"The seeds for the multicultural society we live in now were formed on the dancefloor back in the day" says Don Letts by way of introduction to Nicolas Jack Davies’ documentary about Trojan Records, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The company was founded by Windrush immigrant Lee Gopthal, against a backdrop of rising racial hatred. 'Rudeboy' charts the label’s evolution from 1960s ska and rock-steady to the chart-topping hits that introduced reggae to a global audience, while also recalling the prejudice that the music’s pioneering artists and producers had to overcome in London. Blending original interviews with evocative archive footage and cinematic reconstructions, the film is a timely celebration of British Jamaican working-class youth culture, style and ingenuity.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere
Official Selection IDFA 2018 - International premiere
We Are One: A Global Film Festival 2020 - Selection Curated by BFI London Film Festival
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son Peter and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Laugh Strand - World premiere
A modern day romance set on the streets of Camden, London’s historical musical hotbed. Meet Simone, a dedicated single mother on an unlikely night on the town who is charmed by a handsome yet troubled stranger, unravelling old and new feelings.
An exploration of love, life and change, the film is a love letter to what defines London today.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Special Presentation - World premiere
A comedy about being weird and struggling for a connection. The film opens as Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film ’No Self' when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Laugh Strand - World premiere
Three films made from found footage, video diaries, performance and to-camera discourse. Music and narrative voiceover connect the chapters searching for subjectivity through various existential backdrops; from responses to love with addiction, pain and release, to a detective story set in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, and finally a dance across Europe in search of a happy ending.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Experimenta Strand -World premiere
This documentary is shaped around a large painting by Caravaggio (John in the Wilderness, aka John the Baptist). We view the painting through the question of reproduction. The story follows a copy of this painting made in Shenzhen that then goes to a poet in London, who personally struggles with the painting and the image he sees of himself in it. A group of his artist friends attempt to solve his problem. The events in London are paralleled with a slice of life depiction of a Chinese artisan’s family in Shenzhen, south China, reproducing 'John in the Wilderness'.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere
Colin rents a lavish country manor for his extended family to celebrate New Year. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Official Competition - World premiere
Following a day in the life of young Grime MCs The Block. On the morning of their college showcase, their frontman MC Slicker falls ill with the mumps. Just when all hope is lost, their prayers are answered in the form of the most unlikely of heroes.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Journey Strand - World premiere
Boldly combining the power of dance and cinema, 'Mari' tells the life-affirming story of professional dancer and choreographer Charlotte (Bobbi Jene Smith), as she prepares for a new show. Uniquely using the poetic expression of dance to drive the narrative, Charlotte’s world is turned upside down when she discovers she is pregnant and also that her grandmother Mari is coming to the end of life, forcing her to confront her past in order to choose the future she wants.
As the weekend with her family progresses, Charlotte’s own mortality sinks in, her identity unravels and truths about the women in her life surface. Lost, she is driven to find new meaning in places she'd previously avoided or dismissed, leaving her changed forever. With original choreography, MARI follows Charlotte on a personal journey that goes from her grandmother’s deathbed to the prospect of motherhood.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere
Part artwork, part documentary, NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN tells the stories behind ‘field postcards’ one of the few communication options WWI soldiers had with their families. Nothing was to be written on them, communication was only allowed through the prescribed phrases. Moving, haunting and emotive, an award-winning exploration of the human stories beyond the edges of the postcards set to an original score by composer Anna Meredith, commissioned by the BBC VR Hub and created by 59 Productions.
Official Selection SXSW 2019 - Virtual Cinema Competition
After a one-night stand on New Year's Eve, Elena and Jake fall madly in love. Within weeks they are living together, and not long after they are trying for a child.
When the baby doesn’t materialize, pressure builds and the idea of a family starts to overshadow their relationship. A passionate, romantic, and contemporary love story, about the struggle to remain in love when life doesn’t give you everything you want it to.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - First Feature Competition - World premiere
On an uninhabited island 20 miles from the rugged Scottish coast, three lighthouse keepers arrive for their six-week shift. As Thomas (Peter Mullan), James (Gerard Butler) and Donald (Connor Swindells) settle into their usual, solitary routines, something unexpected and potentially life-changing occurs when they stumble upon something that isn’t theirs to keep. Where did it come from? Who does it belong to? A boat appears in the distance that might hold the answer to these questions… What follows is a tense battle for survival as personal greed replaces loyalty - and fed by isolation and paranoia, three honest men are led down a path to destruction.
