Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

Audaciously split into three simultaneous frames AKA tells the story of a disaffected youth, identity lost and found, and the search for love. Dean, the handsome hero, is trapped in a dead world: a working class suburb with a sexually abusive father and a waitress mother who is convinced that she is the friend of aristocrats she serves. Dean runs away from home seeking out Lady Gryffoyn, one of the many characters that his mother has told him about at the restaurant. After meeting Lady Gryffoyn, Dean moves into her home but after a short time falls out with her jealous son Alex Gryffoyn. A chance meeting with Benjamin, a charismatic American leads Dean to Paris where he looks for work. Unable to get work Dean pretends to be Alex Gryffoyn and with Benjamin's unwitting help, infiltrates the very upper class set his mother waits on, convincing them and himself that he belongs. All the time he is funding this deceit with his credit card, running up huge bills. Back in England the police are alerted to his fraudulent use of the credit card. Dean hooks up with David Glendenning the rich aristocratic man for whom Benjamin is a courtesan. David takes Dean under his wing but only after expelling Dean's one true friend Benjamin from their inner circle. Reinventing oneself comes at a price. Slowly, the living hell, which he endured at home, comes back to haunt Dean. Dean finally tells the truth to Benjamin who is furious with Dean and tells David Glendenning. The charade is over. Dean goes back home, confronts his father and the tragic family secret is blown apart. The film ends with Dean in prison but in possession of his own identity and on his own terms.

Synopsis

Two American Mafiosi, Gino and Settimo, take refuge in the Glasgow café owned by their Scots/Italian cousin. But cousin Roberto isn't the tough guy they'd expected. His strengths are fish frying and stamp collecting, and he thinks Magnum 45s are a type of ice cream. Gino and Settimo try to repay Roberto's hospitality by chasing off a debt collector who wants his property, but their strong-arm tactics alarm him, and he realises they aren't the PR consultants they claimed to be. Adding to the tension is a growing rivalry between Roberto and Gino over Alice, a girl Roberto has secretly loved for years. Matters come to a head when Roberto finds a suitcase full of plants, which he assumes to be drugs. He's disgusted with his cousins, until Settimo reveals that the cuttings are from a new species of vine, which can grow anywhere and is set to revolutionise the wine industry. Meanwhile, Roberto has finally worked up the courage to tell Alice how he feels. But before he can act his world starts to fall apart. Firstly he finds her in a passionate embrace with Gino, then his beloved Grandfather dies, and finally the Ukrainian gangsters track down the Americans and lay siege to the shop. The situation seems hopeless until Roberto comes up with a place of safety then sets fire to the shop. Within minutes the emergency services have arrived and the Ukrainians have made a hasty retreat. The next day, as smoke rises from the ruins of his precious café, Roberto tells Alice he loves her. She says she loves him too, and that the kiss with Gino had been a drunken mistake. But their happiness is short lived. The debt-collector who the Americans have chased off returns mob-handed, and he's out for revenge. Roberto stands up to him and is bundled into a car, but just at that moment a fleet of taxis pulls up. They contain the cream of Gino and Settimo's New Jersey family, who have decamped to Scotland to avoid being wiped out in a gangland war. The sight of 30 steely-eyed Mafiosi soon convinces the debt collector to make himself scarce. Five years later the ruins of Roberto's café have been transformed into a magnificent new restaurant. Next door the Americans have built an impressive warehouse from which they run the Caledonian Chianti Company. And the wasteland in front of the shop has become a beautiful vineyard, with rows of plants as far as the eye can see.

Synopsis

One too many dodgy deals puts a car salesman into an early grave. What a group of four indie musicians (now disbanded and unemployed) don't realise, when they accidently kill him, and bury him in the woods, is that he had a lot of money on him. Being drunk didn't help either, because when Rick, the leader of the group, learns of the money, retracing his footsteps in the woods and finding the body proves not only difficult, but insane.

Synopsis

Animal rights activist Jade is anxious to get Nick Robinson, the marketing director of a pharmaceutical company, to justify their experimentation on animals so she can post the results on her fledgling website www.justice4animals.tv but all attempts at a serious debate are met with contempt! When hard-line activist Charlie convinces Jade he can get the one-on-one she wants, she agrees, unaware of what this will involve. Kidnap. Imprisonment. Torture. Locked in a cage, barely able to move, Nick is finally at Jade's mercy as she videos and uploads his arrogant dismissal of her questioning. Realising that Charlie has no intention of changing Nick's view of life but to simply end it, Jade breaks anonymity to warn the police, putting her own life at risk to save another.

Synopsis

Asylum focuses on three young Kurdish refugees fleeing political persecution by smuggling themselves into England. Their future threatened as their genuine claims become buried in red tape, they seek refuge in a church. Despite their Muslim faith, a Catholic priest, Father Michael (Dai Bradley), feels bound to champion their cause. As the situation becomes the focus of escalating media and police attention, not only does the dramatic conclusion demonstrate the limits of human compassion but also the indirect cruelties of the entire system.

Synopsis

Two days in the life of Alex DeMello - a narcissistic, drugged-up wannabe yuppie - who sets out to uncover the sinister secrets of his demonic company superiors, but ends up losing his briefcase, his car, his friends, and his mind. During his trip across the bad side of the city, Alex stumbles across car-wrecking psychopaths, all-seeing telephone operators, a knife-wielding skate-boarder, and finally his indestructible corporate rival - The Man. A dark, dream-like psychological thriller about urban paranoia, yuppie greed, corporate manipulation, mind-altering substances, sex, death, betrayal, and a cuddly toy called Mr Buttons. Achieve Synergy.

Synopsis

After having an abortion against her boyfriend's wishes, Lucia is surprised to find a soul-mate in parent Jimmy.

Synopsis

Bitter Sweet is a contemporary love story set in Cornwall. Becky and Jack were madly in love once, but drugs got in the way. She cheated him out of a deal, and to make matters worse, shopped him to the police. When Jack is released from prison, he sets out to find her. The role of the avenging angel greatly appeals to him. A Penzance solicitor with a social conscience does his best to help Jack, but he just wants to get even with Becky. His love for her has turned into an unhealthy obsession, and now, hatred. She, in the meantime, turns tricks for money, working under the cover of an aromatherapist. It is not long before he finds her amongst the sand dunes of Hayle, and he shoots Becky with his air pistol. She falls to the ground, crying out in pain. There is a small graze on her arm. He offers to kiss it better. One kiss leads to another and the young lovers soon make up their differences. They are oblivious of a total eclipse passing over their heads. As the sun re-emerges they walk into the brilliant clear light.

Synopsis

Comedy set in the world of bowls. Try as he might, the roguishly handsome Cliff Starkey, just can't keep out of trouble. In his sleepy hometown on the English coast, nothing much inspires him, apart from bowls. Cliff has always preferred to play by his own rules much to the disapproval of the regimented, elderly fraternity. Before long, the bad boy of bowls is turning the sedate and very English pastime upside down with hysterical results.

Synopsis

Set in the 1930s, the world of the Bright Young Things is one of nightclubs, dancing, jazz and speed. Their lives revolve around an endless series of parties and pleasure seeking: motorcars, jazz bands, gossip journalism, drugs, gramophones - Inevitably, however, the frantic pace of living takes its toll and one by one they begin to crash and burn in the search for newer and faster sensations.

Synopsis

When Annie's husband dies of leukaemia, her best friend Chris comes up with a novel way to raise money for the hospital that cared for him. Why not produce a calendar featuring the two of them and fellow Women's Institute members in traditional WI poses - making jam, pressing flowers, knitting - but just to make it more interesting why not have them in the nude? News of the scheme spreads fast round their small village in the Yorkshire Dales and before long the women are hitting the headlines at home and abroad, an inspiration to millions of women around the world. But this sudden celebrity starts to take over their lives and, during a publicity trip to Hollywood, the friendship between Chris and Annie begins to crack.

Synopsis

Toyshop owner Harry Sankey (David Thewlis) leads a simple life in the quiet Northern town of Gigglewaite, but the sudden and tragic death of Nancy, his beloved wife and the idolised mother of his estranged son, Sam (Sean Ward) soon turns it all upside down. He then finds himself trying to cope, just as unsuccessfully, with the unusual role of quiz show contestant, believing it to be Nancy's last wish for him to participate in the popular but bizarre TV show 'Cheeky', hosted by the brilliant cheesy Alf Price (Johnny Vegas). Once persuaded, Harry reluctantly joins the crazy show and coincidentally meets another Nancy (Trudi Styler), his charming fellow contestant, who attempts to draw him out of his misery.