Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Chen and Libby are two lonely people trying to connect in a meaningful way. Chen works all hours in a Chinese take-away and most of his interactions with customers are brief and unfriendly. Libby is an art student, new to the city and finding her way.

Synopsis

A simmering rivalry between two brothers boils over in this dark rumination on artistic obsession. Feuds become fires when these two skilled craftsmen are tempted by an impossible task, promising untold riches. PERFECTIONIST offers an unsettling reflection on the mindsets which can take over the creatively minded, and culminates in a surreal climax with grim metaphorical connotations...

Synopsis

On a hot summer’s day, mischievous 13-year-old Gal takes a dip in her favourite nearby pool. She unexpectedly encounters a group of ultra-orthodox Hassidic teenagers. Threatened by Gals' femininity, the teens violently try to kick her out. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2021

Synopsis

A man returns from the military in search for his lost sister, who mysteriously went missing around the time of a strange traditional festival called `The Droving'.

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Raymond and Keith are both homeless, variously living on the streets or bunking in Keith’s occasional temporary accommodation. Raymond is determined to climb out of the hole they are in and obtain some permanent accommodation, but will the system allow it?

Synopsis

Zebra Girl is a psychological thriller with a bold streak of pitch-black humour that explores the vicious cycle of abuse and mental illness. Catherine’s seemingly perfect rural life is turned upside down after she discovers her husband is hiding a dark secret that leads her to the unthinkable. Murder. Cue Anita, Catherine’s mysterious best friend who shows up to help dispose of the body. As Catherine and Anita reminisce whilst chopping up and bagging up, their intimately intertwined and tortured past rears its ugly head. Reality blurs as Catherine’s tragic past is slowly revealed along with a secret she’s hiding to fight for the future.

Synopsis

We all carry secrets. Layers, fragments of experience, small marks that define us. David carries his. They burn at him. Eat away at his soul. City of London, trading floor, 2008. In a world of cut-throat deals, it takes a unique person to succeed. Single-minded to the point of ruthless, David is this person. But beyond the aura of success lies a secret. There are layers to David... once chipped away, what lies behind the facade? As David’s climbs the corporate ladder, the past threatens to rise up and engulf him. As he struggles, a woman comes into his life. There have been many, but Vanessa is different - she matters. David's desperate to hold on to her, while she believes in a future for them. But can David keep the secret of his past at bay? Inspired by the life of city trader and mountaineer David Tait, an inspiring story of courage’s triumph over shame.

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A geographic description of fourteen months of the work and non-work of Tayoko in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. A georgic in five books. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2020 - Encounters - World premiere

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Stephanie, a woman in her mid-thirties, is trying to overcome chronic anorexia in order to re-establish her relationship with her daughter, Pearl. Pearl now lives with Stephanie's mother, Susan, and her fiancee Annette. The burden of Stephanie's illness puts pressure on their relationship, with Pearl angry at her mother but also hopeful that Stephanie is getting better. Stephanie is also challenged by a tension quietly simmering between herself and Susan, while attempts to find solace in a relationship with her nurse, Shaun, invite more turmoil. BODY OF WATER explores how women self-identify in a world that presents us with constantly conflicting perceptions of what it is to be female. It examines the destructive nature of eating disorders and body dysmorphia within a narrative film framework.

Synopsis

Isabel is a new 'tee-girl'. She spends the whole day sitting on a stool barely one foot above the dirt-ground teeing up golf balls for golfers to hit as they practice swinging their steel clubs just inches away from Isabel's face. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2020 - Berlinale Shorts - World premiere Berlin International Film Festival 2020 - Winner - Silver Bear

Synopsis

Three-time Academy Award® nominee Johnny Depp plays celebrated war photographer W. Eugene Smith in a real life David vs Goliath story, pitting Smith against a powerful corporation responsible for poisoning the people of Minamata, Japan in 1971. New York, 1971. W. Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) is a celebrated photo-journalist and photo-essayist, but he feels devoid of inspiration. He is at such a low ebb he even considers suicide. Then a Japanese-American woman Aileen (Minami) shows up to convince him to come to the Japanese coastal city of Minamata, whose community has been ravaged by mercury poisoning, the result of decades of gross industrial negligence by Japan’s Chisso Corporation. Eugene eventually agrees to go, with the reluctant and secret support of Life Magazine head Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy). With Aileen, Smith immerses himself in the community, documenting the people’s efforts to live with Minamata Disease and their passionate fight to achieve recognition and compensation from Chisso. It is a life-changing experience — one which brings Eugene redemption, love, new purpose and his greatest-ever photograph. A photograph that will change the world and provide desperately needed fuel to the fledgling environmental protection movement. 'Minamata' is a moving redemptive story of how one man’s powerful photograph impacted the world, yet in order to find it he had to open his heart. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2020 - Berlinale Special - World premiere

Synopsis

A British Pakistani rapper is on the cusp of his first world tour, but is struck down by an illness that threatens to derail his big break. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2020 - Panorama - World premiere