Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Bend It Like Beckham is a British 'Teen-Comedy' about bending the rules to get what you want.

If you're 18, love Beckham and can bend a ball like him the world's your oyster, right? Wrong. If you're Jess - 18, Indian and a girl - forget it. Do you think your marriage-obsessed folks will let you play a Man's game?

If you're Jules - 18, English and a girl - what will it take to convince your mother that just because you play footie with girls doesn't mean you're a lesbian?

Both girls dream of playing professionally - that means going to the States where the girls get paid, get sponsorship and get proper respect. Jess and Jules are on their way with help from their coach, Joe, until they both fall in love with him.

Synopsis

On a sprawling estate on the outskirts of suburbia, Leanne 13, is a child who has had to grow up fast. With a mother who left years ago, her dad Jim takes it for granted that Leanne will continue the domestic duties where his wife left off.

Synopsis

The script is based on a real life miscarriage of justice that is part of Australian history.

It is 1958 in conservative Adelaide, a city that prides itself on it's peaceful, well-bred qualities. A young lawyer, David O' Sullivan, excitable and charming, is given the news that he has drawn a 'lottery prize' - a legal aid case for an aborigine who has been arrested for the rape and murder of an eight year old girl in the far west desert town of Ceduna. O' Sullivan soon concludes that the aborigine has been framed by the local police and decides he must take a stand. He finds himself pitted against Chamberlain, South Australia's Crown Prosecutor, a forbidding but tremendously charismatic character. O' Sullivan and his legal partner, Helen Devaney, embark on a 'David and Goliath' battle that threatens the world of closed ranks, hidden evidence and the establishment.

Aided by the young Rupert Murdoch, who is making a name for himself, O' Sullivan takes the case to the highest courts in the Commonwealth. Manoeuvring narratives of political manipulation, police corruption and personal crisis, this is a wonderfully compelling story of right and wrong.

Synopsis

On 30th January 1972, British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians taking part in a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. The event, Bloody Sunday, was a major turning point in the history of the modern Irish troubles, catapulting a low intensity conflict into a civil war, driving many young men into the ranks of the IRA and fuelling a 25 year cycle of violence.

This film tells the story of Bloody Sunday in just one day from dawn to dusk, from the arrival of thousands of troops on the streets of the besieged city to the violent collision between soldiers from the crack Paratroop Regiment and the crowds of civilian demonstrators. The film follows the march organisers and the police, British soldiers, as well as civilians from both sides of the religious sectarian divide. It focuses in particular on the stories of two young men: Ivan Cooper, an idealistic Civil Rights leader, a Protestant in a Catholic camp, who shares Martin Luther King's dream of peaceful change; and Gerry Donaghy, a 17 year old Catholic rebel, who yearns to settle down and marry his Protestant girlfriend, but who is drawn into violent confrontation with the soldiers.

Synopsis

Geena and Jay are star-crossed young lovers from opposite sides of the East London racial divide. Geena is second generation British Asian, born of a Gujurati family. Jay is small town, white and working class.

Fresh from leaving school in the West Country, 18 year old Jay joins his elder brother Darren in London, working alongside him in the East End clothing business. In between humping garments from sweat shop to market place, Jay sets his dreams to music on his guitar.

Geena is also through with school, and starts her business studies course in the autumn. Meanwhile she must earn her keep in the family firm, which imports material and sarees from India. Chafing against an over-protective home life and its strict ideas about a woman's place, Geena escapes as she always has; into Bollywood-tinged fantasies.

When Geena has her fortune told by a jyotish astrologer, she is shocked to be told she's in love. Surely not with the ambitious computer wizz, Dillip, whose BMW she sometimes shares? Or one of the clammy-handed conformists paraded by her parents at innumerable family functions as possible suitors? Then she bumps into Jay, and Cupid's dart pierces both their hearts. Once they have shared the first secretive 'karma-kiss', their worlds become inextricably tangled.

But true love never runs smoothly. Geena's brothers have ambitions for the family business, and are moving into the lucrative but illegal world of 'moodies' - fake designer garments. What's more, their skill and competitive pricing are putting their rivals out of business, most especially the firm of East End wide boys for whom Darren and Jay are working.

Synopsis

Boxed is a powerful drama set in present-day Northern Ireland. The story centres on Father Brendan, a young Catholic priest fresh from Seminary, full of idealistic beliefs and faith. After a difficult discussion with his mentor, Father Moran, a cynical and bitter priest, Father Brendan is collected outside his church by a young man who mistakes him for Father Moran.

He is taken to an isolated house where an IRA group is holding a suspected informer awaiting execution. The priest is expected to hear the informers' last confession but refuses to go along with this and locks himself in a room with the victim, threatening to expose the IRA members. The terrorists are now faced with the possibility of having to kill a priest, a decision none of them can take.

One of the group is dispatched to get clearance from higher up but whilst waiting for word cracks start to appear within their ranks and the characters find themselves having to confront their motives and question their faith.

With an ensemble cast of award-winning established actors and exciting new comers, Boxed is a gripping and moving drama that controversially explores the questions of religion, violence, politics and faith.

Synopsis

2019: Smoking is now illegal and carries the Death Penalty. Unprecedented new laws strictly prohibit any form of smoking activity or products whether in privacy or public. Overnight the tobacco companies have been wiped out and illegal dealing on the black market is run by underworld cigarette pushers. It is the duty of the A.I.R (Air Intelligence Regiment) to enforce the law and deal with any felons. The Smoker's Co-operative of Underground Militants (SCUM) are blatantly defying the law by openly smoking in public places spreading terror and pandemonium. They continue to smoke their smuggled cigarettes, which are available at an incredibly high price.

Synopsis

Bubbles follows a family's desperate attempts to save their suffocating goldfish after a car crash on the side of a motorway. The goldfish is eventually rescued by a glamorous girl in a sports car but the family's dreams of escape go on.

Synopsis

After splitting up with his girlfriend whilst on holiday in Thailand, a young English backpacker, Adam, meets and falls in love with a beautiful Thai girl, Em, on an island paradise. His world falls apart when he needlessly lies to her about another girl and Em betrays Adam to the ex-pat mafia. When he uncovers their fraudulent passport operation, Adam must save Em and rescure her from a deadly plot involving human trafficking.

Synopsis

1942. The world is at war.

Charlotte Gray, a young Scottish woman, is parachuted behind enemy lines into Southern France. Only she knows she has a dual mission. Officially, she has been recruited by the British Government on a special operation to liaise with the local resistance group, who are using guerrilla tactics against the occupying German Army. Unofficially, she is searching for her lover, Peter, an English airman missing in action after his plane is shot down.

As Charlotte becomes more deeply involved with the resistance fighters, led by Julien Levade, she realises that her love of France and its people will change her life forever.

Charlotte Gray is a thrilling romance set against the harrowing events of the dark years of the War in France.

Synopsis

During the peacefulness and sunshine at the start of the pandemic in the UK, a young girl hears creatures talking in the countryside near her home. She uses this discovery to entice her older sister out of a depression. The film uniquely integrates audio description into the main soundtrack.
Trailer password: Hetty22

Synopsis

Cherish, an adolescent on the brink of adulthood is still full of dreams and inhibitions. She meets her father for the first time. Reluctant to accept him and after a cold start, a genuine affection builds up. Then she finds her father has remade his life with another woman.