Projects in genres: Black

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.

Synopsis

A personal journey to the Caribbean island of Trinidad exploring carnival, catholicism and homosexuality.

Synopsis

Quentin is awoken one morning by an old school friend called John. John asks him to do him a favour and the film follows the repercussions of the favour.

Synopsis

Kayelitsha, a township close to Capetown, after the end of Apartheid. Two thirteen-year-old kids- Madiba and Sipho - play along the railway line. A train passes by. A dead man is tossed from the train and rolls to their feet. His lifeless hand clutches an attache case. Inside, the boys find a gun and a video camera. Sipho takes the gun and Madiba the camera. Their destinies are sealed.   Madiba makes a wooden box and hides the camera inside, in order to avoid questions and losing his new toy. He starts filming the township and its inhabitants. Through the lens,  his everday surroundings take on a strange new beauty.   His status enhanced by gun ownership, Sipho becomes a gang leader and operates out of Capetown. Madiba comes along, but instead of crime, he is more interested in capturing the luxurious life of the city that is in such stark contrast to his township life.   In a bookstore, Madiba films a young white girl stealing a book. They look at each other. Going out of the store, she gives him the book with her name written inside it: Estelle.   Estelle's father is a famous doctor. She lives in a traditional Capetownian white community in which century-old prejudices have not died with the end of apartheid. Estelle is eager to embrace the new South Africa, but her family doesn't allow her to do so.   She rebels and is encouraged by the non-racist views of Mr. Shawn, her music teacher who has taught music in the townships since before independence. Estelle often thinks of Madiba, the boy with his strange camera.   Sipho is now addicted to glue. He continues to traffic and becomes the undisputed chief of his small gang.   Madiba films incessantly. He also dreams of the young white girl who has held out her hand to him. They meet again some days later, and slowly a strong friendship starts between them.   From the first steps of a young cinematographer who changes the perception of his township to the tragic end of Sipho, the good-hearted bad boy, The Wooden Camera tells the story of a friendship between two kids, not understood by their parents, who refuse what seems to them like a compromise with the enemy. It will take all the determination of the kids and the intelligence of Mr. Shawn, who knows that music has no colour, to give a chance to the impossible.   Sipho commits a hold-up and is shot dead, while Madiba and Estelle try to find their way into the future through art and love.

Synopsis

This debut feature film, written, choreographed and directed by its leading man, the black dancer Rodrequez King-Dorset, shows a creative dance artist in the grip of a personal crisis. The film depicts the black ghetto lives of two black boys in England in the 1980s, one a newly arrived African, the other an Afro-Caribbean, and highlights the ethnic tensions between their respective groups. The young black Briton, Lewis, (Troy John plays him as a boy) has to face scorn and misunderstanding from his father when he tries to become a professional dancer. Lewis has a close friendship with the African, Ramsey, (Andante Ajinzea) and a rewarding relationship with an Afro-Caribbean girl friend Maudi, (Naomi James). His African friend is imprisoned for a killing he was forced into in sheer self-defence, and this only adds to Lewis' confusion. He sets out creating a solo dance, which embodies some of his emotions.  The film has a predominantly black cast and was financed on a shoestring budget, largely as a result of the dedicated enthusiasm of all concerned in its making.