other minerals increasingly sought after by Western electronics consumers. Rather than improving life for the world's poorest people, however, billions of dollars have been redirected to British companies' tax havens and to local militia. Fuelling a war that has cost 5 million lives and counting since 1996, it may one day come to be known as the worst human atrocity in modern history. Can we stop it?" EIFF 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere