Projects with status: Post-production

Synopsis

An expansive journey through the Kazakh steppe, this film piece seeks to excavate layers of myth, history and geology to reveal the shifting fault lines between a government, its people and their land. The film brings into focus Kazakhstan’s search for a post-Soviet identity and a state-sponsored programme of cultural production that on the one hand connects back to the ancient folklore and belief systems of the Silk Road, while on the other, seeks to embrace the values of Western capitalism. Adopting an experimental documentary form, On A Clear Day provides a meditative faux observational film about the continual process of construction involved in nationhood and national identity. Shot on 16mm, the camera is drawn across the terrain of Eastern Kazakhstan through a series of encounters that offer a translation of a reality within the challenging social and political context of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh steppe creates a rhythm for the film as the vast terrain forms the conditions for each encounter with locations including the Bogatyr open quarry, Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, Ekibastuz generating station and the newly constructed city of Nur-Sultan. De-literalised through the use of constructed as well as un-orchestrated scenes; the film attempts to apprehend truths. Its facts, however, are always based on fictions - the ancient myths and folklore of Kazakhstan itself.

Synopsis

When the Calais Jungle was ignored and condemned by authorities, ordinary people stepped in to support the refugees. This is the untold story of the volunteers and those they tried to help. ON OUR DOORSTEP delves deep into an aspect of the refugee crisis that rarely reached the press. With NGOs being blocked by red tape and the absence of any positive action by French or British authorities, the film is a behind-the-scenes look at the unprecedented grassroots movement that rose to aid the refugees in Calais, and the community that sprang up there, before it was forcefully demolished. This is the story of what happens when young and inexperienced citizens are forced to devise systems and structures to support 10,000 refugees; and are left unguided to face the moral and emotional conflicts, blurred lines and frequent grey areas of giving aid to vulnerable people. People who do not want to be there. Originally arriving at the Calais Jungle as a volunteer, Thomas Laurance ended up documenting what he saw over the year he spent there, until the camp’s destruction in October 2016. This film is the result of the remarkable and intimate access he gained to both volunteers and refugees.

Synopsis

Every year cowboys travel from all over the American West to share their poetry at cowboy poetry gatherings.

Synopsis

14 Women, 3000 Nautical Miles, X Trillion Pieces of Plastic. X TRILLION is a film about an all-woman crew who sailed 3000 nautical miles to one of the most remote places on Earth - the North Pacific Gyre or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The aim was to research the densest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It was a journey that promised to change not only their lives but the very future of our planet. Director Eleanor Church was part of a team of 14 women from around the world - from scientists to packaging designers, engineers, teachers, artists and more - each one looking and learning about this issue from a very different perspective. This was eXXpedition's 10th voyage. The crew spent three weeks sailing through the middle of this gyre, collecting scientific data for international research projects with a focus on how these trillions of pieces of micro plastics are impacting human, and particularly women’s, health. This is a story of hope, filled with life, magic and a call to action that burns with optimism.

Synopsis

Do you believe in psychics? What if there really was someone who could see into the future, read people's thoughts and move things with their mind? What kind of person would they be and how would they reveal themselves to the world? Psimon is just such a man, a real and genuine psychic. But Psimon has a problem. In five days time he is going to die at the hands of a serial killer known only as Lucifer. His only hope is to enlist the services of former SAS soldier, Steve Brennus, a man whose family life and business have just collapsed in ruins. Psimon knows he is going to die. He has seen it. But could a former SAS soldier have the strength to overcome the visions of the world's first psychic? Based on the best-selling novel 'First and Only' by Peter Flannery

Synopsis

Based on true events. Summer 1939, Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) has taken a last minute and controversial role teaching English to the daughters of high-ranking Nazis at the Augusta-Victoria College, Bexhill-on-Sea, a finishing school on the south coast of England. Despite the storm clouds forming across Europe, the girls continue to learn deportment, Shakespeare, fitness and how to be a faithful member of Hitler’s League of German Girls. Under the watchful eye of their headmistress Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench), and her devout assistant Ilse Keller (Carla Juri), the girls practice their English and learn how to represent the ideal of German womanhood. With a new world war imminent and a fog of resentment surrounding their presence, youth’s summer is running out for the girls...for everyone. When the body of a former teacher is discovered, it triggers a sequence of deadly events where the girls and Miss Rocholl discover a world where loyalty is more important than truth. It also leaves Thomas running from the police with the threat of being hanged for murder. Can Thomas exonerate himself in time? And can he save the hearts and minds of his students from the grip of Hitler?

Synopsis

This debut feature from Writer/Director Will Jewell (Man In Fear, South Coast) is a visceral snapshot of contemporary Britain – tense, divided and balanced on a knife-edge. Topics such as immigration, class tensions, prejudice and tax evasion are woven into a taut thriller that grips and twists towards a devastating climax. High in the remote Welsh mountains, five builders are brought together to renovate a sprawling old farmhouse. Housed in mouldy portacabins, tensions soon simmer between the men and the self-entitled aristocratic homeowner, as well as amongst the rag tag group of men themselves. World-weary old timer Dave and kindly Foreman Bob try to keep the peace. But his feckless nephew Steve falls under the malign influence of bigot Jim, the pair taking a dislike to Viktor, a Ukranian labourer. As the weather closes in and payments are late, tempers fray. Blood is spilled. As the blue-collar men are confronted with an increasingly dark spiral of moral choices, Jim makes an astonishing proposition...

Synopsis

iHuman is a political thriller about artificial intelligence, power and social control. From the inside of the booming AI-industry this film shows how the most powerful and far-reaching technology of our time is changing our lives, our society and our future. iHuman follows pioneers at the frontline of the invisible AI-revolution to see how this technology is developed and implemented. Through some of the brightest minds in the AI-industry iHuman draws the roadmap to where we are going. How does AI impact who we are? iHuman shows a growing conflict in the tech world and investigates the consequences of the power concentration of the multi-billion-dollar AI-industry. The film explores the need for international standards and regulations for the development and implementation of AI and asks if it possible to regulate AI. What is coming our way? At this turning point in history, what goals and values do we program into our AI systems? What is at stake? Who punches in what codes for our future? iHuman is made for both theatrical and broadcast release. With strong character-driven stories this film is made to entertain and inform a wide international audience about the impact of the most powerful technology of our time.

Synopsis

Accused of killing her new-born baby, young mother Ashley Ard is going on trial for murder. But what really happened that winter night in Anchorage, Alaska? Alison Millar's probing documentary reveals the secrets and lies in a case that has gripped America.

Synopsis

In autumn 2019, Footwork Films invites you to experience a groundbreaking reimagining of the best-known love story of all time. Set to a unique recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s original score, International Emmy award-winning Michael Nunn and William Trevitt restage and direct Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s remarkable choreography in an audacious first in contemporary filmmaking. The cinematic costume drama features the current generation of stars of The Royal Ballet, internationally known as the strongest actor-dancers in the world, starring William Bracewell as Romeo and Francesca Hayward as Juliet in their feature film debuts. As members of the feuding Capulet and Montague families, Romeo and Juliet should be sworn enemies, but they fall deeply in love and marry in secret. That very day, disastrous circumstances lead Romeo to fight and kill Juliet's cousin Tybalt, setting off a chain of events that culminate in tragedy. Juliet takes a potion to avoid the love-match her parents have set up for her, and Romeo, believing she is dead, poisons himself. When she wakes from her deep sleep, Juliet finds the body of her love, and is so distraught that she stabs herself, joining him in death.

Synopsis

Deep beneath the English Channel a small army of well-trained war criminals have seized control of the Eurostar, taking four hundred hostages at gunpoint. Their plan: to blow up the Channel Tunnel and declare economic war on a government that has its own fair share of secrets to keep. One man stands in their way - SAS operator Tom Buckingham who is hiding somewhere inside the train. Alone and injured, he’s the only chance the passengers have to get out alive. Based on Andy McNab’s bestselling novel 'Red Notice'

Synopsis

A portmanteau documentary made by displaced Syrian filmmakers through workshops in Beirut, Amman and Istanbul. Each film is distinct, but what they have in common is their ability to surprise and move us with otherwise untold known stories told in a highly accessible and creative way, reminding us of the strains of exile and the resilience of the human spirit.