Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

A true-life comedy of the most epic proportions, SAIPAN chronicles the events leading up to Ireland’s incendiary 2002 World Cup campaign, when the intense rivalry between Manchester United and Ireland football legend Roy Keane and Irish national manager Mick McCarthy transcended the game and gripped an entire nation. In 2002 while preparing for the World Cup on the tiny island of Saipan and when Keane was captaining the Irish national side, he and McCarthy had a very public, very bitter disagreement. On the surface, their feud was all about standards, but deep down it was a hugely emotive story of two men whose rivalry and contempt came to surpass the sport they loved, and whose very public falling out was to become one of the most fractious falling-outs in the history of the sport. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - European premiere

Synopsis

A pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve and his students at a last-chance reform college amidst a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the college’s integrity and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health. In parallel to Steve’s struggles, we meet Shy, a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence. A reimagining of Max Porter’s best selling novel 'Shy'. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere

Synopsis

Yorkshire, 1916. A choral society's male members enlist in World War I, leaving the demanding Dr. Guthrie to recruit teenagers. Together, they experience the joy of singing while the young boys grapple with their impending conscription into the army. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - European premiere

Synopsis

Jonah, charismatically ADHD and dyslexically created, is a man-child who keeps on slipping. At the same time, his best mate, Lee, nimbly climbs every ladder. After hitting yet another bump and under pressure to see his great-aunt, who is lost to dementia, Jonah contrives that he and Lee visit, hoping it might also offer respite from himself and the mess he’s creating. Though the Northeast coast of Scotland wasn’t quite what Lee envisioned, it holds a certain wildness and wonder. They meet Charlie, who is profoundly Deaf and attempting to clean up after his shady twin brother. Through a developing friendship, the three boys form a connection that ultimately brings Jonah to discover the courage to be vulnerable and that joy is possible despite loss. THE SON AND THE SEA brings personal experience and threads of familial history together to ask: how will boys become men if there’s no one to show them the way? Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection San Sebastián International Film Festival 2025 - European premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Warsaw, December 13th 1981. Martial law shuts down the country. Overnight, a country turns into a prison. Taxis have been replaced by tanks. Citizens are treated like criminals. And visiting British Professor Joan Andrews finds herself trapped. After witnessing the murder of a young student by the secret police (the "Crows"), Joan herself becomes the target. The Professor runs like a rat through the maze-like streets of Soviet-era Warsaw until she is forced to stop and take a stand. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere

Synopsis

Amy reluctantly returns home to the windy clifftop in North Cornwall where she grew up, after a break-up with her partner Jess has left her homeless. She hopes her mum, Sue, will be pleasantly surprised at the chance for them to reconnect. But Sue isn't good with surprises, and has other things on her mind. She is preparing to plant a bare root hedge, her final act of resistance against the second home development that will surround her home, concreting over her memories and erasing her past. They start early: digging in the hedge is backbreaking work.                                    When Amy finally manages to tell Sue about her loss, Sue is lost for words. They doggedly continue planting, gradually finding a rhythm together in the silence. As night falls, and exhaustion sets in, Sue returns to the house, and Amy is left in the field, digging the last trench for the remaining plants. Alone, they each find a way to reach out across the silence, the years of separation, and their losses, towards each other.

Synopsis

When a Swiss woman and a British man reunite on the streets of London, what starts as a pleasant reunion gradually descends into an elliptical journey that challenges the accuracy of their memory through obsessive repetition in an attempt to reconcile their failed relationship.

Synopsis

A coming-of-age drama following Cat, a wide-eyed freshman, while she attempts to navigate university. The abrupt ending of her situationship with laid-back Noah leads her to a desperate search for validation. Cat searches for fleeting replacements until she hits a low point. She attempts to build herself up from scratch, only to come face-to-face with Noah again.

Synopsis

Refusing to submit to the image of an overlooked old woman Tona bares all to the gazing eyes of a life drawing class.

Synopsis

On the anniversary of his father's death, a boy navigates a journey through grief within the family's crumbling manor house, with visions and dreams ushering a past generation into his present day. A piece of pure gothic magic realism.

Synopsis

Linda and her two daughters, Ali and Max, embark on their first holiday since leaving a violent household. What begins as an exciting escape to a beloved caravan park quickly turns into a fragile attempt to rebuild their lives and heal from the trauma of their past. While the initial days are filled with laughter, hope, and the freedom of new beginnings, Linda’s unresolved pain begins to surface in unexpected ways. As the days pass, Linda experiences a breakdown, her trauma manifesting as psychosis. Struggling to stay grounded, she becomes increasingly detached from reality, her grip on the present slipping further with each passing hour. Eventually, in a moment of deep disconnection, Linda disappears. MILES AWAY is an intimate portrayal of the psychological aftermath of abuse. As Ali and Max search for their mother, the film delves into the silence that surrounds mental health and trauma, capturing the haunting emotional journey of those left behind. It is a story of love, loss, and the long, painful road to healing, as the daughters are forced to confront their own fears and find a way forward without the one person they were depending on.

Synopsis

In the desperate search for a horse’s skull to lead an ancient folk procession, a man is drawn into the black market for animal body parts. Official Selection FantasticFest 2025