Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

For the first time in 30 years, a film crew gains rare access to Pennsylvania’s maximum-security women’s prisons. Inside, The Lady Lifers – a band led by former soul singer Naomi Blount – turn grief into music and defiance. Though Naomi never took a life, she is serving life without parole. To have any hope of freedom, she must express guilt she does not feel – a cruel paradox of the justice system. As her music echoes beyond the prison walls and reaches the public, lawmakers and activists, the question remains: Will her voice be enough to finally set her free - and to free those she left behind? Official Selection Durban International Film Festival 2026

Synopsis

In modern London's jazz world, Ivy discovers alternate realities where her romantic path takes unexpected turns, forcing her to question which life and love she truly desires. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

Imagine hearing your own body: eyes scratching, blood rushing, bones creaking, your heartbeat pounding endlessly. For most, it’s unthinkable. For Dave, it’s daily life. Since 2000, he has lived with Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence Syndrome (SCDS), a rare disorder that turns his body into an echo chamber. This immersive short documentary draws viewers into Dave’s sonic reality through raw narration, stark black-and-white imagery, and an unsettling soundscape. As he recounts years of misdiagnosis and disbelief, the film explores resilience and isolation, ultimately asking why we doubt invisible pain and how empathy begins by truly listening to what we cannot see.

Synopsis

An intimate portrait of a women's group in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The documentary follows the women as they collaboratively create a stage production. Through writing sessions, rehearsals, and candid conversations, the women craft a performance rooted in their lived experiences - stories shaped by addiction, family fracture, and encounters with the justice system. The documentary follows the evolving group dynamic, capturing moments of vulnerability, frustration, and unexpected humour as the women negotiate what it means to share such personal stories in a public space for the first time.

Synopsis

Eniola Baba-Lola and Jordan Dante - two brilliant young Black graduates with first-class master’s degrees in business - should be on the fast track to six-figure salaries and global success. Instead, they're hitting closed doors at every turn, even from their best friend’s father, the powerful tycoon Sir John Fenton. With job rejections piling up, dreams of becoming footballers, barbers, or even rappers fizzle fast - especially after a sharp warning from Eniola’s no-nonsense mother. As the pressure mounts, Eniola discovers his girlfriend Monica is pregnant, while Jordan faces a family crisis in Jamaica, a brother veering towards gang life, and an expiring visa that could lead to deportation. With time running out, the friends take a bold leap - starting a business of their own. But with everything on the line, will their gamble pay off - or break them completely?

Synopsis

Set in the South China Sea during the early 19th century, THE PIRATE QUEEN tells the extraordinary true-inspired story of Cheng Shih, a woman who rose from obscurity to command the largest pirate confederation in recorded history. When her husband dies at sea, Cheng Shih inherits a fragile empire on the brink of collapse. Surrounded by rival captains, internal betrayal, and escalating imperial pressure, she must outmanoeuvre enemies on all sides to keep Red Flag Fleet together. Through strategic brilliance and ruthless restraint, she transforms from an underestimated widow into a leader whose authority rivals the world’s greatest navies. This narrative-driven VR experience places audiences inside Cheng Shih’s ascent to power. Developed over five years in collaboration with historians and cultural advisors, the project draws on extensive research into Qing Dynasty China and British–Chinese relations. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2026 - Immersive Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

After the death of their ill-tempered and controlling father, middle-aged sisters Constantia (Con) and Josephine (Jug), find themselves at a loss. The story takes place in 1920 and is set within a European townhouse where Constantia and Josephine have always lived with their domineering father. The two sisters' mother died when they were young, and they have spent their lives enslaved to the rhythm and routine of Father’s house. Even in death they fear their father and imagine him springing out of the wardrobe or shouting at them from his grave. Over time, their father’s control diminishes and they find comfort in taking part in peaceful activities in each other’s company. An unexpected visitor also helps them to find the courage to begin their lives anew. A merry, rude, and lyrical, animated adaptation of the modernist short story written by Katherine Mansfield in 1920. In this adaptation the sisters will begin to assert themselves in joyful, unexpected ways that could only be depicted in animation. Official Selection Quinzaine des Cinéastes / Directors' Fortnight Cannes 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

Ryan is brimming with optimism to work on a sheep farm in anticipation of his release from a Northern Irish prison. But the harsh realities that await him on the outside soon threaten to unravel his ambitions. Filmed on two sides of the prison walls, the film contemplates whether Ryan’s path is destined by the weight of his community and history, or if it is within his power to break the cycle. Official Selection Visions du Réel Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

Bill is ready for the end. The end isn’t ready for him. At 83, confined to a hospice bed, Bill finds himself caught in a cruel and absurd glitch: every time he dies, the day begins again. Trapped in an endless loop of his final day, Bill is forced to relive the same conversations with visitors, the same silences with his daughter, the same missed opportunities—again and again. As frustration turns to reflection, he begins to realise that what’s keeping him here isn’t fate, but something left unresolved. Balancing dark humour with quiet tenderness, the film explores mortality and what it means to truly finish a life - and whether we ever really can. An unexpectedly hopeful, life-affirming story about second chances and the vulnerability it takes to say what really matters—while there’s still time.

Synopsis

For centuries, fisherman Stan Rennie and family worked the waters off England’s North East coast . But when a vast tide of poisoned crabs washes ashore like a biblical plague, Stan’s world is turned upside down overnight. Dealing with the devastation of his business and failing health, he is thrown into a battle for the future of the region where he’s spent his entire life, an unlikely figurehead for a grassroots campaign to find the truth, delivered the only way he knows how - with heart and gallows humour. A film about the grief of navigating a world suddenly, inexplicably, irrevocably altered. Official Selection CPH:DOX 2026 - F:ACT Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

An elevated drama-thriller that blends gripping crime storytelling with intense, high-stakes action - all confined within the claustrophobic walls of a single prison cell. Just days before his long-awaited release, Joe - a volatile inmate - receives a chilling phone call: his ex-wife and son have been taken, and their fate depends on his immediate compliance. Caught in a tense psychological battle, Joe must confront not only the shadowy criminals orchestrating events outside but also the hardened prison officers inside. With time running out, a mobile phone as his only tool, and escalating tension with his new cellmate - a man of a different racial background - Joe is thrust into a desperate race against the clock to save his family and himself. The film balances razor-sharp suspense with heart-pounding action sequences while exploring profound themes of guilt, redemption, power, race, trust, survival, and the complexities of the father-son relationship. Official Selection FrightFest Glasgow 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

A parent’s message to their child, narrated while remembering the course of their life via the medium of their footwear... Love, Loss, and Walking Boots.