Projects with status: Complete

Synopsis

On September 14th 1997 my best friend Spider completely lost his sense of humour. . . . He decided to get married. By day, Anthony Dale, is a mild mannered, thrusting young sales executive with a sunny future. By night, he is "Spider" El Presidente of the Red Lion Pub Jolly Boys Association where women and work are strictly out of bounds. But Anthony is bored of the jokes and tired of the hangovers so he proposes to Annie, an upwardly mobile girl from out of town and asks best mate Des to be his Best Man. Anthony knows if he can persuade Des to follow his example and settle down, the rest of the Jolly Boys will surely follow. But with the prospect of spending the rest of his life playing golf and doing DIY, Des has other ideas . . .

Synopsis

The action is set in County Cork, in Southern Ireland in 1920. The film is a portrait of the end of an era, and the demise of a class and a way of life that have survived for centuries. It is also a psychological drama depicting the opposing emotions of love and the longing for freedom; of the lure of complacency and the hunger for change; of 'old ways' against the terrifying prospect of independence, both political and spiritual; above all, it is a portrait of a young woman's coming of age in a brutalised time and place.

Synopsis

You wouldn't describe Leicester as a fast town, but that suits Frank just fine. Overweight and out of work, Frank exists in a fantasy world in which he's cast himself as a vigilante for hire. But when he's thrown out of home by his long-suffering mother, Frank has to face reality. Looking for somewhere to spend the night, Frank meets the hopelessly naive Kenny, who helps his alcoholic father run a dilapidated B & B. For two years, Kenny has dreamt of vengeance against London hard-man Donut for the savage beating he administered to Kenny's much admired elder brother. So when Frank arrives, boasting of his years in the SAS, Kenny sees his dreams of revenge coming to fruition. The pair arm themselves with a reconstructed handgun, and head for London. But Frank and Kenny are faced all too soon with their obvious inadequacies as hit men, when they arrive at Donut's flat to find him missing, and have to deal with his street-wise girlfriend instead. The situation spirals badly out of control, and Frank and Kenny turn upon each other until they realise that, truly, the only way out of this mess is to work together. The Last Yellow is a powerful, hilarious, tragic and ultimately redemptive story which celebrates the irrepressible spirit of two very ordinary men.

Synopsis

Distraught by the sudden disappearance of their son Leon, the Spitzes', an elderly couple, decide to hire a French private detective, Lombard - known to their son-in-law Carlos, to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding Leon's silence. The testimony of Leon's girlfriend soon plunges Lombard into the disturbing milieu of child-trade. A series of violent confrontations with a network of paedophiles operating in Mexico slowly draws Lombard back to Leon's own family, as this thriller reveals its darkest final twist.

Synopsis

The Match, is a contemporary romantic comedy set in Inverdoune, an idyllic village nestling amidst the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands. Wullie Smith, still carrying the physical and emotional scars of a childhood tragedy, is Inverdoune's milkman, a young man whose potential is concealed behind his gently uncertain exterior. Wullie is known locally for his remarkable TFR (Total Football Recall) and for his not-very-secret love for Rosemary Bailey, the beautiful daughter of Bill Bailey, a local farmer with a curious affection for cows. Rosemary has returned briefly to Inverdoune, after five years away at university and she plans to leave again to pursue a career in the big city. Wullie's dreams of winning her are helped by the wisdom and insight of the remarkable Buffalo, a troubled semi-alcoholic American left stranded in Scotland after his USAF unit moved away. The single-street village has only two pubs: Benny's Bar owned by Big Tam, the ramshackle spiritual home of its delightfully eccentric clientele, and L'Bistro, a place of sterile modernity owned by the preening narcissist, Gorgeous Gus. Benny's Bar may soon be lost forever. A bet made to settle a feud between the original owners of the two bars, is to be finally resolved by the result of the 100th annual football contest between the two bars. Past form indicates poor prospects for the team from Benny's Bar which has lost the match for 99 years in a row. But it is only the result of this, the centenary game, which will determine which of the two bars will be closed forever. . .

Synopsis

After the British left India, Anglo-Indians fell from grace. And Morris Jelly dropped like a stone. He hit the filthy streets of Calcutta in all their hallucinogenic splendour and life became a dream. Even in death his mercurial spirit runs rings around his friends.

Synopsis

On a dark Glasgow night, Mick - a council driver - is desperately trying to catch the highlights of a crunch Scotland football match. As Mick struggles with the reception, the world conspires against him . . .

Synopsis

Inspired by Leos Janacek's Sinfonietta, Emma Calder's short story animated film The Queen's Monastery, is about a woman whose lover, a former acrobat, has returned to her from war a changed man. Using a highly individual water colour technique the narrative explores themes of love, escapist fantasy, obsession, jealousy and guilt.

Synopsis

Shot in the style of 1940's thrillers, this film follows the adventure of top private eye. Huw Jones who is working against the notorious city gangs. He is lured into the street by Ingrid, a gangsters moll, attacked and bundled into a car . . .

Synopsis

An elderly man runs a small isolated store, somewhere in rural South Africa. After suffering a series of burglaries which culminates in the murder of a night-watchman, the storekeeper takes the law into his own hands, with tragic consequences.

Synopsis

Vadik is an ambitious Moscow teenager struggling to survive the newly fragmented Russia when he falls in love with Helen, a Western news journalist, and vows to go to any lengths to get her. Armed with his video camera, Vadik records, and sometimes even creates anything he thinks could be classified as 'news', including footage of a fake attempted assassination of washed-up politician, Yavorsky. By filming his increasingly desperate publicity stunts, Vadik is adopted by Yavorsky as the only means to revive his flagging career. Vadik is more than willing to help Yavorsky - every futile effort they make to get Yavorsky on TV brings Vadik back in contact with Helen. But does the apprentice stringer understand that his new friends may only want him for what he can do for them?

Synopsis

Set in the 48 hours leading up to the catastrophic attack on the German lines on 1st July 1916 that signalled the start of the Battle of the Somme, this is the poignant, intense story of young men at war, as seen through the eyes of seventeen year old Billy Macfarlane. As Billy and his squad are thrown into war, they experience trauma, friendship, animosity, nostalgic recollection and the prospect of their agonisingly short lives coming to an imminent and sudden end. The action of the film is deliberately oppressive, set entirely in the few dozen yards of front line and communication trenches that Billy and his fellow soldiers occupy. As the boys wait for the attack, alternately excited and terrified, a series of events begins to undermine and fracture the solidarity of the group, and for the first time our young soldiers have to confront the reality of the enemy as the suspense and tension reaches critical mass. When Billy's platoon is ordered to go with the first wave of attackers, the awful truth of what they are about to undergo begins to impact. The whistles blow, the boys clamber over the top. We see the first wave surge into the maelstrom of smoke and explosions through the meadows of the Somme valley, advancing gamely on to meet their individual and tragic destinies. Billy Macfarlane's war ends moments later.