During the winter of 1969, young boys started to disappear from the streets of Belfast, never to be seen again. By 1974, as the Troubles were reaching a bloody and vicious peak, five boys in total had vanished within a five-mile radius. Fifty years later, as the disappearances remain unsolved and families continue to search for answers, filmmaker Des Henderson (How to Defuse a Bomb) reopens these largely forgotten cold-cases, unearthing disturbing revelations in secret state documents to tell an extraordinary tale of abuse, trauma and potential cover-up.
Official selection Belfast International Film Festival and Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival 2023 - World premiere
A short film commissioned by Sadler's Wells to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hip-hop as an art form.
This piece, featuring dancer and movement artist Jamal Sterrett Phoenix, comments upon the freedom of expression found within Hip-hop.
A noir-ish tale centred around a packet of menthol Vogue cigarettes, moving between Sri Lanka and the UK. Intrigued by the allure of a mysterious woman and political espionage, our narrator finds herself enticed into an addiction.
Created with cut out animation using entirely painted fabric and embroidered parts.
Official Selection Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival PÖFF Shorts 2023 - World premiere
At Rodeston High School’s leaving do, Mo has one last chance to tell the girl of her dreams how she feels. Will she be able to tell her how she feels before it's too late with one eyebrow and an assortment of classmates who hinder more than help.
Rock band Stack of Corpses need a hit song and everyone thinks they know how to get one. Band members Bass and Drums hatch a plan to steal a dead rock star’s song from under his widow’s nose. Lead singer Brian and manager Larry think they have the answer too – turning to a Russian gangster for help. Caught in the middle is Keys, a classical pianist who literally fights off the competition to join the band before realising how lazy and feckless they all are.
Through six chapters, interspersed with advice from rock legend Richard O’Keefe, the band go from nobodies to superstars. But can they really hold onto their fame and how far are they willing to go to keep their secrets from coming out?
Beginning with the idea of self-destruction as an existential question, new psychedelia, and the loss of the self, this immersive artwork asks questions regarding life and how we choose to live. MY TRIP 2023 also explores the abyss of the technological underground, the endless information consumed every day and the feeling of apathy and dullness that this technology consequently produces.
Co-commissioned by Outernet Arts and BFI London Film Festival, the work features characters that have recurred in Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard’s practice for over 25 years in addition to new mutant personalities created in collaboration with Acute Art. The artwork, presented as a fully immersive multi-screen installation at Outernet Arts, questions how we choose to live and explores the endless information consumed daily through a striking visualisation of a psychedelic experience.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2023 - World premiere
An observation of the benefits system, NEXT IN LINE centres a refugee doctor who is seeking government financial assistance. At her job centre meeting she faces a harrowing decision – either she works as a cleaner or gets sanctioned.
Following the recent death of an artist friend L from home, who allegedly suffered from schizophrenia for more than 15 years, the artist talks to L through an imagined letter exchange, where they confront each other on notions of home, vulnerability, resistance, memory, and fraught relations.
Centering on an architectural model of the artist's childhood room, the film is entirely shot on super 8mm and accompanied by an immersive recording at the artist's home, as well as original music from London-based experimental group Langham Research Centre. The film draws from archival footage from journalistic report on May 1968, early artist filmmakers' home videos, as well as makes references to late 60s structural cinema that prioritises light and space, as an autonomous site for resistance.
Alderney, UK. 1964. Agnes, 24 works alone as a switchboard operator in a telephone exchange. While going about her daily business connecting people, she passes the time listening in to their conversations. One day, she receives a strange call from Shirley, a woman suffering from dementia and unable to clearly articulate what is happening around her. There’s a blood curdling scream and the line is cut. Extremely worried, Agnes calls the police.
Over time, Agnes gleans information from other callers, piecing together what has happened and comes to believe Martha, a nurse at the care home, has been kidnapped by Harold, a workman there. Agnes uses her powers of deduction and local knowledge to help the police track the abduction. But things take a turn for the worse when she realises everything is not as it seems. Eventually, the police locate Martha but not Harold. He has returned home to take his own life. With new information, Agnes calls and talks him down by sharing her experiences. Her day ends with both Harold and Agnes having new hope for the future.
A quietly poignant domestic film made of images gathered around the house and its surroundings over a two-year period. The title might seem self-explanatory, we do see pillows, bowls, roses, trees – but also curtains, tablecloths, saucers, other trees and flowers (in the garden and arranged on vases). We sense the changing seasons and we sense a lived-in space – one that is shared as the pillow arrangements suggest. Working with a Bolex camera involves a tension between the technology and the world surrounding the filmmaker, the maximum shot length is limited to around 20 seconds because of the windup spring motor. (Open City Documentary Festival programme).
Official Selection Open City Documentary Festival 2023
