Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

In the style of sex, lies and videotape, The Big Swap is a controversial adult, character-driven drama dealing with love, passion, obsession and sex. With a mixture of drama, humour and romance the story revolves around the exploits of a group of twentysomething couples; Eve and Julian, Ellen and Jack, Fi and Michael, Liz and Hat, and Sydney with her constant parade of boyfriends. After many good years of close and comfortable friendship, they now feel as safe and secure together as possible. One drunken night, a new idea is broached, to take their relationship one step further; partner swapping. At first it is good fun; they think they can handle it. But it is all too late when they realise the profound effect it has had on them all; as individuals, as couples, as lovers, and as friends. Fi's disillusionment forces her to evaluate her true feelings, leading to a shocking self-discovery which has an irreversible impact on her relationship with Michael. Julian's desire to indulge in ever-stranger sexual activities begins to alienate Eve, to the extent that she seeks love and attention elsewhere. Sydney's latest attempt at a successful relationship turns sour when her boyfriend Sam proves to be an old flame of Ellen's - one who she will never forget and whose return threatens to destroy her marriage to Jack. Hal's hidden jealousy over the sharing of his wife, his irrational obsession with Michael's prowess and his misplaced devotion to his last swap partner Eve, will lead to an act that threatens the future of the Crowd and puts the future of every relationship at stake. The Big Swap paints an emotive and erotically charged picture of people caught in events that move swiftly beyond their control... events that take them to the extremes of human emotions... ones that will change their lives forever.

Synopsis

Pod, Homily and their children Peagreen and Arrietty are the Clocks, a family of Borrowers - tiny 4" people who live under the floorboards of a big house and 'borrow' from the Lenders, the 'human beans' who live upstairs. When Arrietty gets discovered by Pete, the Lender's son, they tentatively become friends. Pete explains that his Great Aunt, whose house they all share, has died and as no-one can find her will, the house is to be demolished by the nasty local lawyer Potter. Pete promises to smuggle the Clocks to his new home when they move. Although deeply suspicious of all 'beans', Pod and Homily realise they must trust Pete. On moving day, Pete packs the Borrowers into the van, but Arrietty and Peagreen accidentally fall out. Lost and disorientated, they manage to return to their old house, only to see Potter stealing Aunt Mary's will, which leaves the house to Pete's family. Arrietty and Peagreen abscond with the will, with Potter and his nephew Exterminator Jeff in hot pursuit. An exciting chase ensues as they attempt to get to the Town Hall before Potter registers the Lender's house for demolition. As the deadline approaches, Potter's fury reaches boiling point and he employs even more nasty tactics. However, Arrietty, Peagreen and a renegade Borrower called Spiller use all their skills in keeping one step ahead of the villains. With some true heroics they ultimately win the house back so the Borrowers and the Lenders can all live happily ever after.

Synopsis

Victor Bukowski is an out-of-work actor with problems. He's got a lousy agent, he makes a habit of falling out with directors - and he's still in love with his ex-girlfriend Sylvia - who's marrying Dave tomorrow. Victor blames himself for causing the break-up of the relationship by telling her he was having an affair, and he refuses to let the past go. In desperation he has resorted to slashing his rival's tyres, bombarding Sylvia with flowers, losing all self respect in a vain effort to win her back. He discusses this with his exasperated best mate Freddy, the local tobacconist and anyone else who'll listen. And there's no love lost between Victor and Sylvia's best friend Alison. She thinks he's a phoney, neurotic clown - and she doesn't rate him much as an actor either. But Victor knows he and Sylvia had something special, something unrepeatable, and if only he'd played by the rules... When he pours his heart out to sympathetic barmaid Diane, he finds himself embarking on an unexpected and magical emotional journey, meeting aspiring novelist Louise along the way. Drunk and dishevelled, Victor stumbles into the pouring rain and decides to end it all. But then a dustcart appears over the bridge and Victor is rescued by two dustmen Rafael and Don Miguel. Just how different would life be if Victor could go back to that warm August Bank Holiday...

Synopsis

Set in the late 1950's and early '60s The Round Tower is the story of convent-school educated Vanessa Ratcliffe, rough diamond Angus Cotton, and the events which draw the unlikely pair together. Angus, a supervisor at the engineering works run by Vanessa's father, is blamed when scandal threatens the wealthy Ratcliffe family. The situation kick starts his own ambitious plans for the future, a future which unexpectedly comes to include Vanessa.

Synopsis

The Sea Change is a contemporary romantic comedy. The main focus is on Rupert, a very successful city businessman, and his relationship with his girlfriend Alison. Rupert thinks that all he needs to complete his successful 'life package' (prosperous career, designer flat, luxurious car), is a wife. Rupert takes Alison out to lunch and confidently proposes, but to his utter astonishment, Alison does not say yes or no; only that she may consider marrying him if he were to change. However now Rupert's problems really begin after he attempts to return early from his business trip to Barcelona, and attend Alison's birthday. His plane becomes redirected to Madrid, he's arrested by customs and he encounters Chas the builder, a chance meeting that changes Rupert's outlook on life for ever. By the time he makes it back to London he is a different person, but his next hurdle is convincing the understandably sceptical Alison that he has changed for the better.

Synopsis

Henry James' multi-layered novel of tragic love is magnificently translated into a gorgeously realised, richly textured movie. Kate is a spirited but poor middle class girl in thrall to her wealthy Aunt and blocked from marrying Merton, her charismatic but equally penniless journalist boyfriend. Then into their lives comes Millie, a young, fabulously wealthy but lonely American heiress, who, harbouring a sad secret, is befriended by them. The scene is then set for an intensely moving drama that plays out its themes of love, loyalty, deceit and regret against the splendour and emptiness of high society.

Synopsis

Maggie, a struggling singer, is desperate to make something of her life. Is motherhood the answer? Can she find anyone to have a baby with by next Thursday?

Synopsis

Titanic Town, set in the 70's Belfast of bombs, bellbottoms, Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen, is a sometimes raucous, poignant and comic tale of one woman's crusade to stop the war. Bernie McPhelimy, feisty, hot-headed and fierce tempered, becomes an unlikely heroine for peace but her innocence brings the battle to the centre of her own home and into the heart of her daughter's first great love affair.

Synopsis

Unmade Beds is a black comedy about vanity and desire in modern America. Set in the sexual jungle of the New York singles scene, two men and two women frantically pursue their impossible dreams. Equipped with ample provisions of self-delusion, misogyny, anti-semitism and homophobia, Brenda, Michael, Aimee and Mikey are on the road to heterosexual fiasco. Barker hired a research staff who combed New York for potential characters. Their search led them deep into the New York singles scene. They attended singles events, played the personals, and ran ads in the back page of the New York Press. Disguised as singles on the prowl, they canvassed bars and cafes in Manhattan's diverse neigh-bourhoods, until they found the 'cast'. Employing his unique brand of 'real-fiction' Barker then directed his 'cast' under feature film conditions during the summer, fall and winter of 1996-97. During this period he wrote and rewrote his script in response to the unfolding events in their lives. 'I'd say 90% of the script was based on the actual behaviour and language of the four principal characters' says Barker. 'The rest is a pack of lies'.

Synopsis

Yoman's Dance, a contemporary London story, investigates how a young Senegalese man with a lack of English, copes in the cosmopolitan metropolis. The central theme of the story is Yoman's battle to overcome his inability to express and articulate. Not naive to the difficulties of moving to a new and foreign city, and armed with a complex history and optimistic attitude, Yoman is well able to meet the many challenges that face him. However, the constant wear of misunderstanding climaxes with the failure of his first short lived encounter, which leads to a final sense of isolation.

Synopsis

Richard, a struggling artist in the midst of a breakdown that has left his career and his love life in tatters, attempts an ill-conceived insurance fraud and gets caught. He is sentenced to 120 hours of community service in lieu of jail. His assignment: to act as a 'caregiver' for Jane, a young woman confined to a wheelchair due to a rare degener-ative neurological disorder. Jane turns out to be anything but a timid and helpless paraplegic. Sheepish Richard finds his charge sarcastic, profane and mischievous, and as uninhibited as he is repressed. At first, Richard is convinced that he's the wrong man for the job, but he and Jane soon settle into a truce that blossoms into a deep and mutually supportive friendship. Then Jane shocks Richard by announcing that it is his responsibility to help her achieve her fondest, most impossible wish: to experience, along with the rest of humanity, the joy of sexual intimacy ... a request that forces Richard into a tailspin of conflicting feelings and wild adventures.

Synopsis

Memory mixes with desire as a museum attendant is caught up in sado-masochistic fantasies inspired by a 19th Century painting of slaves in chains called 'Scene on the Coast of Africa'. The man remembers his past as a singer and delivers Dido's lament from Purcell's opera. Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Panorama 40