Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Ireland 1920: workers from field and country unite to form volunteer guerrilla armies to face the ruthless 'Black and Tan' squads that are being shipped from Britain to block Ireland's bid for independence.

Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country, Damien abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy, in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom.

As the freedom fighters' bold tactics bring the British to breaking point, both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But despite the apparent victory, civil war erupts and families who fought side by side find themselves pitted against one another as sworn enemies, putting their loyalties to the ultimate test.

Synopsis

This Is England tells the story of Shaun, a 12-year-old kid growing up without a father in the north of England. Set during the summer holidays of 1983, we chart his rites of passage from scruffy misfit grieving the loss of his father into a shaven-headed thug whose anger and pain are embraced by the local skinhead fraternity. With a shell of a mother and no father to guide him, Shaun seems set for self-destruction, but it's not long before things turn sour with his new-found 'friends' and Shaun soon learns that violence is the coward's answer.

Synopsis

Set in a 19th-century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colourful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. It’s a tale of optimism, romance and a very lively afterlife, told in classic Tim Burton style.

Synopsis

On a hot July afternoon, a girl wanders away from a house, towards a deserted pool of water. Her body is recovered the next day. Thirty years later, as Allon White lay dying of leukemia, he drew upon memories of his sister's death and the landscape of his childhood. These fractured recollections are the inspiration for Too Close To The Bone.

Synopsis

The action of this short, comic film noir unfolds as Mike explains how he's come to be buried alive. It's a tale of the underworld, in more ways than one, as cross and double-cross lead to a trip to the countryside that is anything but a picnic.

Synopsis

Tatjana dreams of escaping St Petersburg, and thinks she has found a man who can take her away. Meanwhile in Mexico City, Champinon is overshadowed by his confident, good-looking best friend and struggles to find himself a girlfriend.  In Los Angeles, Asha discovers the man of her dreams has been cheating on her, and in Kenya, Matthew rebels against his religious upbringing by reaching into Nairobi's burgeoning hip hop culture, attracting swift discipline from his father.

The heat is on and our cast of characters react to the building pressure to create Transit: Tatjana leaves Russia for Mexico City in search of her lover, and Asha for Nairobi to shoot a documentary for her graduation project. In their new locations our characters meet and our four stories become two when Tatjana finds Champinon and Asha finds Matthew.

Love follows but their relationships are not as simple as they first appear, as we discover that all their stories are interlinked.

Synopsis

On a windswept beach, a lone figure trudges across the sand. Deep in concentration, his eyes are trained on the ground ahead.

This is the story of an old man's relentless search. He can only ever rest when he finds his treasure.

Synopsis

Based on the book by acclaimed author and playwright Athol Fugard, this deeply affecting film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who shoots a woman outside her home and steals her car, unaware, in his panic, that her baby is in the back seat. Pumping with the high energy of Zola's 'Kwaito' music, Tsotsi is an extraordinary and gritty contemporary portrait of ghetto life set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg townships.
 

Synopsis

Ever sat on an underground train and felt you were being watched? You might have been an unsuspecting participant in a game of Tube Poker, the gambling phenomenon that is sweeping the globe.
 

Synopsis

When Allen is hospitalised in a coma, fiancée Cathy and best mate Danny use a Handycam to 'communicate' with him. What starts out as a birthday present for Allen, to 'have a laugh' when he gets back and see that he hasn't 'missed much', shifts an already complex relationship into uncharted territory.

Synopsis

A group of enterprising students strive against the odds to achieve their dream of acting on the big stage. The youngsters decide to stage Shakespeare's Macbeth at Crewe's Lyceum Theatre and recruit Eric Shepard, a once feared and respected theatre director, whose own career has been cut short by injury. The film, like the play they eventually put on, is a triumph of perseverance and self-belief.

Synopsis

Maurice and Ian are old friends, veteran English actors who never quite hit the bigtime. Now in their seventies, they continue to work (Maurice, for example, is playing a corpse in a television drama) but spend much of their time discussing their ailments over breakfast in a favourite café. When Ian's great-niece Jessie arrives from the provinces, she quickly tries her great-uncle's patience. But Maurice is taken with the girl, and proceeds to show her the cultural sights of the capital. Maurice tries to teach Jessie something about life, but in the process he is surprised to discover how very little he actually knows now that his own life is drawing to a close.