Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

The arrival of a mysterious stranger at an old allotment on the fringes of London triggers a chain of strange events and uncanny rituals that upend the lives of its tightly knit community. Aiden Salter, a reclusive nature writer with a debilitating personality disorder, spends his days sealed inside his council-block bedsit, obsessively watching the allotment community below — the only family he has. Down on the plots, canalboat dwellers Alvie, Rayna, Shay and David cling to each other on the forgotten edge of London’s Lea Valley. Each night, a shared terror gnaws at them, haunting dreams that blur the line between sleep and something far darker. When Aiden finally steps into their world, the allotment is already under threat: a vanished Ukrainian boy, a plot-holder’s horrific suicide and police preparing to shutter the gardens within days. All signs begin to point toward Aiden…and to Elsie Bierce, a notorious American occult publisher drawn to the site like a moth to flame. As ‘Ourhaven’, branded “Sourhaven” by local tabloids, faces closure, it also readies to unearth it’s most diabolical secret.

Synopsis

Every day, thousands of dairy calves are separated from their mothers at birth. A DAIRY STORY follows Wilma and David Finlay as they risk everything to find a way to keep dairy cows and their calves together. Filmed over two years, we see Wilma and David’s determination to reinvent dairy farming; challenging industry norms by putting nature and animal welfare first. Their path wasn’t easy. They faced criticism and ridicule from their intensive dairy neighbours and almost went bankrupt proving it could work. When Wilma receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, their mission to encourage wider industry adoption of their cow-with-calf system takes on new urgency. This documentary addresses themes of connection and mortality, and topics of animal sentience, the environment and system change. Following calves from birth to weaning, we see the herd's profound capacity for maternal care. A DAIRY STORY shows how changing a farming system changes everything; from the lives of the animals to the wellbeing of the farmers, and perhaps even the future of dairy farming itself. Official Selection IndieCork 2025 - World premiere Official Selection Central Scotland Documentary Festival 2025 - UK premiere

Synopsis

Drifting through his post-industrial town scavenging for scrap, isolated teenager Sandy finds unexpected purpose after meeting conspiracy theorist Don, who tasks him with destroying a local wind farm. A subversive retelling of Cervantes' Don Quixote - GIANTS is set against the backdrop of about living in an austerity-ravaged north-eastern town, a community stripped of its purpose and prospects the way ships were broken on it's very doorstep; its about false visions for the future for young men often groomed by radical ideology; and it's about the giants we imagine for ourselves. Official Selection Leeds International Film Festival 2025 Official Selection Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Go-wing, 19, is going to be the first university graduate in the Au family - or so her father thinks. In between school breaks, she even works in his takeaway to help keep costs down. But Go-wing’s hectic yet mundane and isolated life is about to change when she arrives at a visiting circus on a delivery trip. There, not only her hidden rollerblading talent is celebrated, but she also discovers a bigger ambition - High Wire. To keep pursuing this new-found, death-defying aspiration and still be the good daughter her father wants - she lies. Go-wing is going to play a balancing act not just on the wire, but also in real life. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - World premiere

Synopsis

After his wife, Libby, dies by suicide, sex-addicted door-to-door beauty product salesman and self-professed lothario Bunny Munro finds himself saddled with a young son and only a loose concept of parenting. Together with 9-year-old Bunny Junior he embarks on an epic and increasingly out-of-control road trip across Southern England as the two struggle to contain their grief in very different ways. As Bunny bounces from one sales pitch to the next, trying to seduce any woman he meets, Bunny Junior kills time talking to the ghost of his mother and distracting himself from the dawning realization that his dad isn’t just fallible - he’s a complete mess. As he starts to unravel, Bunny realizes he must do something to rescue his son from his own outdated notions of what it is to be a man. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Series Special Presentation- World premiere

Synopsis

Stuck in a stagnant moment of her marriage, Kay orchestrates an evening away from family responsibilities to pursue a surprising liaison. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Jennifer, a controlling mother, interferes in her nine-year-old daughter's audition in order to live out her own dreams. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - World premiere

Synopsis

In an isolated deaf community, Matt's idyllic world cracks when Eva arrives, making him question his identity and the costs of maintaining his supposedly utopian society. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 Official Selection Zurich Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

Nineteen year old Tommy likes his life as a criminal, and leads his friends in acts of horrifying violence, until one night he is kidnapped by a stranger, Chris. Waking up with a chain around his neck in the basement of an isolated home, Tommy finds himself at the centre of a dysfunctional family dynamic as Chris and his mysterious wife Kathryn try to make Tommy a “good boy”, in a process of forced rehabilitation. The one thing Tommy knows for sure: he must escape. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - European premiere

Synopsis

Maria is a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 11-year-olds, but she's unable to because of one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child’s behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this "bad apple” in her home. She tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament. As entertaining as it is provocative, BAD APPLES challenges us to think about our society’s systems and how we justify them to ourselves. Loosely based on Rasmus Andersson’s debut novel 'De Oönskare', which plants a mirror at society, lifting up the covers and showing the ethical hypocrisy that lies beneath many of our individual or collective decisions. 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 - Official Competition

Synopsis

Parolee Taylor's hopes of a fresh start are jeopardised by the arrival of dominant cellmate Dee. As Taylor finds solace and protection in Dee’s shadow, their bond is tested when Dee becomes the target of a vicious attack, leading to an ultimatum that threatens Taylor’s chance at parole and his survival. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - European premiere

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