Projects

Synopsis

Having never won a major tournament, ailing football giants SSC Napoli had criminally underachieved. Their fanatical support was unequalled in both passion and size. None was more feared. But how they ached for success... On 5th July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee and for seven years all hell broke loose. The world’s most celebrated football genius and the most dysfunctional city in Europe were a perfect match for each other. Maradona was blessed on the field but cursed off it; the charismatic Argentine quickly led Naples to their first-ever title. It was the stuff of dreams. But there was a price… Diego could do as he pleased whilst performing miracles on the pitch, but when the magic faded he became almost a prisoner of the city. The third film from the Academy Award and multi BAFTA-winning team behind SENNA and AMY, this definitive feature documentary was made with Maradona's full support, constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from his personal archive. In a city where the devil would have needed bodyguards, Maradona became bigger than God himself. This is the wild and unforgettable story of God-given talent, glory, despair and betrayal, of corruption and ultimately redemption. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2019 - Out of Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

Alice, a single mother, is a dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. She has engineered a very special crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value: if kept at the ideal temperature, fed properly and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. Against company policy, Alice takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe. They christen it ‘Little Joe’ but as it grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creations may not be as harmless as their nickname suggests. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2019 - Competition - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Dare Strand

Synopsis

Ricky, Abby and their two children live in Newcastle. They are a strong family who care for each other. Ricky has skipped from one labouring job to another while Abby, who loves her work, cares for old people. Despite working longer and harder they realise they will never have independence or their own home. It's now or never; the app revolution offers Ricky a golden opportunity. He and Abby make a bet. She sells her car so Ricky can buy a shiny new van and become a freelance driver, with his own business at last. The modern world impinges on these four souls in the privacy of their kitchen; the future beckons. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2019 - Competition - World premiere Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2019 - Masters

Synopsis

SaF05 is named after a maned lioness that figures in the work as a cipher for queer attachment and desire. This animal is the last of several maned lionesses documented in the Okavango Delta and is only known to artist and filmmaker Charlotte Prodger through a database of behaviours and camera-trap footage logged across several years. These indexes of SaF05’s existence are intersected with autobiographical fragments from Prodger’s own life that fluctuate between proximity and distance. Her voiceover traces a chronology of intimate gestures and interpersonal connections from prepubescence to the present, inscribed with the incidental details of territorial delineation, sovereignty and land use. Central to these fluctuations is a tension between macro and micro, the experienced and the described. SaF05 is the last in a trilogy of videos that began with Stoneymollan Trail (2015) and was followed by BRIDGIT (2016). This autobiographical cycle traces the accumulation of affinities, desires and losses that form a self as it moves forward in time. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival - Wavelengths

Synopsis

A professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life. Official Selection Locarno Film Festival 2019 - Out of Competition Shorts - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2020 - Deep Focus

Synopsis

Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed… and he finds himself with a very complicated problem indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra, Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie - the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love. A rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2019 - Closing Night Gala - World premiere

Synopsis

Exploring the formative years of the orphaned author J.R.R. Tolkien as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a fellow group of outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels.

Synopsis

To the right, a distorting face inside a rectangle tries to avoid being classified as human - but fails! To the left, algorithms including Boolean operators seek to refine a description of image content with varying amounts of confidence.

Synopsis

Looking at Africa in the future: In 2064 population growth and climate pressures have pushed the continent to the brink. Most animals are wiped out, and a federation of African states institutes of an annual cull of men to restore the balance.

Synopsis

A hand-crafted celluloid film that uses the cycle of life over one year at an English allotment to structure a personal, poetic, hypnotic regression in time of a family's journey through Invitro Fertilisation process (IVF) for their second child, inviting the audience to philosophise and connect with our relationship to the world.

Synopsis

Dramatic, moving and insightful, ARMSTRONG offers the definitive life story of Neil Armstrong: from his childhood in rural Ohio to his first steps on the Moon - and the unsought-after celebrity status that ensued. It is the story of a man who was an aviator, astronaut, husband, father and reluctant hero.

Synopsis

Petty rivalries and huge egos clash as Smokescreen, possibly the greatest Rock & Roll band of the 70’s reform for one last Album and tour. Trapped in an underground recording studio simmering tensions boil over with fatal results and dark humour. Described as Agatha Christie meets Spinal Tap, the dysfunctional group of musicians struggle to make peace, and music.