Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Eleven-year-old twin brothers Francis and Peter are invited to the birthday party of a school friend, the climax of which is always a game of hide-and-seek in the dark. Francis, however, has a paralysing fear of the dark, and will do anything not to attend. Adapted from Graham Greene's short story The End Of The Party.

Synopsis

Los Angeles, cira 1920s, a little immigrant girl finds herself in a hospital recovering from a fall. She strikes up a friendship with a bedridden man who captivates her with a whimsical story that removes her far from the hospital doldrums into the exotic landscapes of her imagination. The man has ulterior motives, and the fanciful story he tells masks his profound depression. Making sure he keeps the girl interested in the story he interweaves her family and people she likes from the hospital into his tale. Once she’s hooked, he’s able to persuade the child to provide him with pills so he can 'sleep'. But in her innocence and unassuming love for him, the little girl changes the man’s will, giving him hope and a deep affection for her.

Synopsis

Based on a remarkable true story, The Flying Scotsman is an out-and-out inspirational, against-all-odds, crowd pleasing film, which follows the turbulent life of cyclist Graeme Obree, who broke the World One Hour record on a bike of his own revolutionary design, constructed out of scrap metal and old washing machine parts.

Synopsis

Reprising the roles they originated in seven-time Academy Award® - nominated Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush return for a gripping historical thriller laced with treachery and romance - The Golden Age. Joining them in the epic is Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh, a dashing seafarer and newfound temptation for Elizabeth.

The Golden Age finds Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) facing bloodlust for her throne and familial betrayal. Growing keenly aware of the changing religious and political tides of late 16th century Europe, Elizabeth finds her rule openly challenged by the Spanish King, Philip II (Jordi Molla) - with his powerful army and sea-dominating Armada - determined to restore England to Catholicism. Preparing to go to war to defend her empire, Elizabeth struggles to balance ancient royal duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her love for Raleigh. But he remains forbidden for a Queen who has sworn body and soul to her country. Unable and unwilling to pursue her love, Elizabeth encourages her favourite lady-in-waiting, Bess (Abbie Cornish), to befriend Raleigh to keep him near. But this strategy forces Elizabeth to observe their growing intimacy.

As she charts her course abroad, her trusted advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), continues his masterful puppetry of Elizabeth's court at home and her campaign to solidify absolute power.  Through an intricate spy network, Walsingham uncovers an assassination plot that could topple the throne. But as he unmasks traitors that may include Elizabeth's own cousin Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton), he unknowingly sets England up for destruction.

The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of an era, the story of one woman’s crusade to control love, crush enemies and secure her position as a beloved, icon of the western world.

Synopsis

Two women. One man. Random moments and a chance meeting that will change his life forever. Directed by Seeta Indrani (The Bill, Asian Woman of Achievement, Arts and Culture Award). Starring, Nina Wadia (Goodness Gracious Me, All About Me), and Comedy Store Players Steve Steen and Andy Smart. Music by Gene Loves Jezebel and Osibisa.

Synopsis

The Grind is a modern urban drama, set in world of sex, drug dealers, dance nightclubs and loan sharks. Vince (Freddie Connor) is the nightclub manager of The Grind in Hackney, East London and having fought his way to a decent living and respectable lifestyle he is determined to settle down and take life easier. Upon meeting and starting a relationship with Nancy (Zoe Tapper) Vince’s dream of running a casino for his Boss and getting married looks set.

Bobby (Gordon Alexander), Vince’s best friend from school, is released from prison and their friendship soon falls apart, Bobby’s addiction to cocaine and gambling spirals out of control and he now owes a huge amount of money to Vince’s boss, Dave (Jamie Foreman); owner of The Grind and an East End loan shark. Vince's life takes a dramatic turn for the worse. Loyalties are tested and friendships are pushed to their limits.

Synopsis

Julia Parchant is a spinster who lives on an isolated farm in America's Mid-West. She advertises for a handyman to help her with the upkeep of her property in return for food and lodging. The itinerant good-looking but shifty Caleb Tucker gets the job and settles into life on the farm. Just as Julia starts to fall for his charms, news arrives that a serial killer is on the loose.

Synopsis

Based on author Ali Smith's short story. Three women of three generations meet on the night of Christmas Eve.

Synopsis

A wry animated documentary about how Holocaust tourism distorts history. A whistlestop tour from Auschwitz hot-dogs to Krakow's kitsch Judaica.
 

Synopsis

The Idea is a comical satire of modern society and our inability to listen. It is also a study of contemporary society's insensitivity towards the expression of new ideas and not being willing to give them the appropriate space to grow and form. Rather than asking the right questions, crowding them out with trivial concerns and noisy vacuous statements.

Although, in this instance, we drew from archetypal figures of a particular group of people, the message is universal and equally applies to all groups and denominations.

Synopsis

When a child finds herself lost in 'the plaza', an ambiguous place isolated between heaven and earth, an old man appears to help - But it's the old man who must learn to take the final steps to freedom.

Synopsis

The Killing of John Lennon, is a chilling insight into the mind of Mark David Chapman the 25 year old narcissist who gunned down John Lennon outside his Dakota Apartment in New York in 1980. Meticulously researched and filmed on actual locations in Hawaii, Decatur Georgia and New York it is a gritty and imagistic examination of a celebrity stalker's mind leading up to the kill.

The film is more than a chronicle of one man's desperate act, it explores the razor-thin lines between art and insanity, between the drive to create and the compulsion to destroy.  Its theme of bomb-ticking loneliness and, by extension, the notion that America as a nation seems to foster angry strangers who vent paranoid resentment towards public figures couldn't be more resonant today.