Projects

Synopsis

Ritchie is a Glaswegian chancer with low hopes and no prospects. Disillusioned with city life, he goes undercover at a Highland conservation centre to make his fortune as an illegal pearl fisher with the help of his two hapless and accident prone mates, Danny and Fraser. Here he meets Beth, a pretty English conservationist passionate about saving endangered mussels from the clutches of pearl thieves in the Scottish Highlands. Falling for her instantly, Ritchie must beat off competition in the form of Highland Ranger Ethan, a smooth talking American Adonis convinced that Beth can't resist his charms forever. After the success of pearl fishing attracts the unwanted attentions of old school Glaswegian mobster Gavin and his work at the centre leads him to question his true motivations, Ritchie must risk life and limb to save the Highlands from ecological disaster and win Beth's heart. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

"The striking and brutal realities of the students struggling for food, shelter and medication. Mimi's death from TB - and her illness unnoticed at first even by her closest friends - cannot but send a chilling chord in our modern world." A Cape Town-set reworking of Puccini’s La Bohème, sung in Xhosa (with some English dialogue). 'Breathe Umphefumlo' sees director Mark Dornford-May (U-Carmen eKhayelitsha) reunited with singer Pauline Malefane and the Isango Ensemble. Berlinale 2015, Berlinale Special - World premiere

Synopsis

Battle Mountain is the story of Graeme Obree’s epic journey. Can a man who broke world records and won world championships 20 years ago still cut it as his fiftieth birthday approaches? Graeme Obree and his legendary bike “Old Faithful” inspired Sir Chris Hoy – who calls him a genius, as well as Sir Bradley Wiggins and millions of cyclists across the world. 20 years on he has built a bike, and the aerodynamic shell, in his attempt to break the International Human Powered Vehicle Association land speed record. “BATTLE MOUNTAIN” is an immersive observational documentary showing how Graeme built “The Beastie” (as named by Sir Chris Hoy). Following Graeme as he trains in the Ayrshire rain and the sunshine of Tenerife, and watches as his cardio workouts take him to the point of collapse. 'Battle Mountain' isn’t just about a sport and engineering genius. It is also about the fragility of the human mind and the mental strength required to make you a world record holder. Graeme openly talks about the difficulties he has encountered and survived through his life. He doesn’t shy away from his demons, everything is confronted head on. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

Camrex House is a notorious homeless hostel that for 40 years has upheld a fearsome reputation. Its skewed, in-house morality perpetuated by men with complex histories. Based on interviews with hostel residents, filmmaker Mark Chapman constructs a series of unflinchingly visceral sequences that reveal a hidden world of untold stories.

Synopsis

'The First Film' is filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson’s 32 year quest to prove that in October 1888 Louis Le Prince produced the world's first films in Leeds, England. Once Le Prince had perfected his projection machine he arranged to demonstrate his discovery to the American public in New York and thus the world. However on 16th September 1890, just weeks before he was due to sail to New York Louis Le Prince stepped onto the Dijon to Paris train and was never seen again. As no body was ever found no one could legally fight the Le Prince claim that he invented a camera that recorded the very first moving image. As a result, several years later, Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers were to claim the glory and the prize of being acknowledged as the first people to pioneer film. Louis Le Prince was never added to history books. But for one lone voice, who worked with him, Le Prince's name and his pioneering work was forgotten. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

When Shelly meets Rachel, two dysfunctional girls from radically opposed backgrounds set off on a collision course that will leave one of them shattered, the other re-born. Set in the forsaken wastelands of Cheshire's little-seen urban overspill, 'The Violators' is a meditation on the meaning of home, and the potency and fragility of young girls' sexuality.

Synopsis

The story of a man with an incredible vision, who helped shape the modern world; Andrew Carnegie. Genius of iron and steel, founder of scientific philanthropy, builder of libraries and institutions, brilliant writer, social philosopher of capitalism and a utopian with an unfulfilled dream – that the 21st century would be a century of world peace. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

Lisa and Claire, a pair of on-the-run sisters assume the identities of poets and find refuge at a poetry/camping weekend in the Welsh Black Mountains. They meet another poet who comes between them. The culmination of director Jamie Adams's improvised ‘Modern Romance Trilogy’ alongside 'Benny & Jolene' and 'A Wonderful Christmas Time' Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

A gritty urban drama set in Manchester's Moss Side area.

Synopsis

For decades the criminal underworlds of the North and South UK bumped along begrudgingly. Like the Cold War, territories were respected out of the necessity to avoid apocalypse, with each side covertly keeping tabs on the other’s capability. Such a precarious false harmony could not last forever. Now someone has crossed the line, and there’s no going back. An Illicit love affair smolders, breaking taboo and threatening catastrophe at the smallest mistake. It is a romance of purest, unadulterated love, yet so forbidden that it’s discovery would wreak unbridled carnage. Edinburgh International Film Festival - World premiere

Synopsis

Following a man, Slater as he pursues Nadia, the woman he loves through a series of parallel lives. An obsessive love story stripped down and re-arranged into the looping logic of a nightmare. The organisation BRAND NEW-U identifies networks of Identicals and helps their clients make a life upgrade: leaving behind all their problems and relocating to a brand new life. But errors can occur and a brand new life can cost more than expected.

Synopsis

How do I love thee? Let me count the likes... A romantic social media satire for the online age. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Laugh Strand