Projects with status: Post-production

Synopsis

LITTLE BOXES was shot entirely on Zoom during the height of the Covid lockdown. Whilst deep into pre-production to shoot another improv-based film in the traditional, location-based sense, the pandemic struck our plans a fatal blow. Having no other option, we decided not to concede defeat and made the decision to create the best, most realistic project we could with what we had at our disposal, under the most difficult of circumstances. LITTLE BOXES is a drama about how governmental decisions during the pandemic affect the lives of ordinary people in a small corner of Northern England. This hyper-realistic, performance based film takes you on a journey through the world of video calling, observing the strain on relationships through these tiny Zoom windows - their own "little boxes" - and the pressures of enforced incarceration. Isolated by the virus, the whole world has had to find new ways to communicate and hold our loved ones close - these issues are universally relatable. The pain of separation. Together, yet apart. LITTLE BOXES proves that necessity is the mother of invention and that art will always find a way. The actor’s own lived experience of lockdown seeps through into their characters, alongside the mental pressures we were all buckling under. This enforced style of shooting created a safe place for the characters to communicate in a way that might not have been possible in a conventional filming environment.

Synopsis

A disturbed mother distorts her adult son’s views of reality, locking him under a set of specific rules designed to keep him from leaving the home. Unable to leave and forced to undertake ritualistic tasks and tests, the son’s patience wears thin. His innate curiosity is heightened with the mental deterioration of his grandmother and the discovery of an unusual man in the basement, which threatens to disrupt the unnatural equilibrium that has formed within the home.

Synopsis

In PRINCE OF MUCK retired patriarch Lawrence MacEwen is beginning to live out his final days. As Laird of the Isle of Muck, it has been his mission in life to preserve the fragile society on this Inner Hebridean island, so it may pass to his son, Colin, and future generations. His Sisyphean efforts seem to have worked… but at what cost to him? Directed by first time feature director Cindy Jansen, PRINCE OF MUCK is a beautifully realised, cinematic documentary about a man struggling to accept he no longer controls his son, his life, nor the isle he so loves. Dutch Director Jansen brings a cool, seemingly detached ‘outside eye’ to a classic Scottish scenario, as a Laird surveys his Life and Land. Jansen's carefully constructed narrative gives space to inter-generational tensions to slow-burn, dramatic effect. PRINCE OF MUCK starts off as a portrait of an eccentric man, but slowly rises above his family’s history on this particular island, to become a more universal story, a classical rendition of interdependence, a simultaneously transient, yet deep, experience, of a man slowly accepting the eternity that beckons him and, we ultimately recognise, awaits us all.

Synopsis

No hiding from the true calling of your heart. A romantic drama with a sprinkling of politics and a mystical twist, TRUE CALLING is a contemporary tale of a successful young government minister who is faced with a moral and spiritual crisis as he heads into a national election. On the eve of a critical pre-election television debate that he is due to participate in, Josh Joseph, who is earmarked for continued ministerial success, decides, on impulse, to take a significant political risk. He disrupts his hectic electioneering schedule to leave London and drive to the north of England, in order to visit a female childhood friend, Maddy, whom he has not seen for 17 years. He has discovered that she is getting married on the day of the election and is sufficiently troubled by this news to feel the need to intervene in her decision. This inexplicably irrational action threatens his political career and leads to unsettling encounters with love, longing and regrets which will, inevitably, lead to profound changes in his personal and political life.

Synopsis

When lockdown is imposed, the cast and crew of a film are taken from the set and sent home – alone. Actors without an audience. Directors without a script. Couples who fall apart. While others come together. A film composed of six interlinked narratives, 'A Bird Flew In' explores what happens when we are freed from external distractions and forced to find the meaning in our lives and loves.

Synopsis

A woman in the state of an agony and rebirth. She can only find her strength in her wild nature, in her witch nature, in her return to primal instincts. How the victims of abuse have to redefine themselves and learn the world again. Personal growth and self discovery portrayed by a single mother, her daily struggles, her beliefs, and her close relationship with nature and her child. Film shows absurdity of how terribly we allow ourselves to be asked simply stupid questions. The story is told in three plans: A day to day reality, second plan is a dream and third, return to her childhood.

Synopsis

10 years ago, while working for the BBC as a documentary maker, I was diagnosed with a rare and degenerative illness that started slowly paralysing my arms and legs. At its worst, the illness leaves patients fully paralysed, unable to communicate, while their brains remain completely unaffected – they are Locked-In. Before the illness stops me being able to hold a camera, I want to make a film about the illness I have by meeting people as they recover from being Locked-In, learning about the disease from people who’ve had it in its most extreme form and having the chance to see my own future living with the illness.

Synopsis

Miss Khan Ab to Hans Do is a feature-length film that comments on the communistic set-up. It dwells on the vital issue of old-age people being surrendered to death and everything begins with a journalist and her living mannequin.

Synopsis

An inspiring feature documentary that investigates the damaging effects of plastic pollution on our health, lifestyle and wildlife. The film tells the story of the Plastic Warriors - from eminent scientists, campaigners on the front line, to the innovators and designers working on solutions to solve this global crisis that politicians and governments are largely ignoring. The film takes audiences on a journey to deep sea coral reefs, basking shark hotspots and huge seabird colonies, to discover first-hand the extreme danger of the scourge of plastic that’s engulfing every aspect of their lives. PLASTIC WARRIORS is an urgent wakeup call and a film that inspires action.

Synopsis

A scientist is overwhelmed when her mother dies suddenly, willing her a Christian bookstore in The Bronx.

Synopsis

An intimate yet candid portrait of a group of Western women who devoted their young lives to ISIS, but who now want to be given the chance to start over, back home in the West. Among them, probably the most famous British recruit, Shamima Begum, who fled the country when she was 15, and Hoda Muthana from USA who incited her followers on Twitter to go on drivebys and kill Americans. Universally reviled by the media, these women now tell their stories for the very first time. Official Selection Hot Docs Festival 2021 - Special Presentations - Canadian premiere

Synopsis

Two small time crooks drive to a secluded cafe for a big 'score'.