Projects in genres: Black

Synopsis

"Street kids are hard to rehabilitate.

They are used to their freedom, they behave the way they want. They smoke and take drugs. The street is the only life they know... So it's very difficult to tell these kids what to do."
 
Shot on the streets of Dakar, Senegal.

Synopsis

South Africa, 2000. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has arrived in Smitsrivier, opening a window onto a bloody past, and dragging three people in its wake.

Sarah Barcant, hotshot New York lawyer, has returned to her old hometown to help a torture victim confront his tormentor. Alex Mpondo, now a celebrated politician, has found himself back where he was 18 years ago - reliving his ordeal and hoping to expose the truth.  And Dirk Hendricks, ex-police officer and torturer, has been brought out of jail to confess his crimes before the Commission.

A compelling drama about the secrets of the past and the healing of a wounded country.

Synopsis

A yardie gangster, a corrupt politician and an ex-cop battle it out to get their hands on a multi-million dollar haul of cash. Poetically brutal and intriguingly sexual, this is a dark tale of mystery and suspense set against a backdrop of the inner city streets of London. Everybody wants to be a ruler!

Synopsis

Welcome to the 21st century. A story of England told from inner city London. Set amongst a landscape of police wagons and estate blocks. Trapped in a world where hate breeds hate. A story seen through the eyes of four young multi-cultural friends. One city. One weekend.
 

Synopsis

moby longinotto compresses 24 hours of child birth into the same amount of minutes using in screen editing.

Synopsis

All families have crazy times, And the the MacDowells are no exception.
 
Bobby MacDowell, the youngest of three, looks back on the last two weeks of normality in his childhood - the last two weeks before his mum became ill. Trouble is, his sister seems to be constantly shagging yet another new boyfriend, and his brother seems to have some hair-brained scheme to reveal the identity of a newspaper editor. And not one of the kids has time to listen to their mum.
 
Wicham Road  is a humourous and heart-warming story of a family: a fast paced and quick-witted slice of life in which the MacDowells, have lived in a kind of limbo for the past ten years, are finally forced to face the future.

Synopsis

Psychologist Zoe yearns for re-connection.

Synopsis

A Way of Life is a moving story of life's unfulfilled potential - an aesthetically and emotionally beautiful film which permits us to connect with the lives of children struggling to survive and to cling on to their dreams of a happy future. 

With a magical, lyrical quality, juxtaposed with the harsh realities of life, poverty and growing up, the film tells the story of a teenage mother, struggling to bring up her small daughter, and her role in a devastating crime. 

Set in a small community in South Wales, this dark but moving tale looks at the area that exists between black and white, good and evil, child and adult. It is the harshest of rites of passage stories, yet within it lies a most poignant story of teenage love and friendship. 

Ultimately, it is a story of survival that becomes a story of murder - a story that will draw you in slowly, until you find yourself in a world of love, tenderness and hurt - a world which will challenge the way you look at life.
 

Synopsis

Ricky (played by Ashley Walters, aka So Solid Crew's Asher D) is just out of a young offenders' institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom (Leon Black) against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit for tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis (Luke Fraser), hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother (Claire Perkins) and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?
 

Synopsis

A Coen-esque black comedy set amidst the underbelly of the mini-cab demi-world in London.  We follow a group of four drivers who inhabit a gritty cab office as they attempt to deal with a decline in business. We have Remi, who has been kicked out of his home by his wife and sleeps in his car boot at night. Danny, who prefers to engage his fists to settle disputes rather than his brainpower. Cola, who is tanked up with enough medication to kill a horse and Abdul, who sells anything from pirate DVD's to fetish wear from the back of his car. The minicab owner (Nikos) spends his time scuttling around in his dressing gown and slippers, fermenting his 'New Deal' strategy to turn around his economic fortune. Following an unscheduled visit from the local loan shark, he gives his four drivers an ultimatum. The two who bring the most money back to the office, keep their jobs. The other two can join the unemployment scrap-heap. Simple. This sets off a chain of events that stretches their characters, and ensures that the office will never be the same again.

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings, Washington Post journalist, Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) meets Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) an Afrikaans poet covering the hearings for South African state media.
 
His horror at the relevations at the truth commission leads to instant animosity between Langston and Anna, but as he becomes increasingly drawn into her world and her passion for the country of her birth, he softens his stance and, against his will and principles, falls in love with the white African.

Synopsis

Ismail and Muhuit are standing as independent candidates in the local council election, fighting on the issue of providing detox centres for the crack and heroin addicts on the streets in and around Brick Lane, Banglatown, London E1.
 
In and around these same streets, tour guides peddle gory tales of Jack the Ripper and trivia about the local gangsters, the Krays. Tourists cling to this tabloid version of remembrance of things past.  Is everyone oblivious to the Bengali community and their history?
 
Delwas has lived in E1 for more than 15 years and takes us on an alternative tour of the area. We find it is rich in history, art and politics and discover the only museum of immigration in Europe.