Robinson in Ruins is an account of a journey by a wandering, erratic scholar, through landscapes in the south of England. Its fictional narration begins: 'When a man called Robinson was released from Edgcott open prison, he made his way to the nearest city, and looked for somewhere to haunt'.
Robinson ‘believed he could communicate with a network of non-human intelligences determined to preserve the possibility of life’s survival on the planet’ and ‘was equipped with an ancient ciné camera, with which he made images of his everyday surroundings’. He surveyed the centre of the island on which he was shipwrecked: 'The location,' he wrote, 'of a Great Malady, that I shall dispel, in the manner of Turner, by making picturesque views, on journeys to sites of scientific and historic interest.'
The film consists of these views. The cinematography began in January 2008 and continued until November, just after the peak of that year’s global banking crisis. The film’s unplanned journey ‘rediscovers’ several locations associated with capitalism’s development since the 16th century and resistance to it. Vanessa Redgrave’s narration includes references to the deepening economic crisis, climate change and mass-extinction, but manages to reach an optimistic conclusion.
Artist Gillian Wearing places an ad asking, 'Would you like to be in a film? You can play yourself or a fictional character'.
Her film 'Self Made' documents the intense, revealing and sometimes disturbing experiences of seven people who sign up for the project. They take part in a series of workshops led by Method acting teacher Sam Rumbelow, who uses different techniques to help them access their memories and personal experiences so that each participant can create a vivid and authentic moment of performance. Gradually, we see five members of the group working towards their own individual end scenes, filmed dramatic vignettes that directly emerge from their personal histories. The scenes range from episodes of violence, to images of imagined love, via an excerpt from Shakespeare's King Lear. As the lights finally go off in the studio, the participants leave the experiment having for the first time confronted and articulated deep truths about themselves.
Slow Action is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film which exists somewhere between documentary, ethnographic study and fiction.
Slow Action applies the idea of island biogeography - the study of how species and eco-systems evolve differently when isolated and surrounded by unsuitable habitat - to a conception of the Earth in the distant future, when the sea level has risen to absurd heights, forming new isolated archipelagos. Accounts from a great library of Utopias are read by two voices.
A young boy is isolated by grief, and his father isn't coping. He seeks solace in his memories, and finds comfort from a strange woman he meets by chance in the park.
Inspired by author Ronnie Thompson's time served as a prison officer, Stained follows Jamie, a screw struggling to switch off and leave his personal life at the gate, as Truman, a heinous convict, climbs inside his troubled mind.
The King sends his three best knights from the battlefield on a quest to find a stone that would save their lands. The knights travel under ground, descending into darkness. Without their knowledge their souls are separated from their bodies. They search for the legend, but their ignorance doesn’t last long, when the souls of all who went before them are looking for a body of their own so they can get out of the tunnels.
The knights are now trapped themselves, their bodies slowly weakening as they become possessed. Regardless of their predicament they press on and come to a ritual chamber where they find the stone and learn that the creators of the tunnels are imprisoned in the water contained in the chamber.
They release one of the creators' beast who by instinct wants to recover the stone - and it kills one of the knights. Putting their grief and anger aside, the two knights, using the stone, trick the beast and imprison him.
Finding their way back to the entrance, another knight has followed them down into the tunnels to deliver bad news about life on the surface. There is no escape now.
In 2002, eight months before the invasion of Iraq, the Military captured and imprisoned a supernatural entity at Stormhouse, a secret underground base. This film documents the final four days of that experiment.
American 'Ghost whisperer' Hayley Sands is brought to Stormhouse by the Government to make contact with the captured entity. But her arrival triggers a series of events which lead to the entity's escape, plunging the base into a horrific nightmare.
Delivering everything from heart-pounding tension to nerve-shredding shocks and jumps, Stormhouse combines the realism of Paranormal Activity with the chilling atmosphere of The Ring and the visceral horror of the Saw movies. The disturbing climactic twists will leave audiences stunned.
SUMMERTIME is a new, modern film musical with a wholly original screen story, songs and musical score that captures the spirit and updates the traditions of folk-operas such as Gershwin's Porgy and Bess fusing it with the grit and substance of contemporary fables such as Dancer in the Dark.
Set against the backdrop of a tough estate during a blisteringly hot summer, 'Summertime' tells the story of Janey, a determined young mother who dreams of a bright future for her three young sons. Seen through the eyes of a Narrator, we see Janey enchant and inspire her boys by painting a picture of a world full of hope, possibility and magic.
But harsh reality is never far away and Janey finds she must take on an unforgiving, inflexible reality and a violent gang who intimidate the locals and worse, wish to recruit her eldest son into a life of crime and violence. Her struggle to keep her three sons on the right path leads to her increasing isolation until finally, standing alone, Janey is forced to face the gang head on with devastating consequences.
Grieving teenager, Tommy, struggles to bring himself to visit his mother’s grave against the preying eyes of mourners in a busy city cemetery. As others fail to see his pain, Tommy searches for a fitting way to feel close to his Mum. Mistrust, mutual misunderstandings and grief bring the teenager and an elderly widow to a greater understanding of the other and their own loss.
This is the contemporary tale of a Londoner returning home to the country and to her past. Tamara, once a shy, ugly teenager, has reinvented herself as a smouldering femme fatale. When she returns to her old village to sell her late mother's house, she is barely recognisable to the locals, and to her old flame Andy, and she kick-starts a trail of envy, lust, scandal and gossip wherever she goes. But has she really forgotten who she is and who she loved?
Tamara is the ultimate modern girl; but for all her independence, ambition and sex appeal it's actually the vulnerable, shy fish-out-of-water underneath that make her story funny, moving and very human.
Sidney's mother has been beaten again after a drunken row with his step-father. Looking for a way to escape, Sidney plans on leaving home to go to college. Can he leave his little sister with their parents alone? This is a powerful drama with some disturbing scenes.
The secrets of Kolkata is revealed by overweight, dance-obsessed, intrepid detective Rajesh Ji. Mixing dance and hit songs with the harsh lives of clients, this originally styled feature documentary provides an entertaining yet poignant look at modern India through the prism of crime.
What happens when a population loses trust in its police and authorities? There is a new phenomenon happening in India today - the boom of the private detective. Poisonings, adultery, fraud and the occasional murder - such are the day to day investigations of Kolkata's Bengali Detective - Rajesh Ji.
This film follows the intrepid detective and his motley band of helpers on raids and investigations as they enter the hidden lives of clients, victims and perpetrators. Yet on his off hours, Rajesh indulges his inner dance fanatic as he harbors a dream of becoming an international star - whilst trying to look after his desperately sick wife and small son.
