Brothers As’ad (12) and Taha (28) barely scrape a living as rubbish pickers in ‘Hanging Gardens’—the local nickname for Baghdad’s smouldering dumps—yet they make the most of what they have. Then one day, As’ad discovers an American sex doll. When he brings the taboo item home and presents her as a thing of beauty, Taha assaults his little brother for ruining their reputation. As’ad retreats to Hanging Gardens to make a new home for himself and his miraculous find.
When As’ad and his friend, Amir (14), discover the doll can speak, they teach her the language of seduction in Arabic and set her to work. Business rockets, raising their profile lucratively with local teens and dangerously with the local patriarch’s enforcers. As’ad questions their exploitation of the doll, yet before he can save her from further degradation, she’s kidnapped. As’ad and Amir go after the prime suspect, only to discover that he’s turned informant.
The patriarch has As’ad and Amir kidnapped so that he can exact his own cruel and humiliating punishments. As’ad survives to complete the journey he began and reconcile himself to the choices he’s made on his own terms.
Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2022 - World premiere
1940, sisters Thom and Mars have built a machine, L.O.L.A., that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future. This allows them to listen to iconic music before it has been made, place bets knowing what the outcome will be and embrace their inner punk well before the movement came into existence.
Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022 - World premiere
Official Selection Locarno International Film Festival 2022 - International premiere
But with the Second World War escalating, the sisters decide to use the machine for good to intercept information from the future that could help with military intelligence. The machine initially proves to be a huge success, rapidly twisting the fortunes of the war against the Nazis.
While Thom becomes intoxicated by L.O.L.A., Mars begins to realise the terrible consequences of its power. As their relationship falls apart, Thom makes a fatal error with her machine that leads to a nightmarish future. Can the sisters’ love for each other save the world they’ve lost?
MEDUSA DELUXE is a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition. Extravagance and excess collide, as the death of one of their own sows seeds of division in a community whose passion for hair verges on obsession.
Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2022 - Piazza Grande - World premiere
Lucy, a failed actor who lives in a dysfunctional relationship with agoraphobic screenwriter Paul, is surprised to find herself on the cusp of a none-too-secret affair with her new work colleague, Daniel. The thrill of the chase for a shred of affection takes her mind off her problematic life but she's not sure that she'll ever leave Paul, or that sex with someone else is the true answer to her problems.
Cockadoodledo!
Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022
Official Selection Encounters Film Festival 2022
Official Selection Animist Tallin International Animation Festival 2023
An 'afronaut' emerges from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he descends into the city below, encountering the people of present-day Goma, he begins to understand what he must do to change the future for his people.
Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2022 - World premiere
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2023
Even as bombs fall on Damascus, Mutaz refuses to flee to the uncertain life of a refugee. His wife, Hala, and daughter, Zeina, must make the choice whether to stay or leave.
Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2022 - World premiere
A meditative reflection on the absences found in rural pastoral environments, which are often framed by a false romanticism and picturesque conventions, constructed as tourist sites within rural landscapes across Britain.
A comedy horror musical...
When a cursed amulet turns their rival boy band act into a screeching gang of zombies, a group of cheerleaders must learn to use their wits, friendship and assorted power tools to overcome their fears before a TV talent show takes a turn for the apocalyptic.
Scotland, 1937. Stella, a 20 year-old German Jewish student, finds work on a large country estate owned by the fascist Earl of Rig. With war looming and desperate to find her missing parents, Stella is quickly accepted as one of the family and must hide her true identity to survive. While there she falls in love, with life changing consequences. Based on the folktale of Cinderella, championing the struggle with identity, home and love, STELLA is the tale of a refugee.
A film about the handful of streets around the Cowgate, Edinburgh, which have long housed a proud Irish diaspora. A film about folk music and its power to connect people.
Musician Aidan O’Rourke, from the celebrated folk trio Lau, lives in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. During lockdown, Aidan got to know three of his octogenarian neighbours, all called Margaret, and listened to their stories. Aidan brings together a group of sensational Irish and Scottish folk musicians and explores through music and storytelling what home and belonging mean.
Featuring a stunning original soundtrack by O’Rourke and live performances by Liam Ó Maonlai, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Comac Begley, Róisín Chambers and Aoife Ní Bhriain.
Aidan O’Rourke is a fiddler and composer. Raised in Argyll, his roots are Scottish and Irish but his music roams the edges of those traditions.
Becky Manson is a filmmaker from Orkney. Interested in routine, repetition, and ritual, she tells small stories that speak to universal themes.
Mark Cousins has directed twenty feature films. His themes are cinema, cities, recovery, walking and looking. Among many he has won the Prix Italia, the Stanley Kubrick award, the EFA's Innovation award, a Peabody.
