Projects with status: Complete

Synopsis

A personal essay film centred on copla - a form of Spanish lyrical song which powerfully communicates emotions of sorrow and the profound sadness of woman.
The film combines filmmaker Nina Danino's interest in the female voice with archive and newly filmed performances. The film sets out to look for copla and the women and singers of copla and on her own memory and experience of it.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Experimenta Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

A Line Was Drawn weaves together material from a number of different sources including animated sequences, television and film archives with two distinct voiceover narrations. The work explores issues of how our world is structured through the creation of borders and boundaries limiting movement, thinking, questioning and agency.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Experimenta Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

A powerful drama about a mother and her fourteen-year-old son who is groomed into a lethal nationwide drug selling enterprise, a 'County Line', which exploits vulnerable children and traffics them across Britain.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Debate Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

When Jane is dumped at the altar she has a breakdown and spirals into a chaotic world, where love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide with both touching and humorous consequences.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Dare Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

1657. Fanny and John Lye and their young son Arthur live lives of Puritan stricture on a remote Shropshire farm in a valley beside a forest. Once a Captain in the English Civil War, now a firm believer in Oliver Cromwell’s republic, John suffers a game leg and therefore it is Fanny who must carry out most duties around the farm, taken for granted by both husband and son.
One morning, when the family are out at church, two uninvited visitors take refuge in their barn: the charismatic Thomas Ashbury and his young ‘wife’ Rebecca Henshaw, who come running from the forest naked as Adam and Eve. Thomas tells a story of robbery by vicious highwaymen. Although suspicious, John offers clothes and shelter for the night - which satisfies Fanny’s compassionate nature.
Whilst the young couple are polite, almost obsequious at first, soon Thomas’ carefree manner can’t help but reveal itself: he makes seductive eyes at Fanny and then draws Arthur into a food fight, for which - despite Thomas’ protestations - the house patriarch disciplines both wife and child. The next day, as Thomas and John coppice wood, Rebecca accidentally reveals to Fanny that she and Thomas are unmarried.
Soon after, three more strangers approach the farm: a Sheriff and his Deputy, accompanied by the local Constable, hunting members of a blasphemous ‘Ranter’ sect. From here, events quickly escalate in ways that will change all their lives forever.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Official Competition - World premiere
Big Screen Competition, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020

Synopsis

Based on the book 'Lost Lives', which records every single death and its circumstances since the beginning of the modern conflict known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this heartfelt documentary is a cinematic homage to those, from all sides, who lost their lives. Powerfully narrated by famous Irish and Northern Irish actors, including Kenneth Branagh, Brendan Gleeson, Roma Downey, Liam Neeson, Bríd Brennan and Stephen Rea, the film weaves archive footage with recordings of family and friends responding to the devastating news of the death of loved ones. A score performed by the Ulster Orchestra and striking cinematography complete this elegiac piece. The last entry in the book is Lyra McKee, a journalist who was fatally shot in 2019 – an essential reminder that peace can be a fragile process.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Love Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

Lynn and Lucy are lifelong best friends, their relationship as intense as any romance. Neither has ventured far from where they grew up. Lynn, who married her first boyfriend and whose daughter is fast growing up, is delighted when the charismatic, volatile Lucy has her first baby boy. Lucy, however, does not react to being a mother as Lynn expects. Soon, they find their friendship is tested in extreme circumstances.
Feature directorial debut from the director of the award-winning short film RATE ME.
Official Selection San Sebastian Film Festival 2019 - New Directors Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

Tensions rise on a remote holiday park when Ruth, who has just moved in with her boyfriend, is haunted by an unsettling discovery that lures her into a spiral of obsession.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - First Feature Competition - World premiere
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
Official Selection South By South West 2020

Synopsis

A psychological thriller that’s dripping in sweat, tears, and testosterone: the story of Simon, an unhappy, unambitious office worker whose life is gradually taken over by Terry, his new, very hands-on personal trainer who reveals himself to be more committed - and more dangerous - than Simon could have imagined.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Thrill Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

In 1990s Scotland a choir of Catholic school girls travels to Edinburgh for a music competition, but they're more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning any prizes. Set over the course of a single day, this is a fresh coming-of-age story filled with energy, wit and raw humour.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Special Presentation - World premiere

Synopsis

15-year-old Leigh is a gymnast focused on her first competition on the squad. Leigh’s life is turned upside down when her older half brother Joe, who she didn’t know existed, comes to stay with her and her father. But when her confidence at gymnastics is knocked, Leigh finds herself caught up in an underground world of moped crime with her brother. Starting to find excitement and the attention she has been so desperately needing, Leigh stands at a crossroads between her gymnastic dreams and an exciting new world...
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Journey Strand - World premiere

Synopsis

QUEERING DI TEKNOLOJIK is a message from the future. Spoken by the collective digital voice of a group of queer artists and activists, this collaborative project speculates about the possibilities of a temporality yet to come. This is a message of hope.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Official Short Film Competition - Experimenta Strand - World premiere