Projects

Synopsis

Based on the story of the Shining Path, the terrorist movement responsible for taking Peru to the brink, The Dancer Upstairs will be John Malkovich's directorial debut. Peru in the mid-1980s is collapsing under the onslaught of a highly organised terrorist movement, and a man named Rejas (Javier Bardem) finds himself unexpectedly at the centre of the action. Charged with the near-impossible task of identifying and capturing the mysterious leader Ezequiel, Rejas is hampered by the corruption of his superiors and a frighteningly complacent public. As daily bombings strike at the government's foundations, a surreal cocktail of martial law, savage violence and end-of-the-world gaiety grips the nation. Under severe pressure, and perhaps intoxicated himself, he falls for Yolanda (Laura Morante) his daughter's devastatingly beautiful ballet teacher, thus stumbling into a quiet warehouse on the capital's outskirts - and the very heart of the terrorist organisation.

Synopsis

The Devil's Music is a feature film set in London in the early sixties. It is a drama set against the revolution that tore apart the existing social fabric and which laid the foundations for the music - rhythm and blues - that still dominates the music scene today. The film portrays the lives of three young musicians who struggle to form a rhythm and blues band and who are destined to become the greatest rock and roll band in the world. All the music and songs within the film are original and based on the driving rhythm and blues that is the inspiration for many of today's bands. In order to progress their careers, the members of the band dabble in dark areas and are captured by forces beyond their control. The film deals explicitly with the dark side of the sixties social and music revolution. The Bible makes it clear that the Devil has an agenda and the music and rhythm of the drum are his tools. The band members learn to their cost that if you play the devil's music, rhythm and blues, you must dance to his tune - lust, betrayal and death.

Synopsis

Four guys on a journey to make the drop. Dr. Hook, Leo Sayer and cultural self evaluation in a black Mercedes 190.

Synopsis

In an elevator a chance encounter between two men creates an atmosphere which instigates presumptions. A question belying preconception cultivates these presumptions which mutate through ignorance into fear during the journey downwards. A man's mind disintegrates. The past explains all and we then witness the final, beautiful scene.

Synopsis

The Emperor's New Clothes tells the little-known story of Napoleon Bonaparte's comeback. It relates to the hitherto untold, funny and romantic tale of the diminutive world conqueror's secret return to France from exile, in disguise, to reclaim his throne and his imperial glory.

Synopsis

A knockabout comedy of fragile friendships and five pound notes.

Synopsis

A true lesbian horror flick in the Hammer tradition. In the desolation of an empty house, Mina, the heiress, discovers she is not alone.

Synopsis

The media and the police are baffled: Four teenagers have been missing for 18 days. With everyone fearing the worst, Liz (Thora Birch) suddenly appears from an underground bunker - alone. She is so traumatised she is unable to recount the events surrounding her disappearance. A police psychiatrist, Phillippa is called in to counsel Liz and to try and unlock her tormented mind. It would seem that Liz was caught up in a teenage prank that went drastically wrong. However it also becomes clear that Liz is unable to sort fact from fiction. Is she so disturbed by the experience that she has blanked out the truth? Or is there another reason for her confusion? What really happened down the Hole?

Synopsis

London, the present. Catherine and Jonathan are planning to get married. But Jonathan - a high-flying corporate lawyer - spends most of his evenings out with clients and his glamorous assistant Emily. Catherine feels increasingly lonely and deserted and begins to suspect that Jonathan is having an affair. In despair, she turns to her best friend, Renée, who introduces her to Jeremy, a private detective. He proposes setting up a 'honeytrap' for Catherine's husband-to-be, a meeting with an attractive woman to test his fidelity. But Jonathan withstands the honeytrap woman's advances, and so the wedding goes ahead as planned. Catherine's worst fears become true when Jeremy finds out that Jonathan has been meeting the honeytrap woman again. Jonathan, meanwhile, suspects that Catherine has hired a private detective to follow him. When the 'honeytrap' woman is murdered, Catherine immediately suspects Jonathan while Jonathan suspects Catherine of being involved. Catherine seeks refuge with Jeremy, only to find that he too suspects her of murdering the woman.

Synopsis

A tragic love story set against a background of wealth and social hypocrisy. Lily Bart is twenty-nine and very beautiful, but is flawed by her upbringing. She needs a wealthy husband to maintain her precarious foothold in the elite world of the New York of the Belle Epoque. It is a world of vast wealth and moral bankruptcy. In conforming to social expectations, she ignores her chance of happiness with the man she loves. Her quest for a husband comes to a scandalous end when she is accused of being the mistress of a wealthy married man. The society which once culitvated her now rejects her and she starts to slip down the social ladder. Redeemed by her recognition of the falseness of the life she used to lead, she declines to use her secret weapon to achieve her original goal. Life for Lily becomes impossible and she moves step by step towards her own inevitable personal tragedy.

Synopsis

Jim, a nine year old boy, whose grandfather is depressed and refusing to eat, hits on a way of trying to rekindle his grandfather's will to live. Jim had frequently been told by his grandfather about a 'joke' he used to play when he was Jim's age. Jim's idea is to repeat the same joke but before he can carry it out his grandfather dies. Jim decides to go ahead with the joke anyway.

Synopsis

Shocked by the death of a friend, three men try to take their lives in hand. But how far will they go? A gay man falls under the spell of a young woman. How far will his heart betray him? A happily married man encounters a wonderful french woman at the funeral - and says too much. Should he meet her again? A young man returns after years travelling, searching for that elusive 'something' in his life, and finally finds the woman of his dreams in his own back yard. But will he have to lose his best friend for love? Three stories intermingle, intertwine and glance off each other to reveal surprising perspectives in this sharp look at the human comedy of love.