Projects with status: Complete

Synopsis

Old friends. Young friends. Lovers and loners. They all wait, hoping, to see something they've never seen before.

Is it a Virgin? Thai? Singapore? American? They all could be another one for the book.

With a flask of tea or a bottle of wine to keep warm, every day is a new day around the perimeter fence at Heathrow. Every day is a plane day.

Synopsis

Sixteen year old Lem lives on Planet 51, a white picket-fenced world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950's America. He is happy in his safe, predictable world and spends his time daydreaming about running the local planetarium and dating the girl next door, Neera. The only thing that rocks the idyllic life of the planet's green-skinned inhabitants is their fear of 'alien' invasion. No-one is more fearful of this than Lem's best friend Skiff, who is certain that the government is hiding the truth that aliens really do exist!

One day, out of the blue, and millions of miles from his own planet, astronaut Captain Charles 'Chuck' Baker crash lands in Neera's backyard. Unaware of his surroundings, he disembarks the ship revelling in his Big Moment. He plants his flag triumphantly and turns - only to find a Planet 51 inhabitant staring back at him bemused!
 
From here we join Chuck, Lem and the gang in a spectacular comic adventure which is sure to delight the whole family - whatever planet you are from!

Synopsis

Pro Agri is a record of a tobacco processing plant near Città di Castello in Umbria, central italy. The building was filmed in time-lapse, at a rate of one frame every twelve seconds, from one hour before sunset to one hour afterwards.

Synopsis

Shanghai Below the High Rise is a cutting-edge documentary about Shanghai's 'underclass'; a group of millions made up of both impoverished local residents and migrant workers, who are all paying the ultimate price for the city's ongoing development programme in the lead-up to the 2010 World Expo.

In an attempt to get the stories of those worst affected, the film journeys into the city's poverty-stricken backstreets, uncovering a way of life that could very soon be gone from the city forever.

Among the many conflicts explored, we see a backstreet neighbourhood ravaged by an incomplete construction project; migrant workers forced into the city's 'hidden' economy; and former state employees left jobless, and with limited future prospects.

This is a Shanghai rarely seen in the West. This is a Shanghai from below the high rise.

Synopsis

A female form's mantra broken, showing itself in missing text and revealing less (or more) than intended. The filmic vocubulary of the 'reveal' is employed by both maker and subject, both an exploiter and protector of themselves.

No words are spoken, but they are stated, through words and body semiotics.

Synopsis

The Havana Boxing Academy is a Cuban boarding school that takes 9-year-old boys, and turns them into the best boxers in the world. Sons Of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through 8 dramatic months of training and schooling as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba's National Boxing Championship for Under-12's.

But during the season, crisis strikes: Fidel Castro is taken ill, and all of Cuba's Olympic boxing champions defect to the USA, leaving Cuba at a crossroads, and the boys contemplating a changing world.
 

Synopsis

Speakers Corner: You Have The Right To Remain Vocal is a 1 hour documentary film that serves as a modern commentary on the origins and fragility of freedoms of speech and assembly.

Since 1872, people have gathered at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park to exercise their rights to free speech in all its forms. The filmmaker weaves interviews with park speakers, hecklers, local politicians, historians, linguists and sociologists involved in this modern phenomenon to create a powerful critique of the true nature of democracy in our society.

The film examines in detail a place where socialists, Islamic fundamentalists, labor politicians, historians, utopians, Zionists, white supremacists and Christian evangelicals all congregate weekly in a single small location. All are freely expressing and debating their views, there is no violence, and thousands of people show up to participate, every Sunday. This is the essence of Speakers Corner, a small area of Hyde Park, London, which was protected by a British Act of Parliament in 1872, to allow people complete freedom of speech in a public place. This is the only such bastion of free speech in the world and stands as a powerful metaphor for global democracy and our future.

Synopsis

Animated music video to "Stay In My Memory" by Bim (www.bimmusic.com). A magical story where a girl ventures through a pop up book in search of her lost love/memories of her lost love.

Synopsis

A dazzling expression of the visual music revealed by 365 setting suns. Over 4500 time-lapse drawings were painted directly onto a continuous strip of 35mm film using a variety of materials such as nail varnish, hair, bleach, net stocking and magnolia petals. Arts Council England and Channel 4 Animate Award.

Synopsis

Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. Told in Letts' unique voice, Superstonic Sound is a documentary about his family legacy that mirrors the history of Bass in the UK and his fighting for identity being the first generation of British born Black. A journey from Dub and Reggae to the legendary very first Punk club 'The Roxy' in the mid-seventies, crossing Hip Hop towards Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal travel between past and present.

Synopsis

The Arbor is the powerful true story of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and her troubled relationship with her daughter Lorraine.

Andrea wrote honestly and unflinchingly about her upbringing on the notorious Buttershaw Estate. When she died, tragically at the age of 29 in 1990, Lorraine was just ten years old.

The Arbor catches up with Lorraine in the present day, also at 29; ostracised from Buttershaw and now in prison, serving a sentence for manslaughter for the death of her son.

Whilst in prison and undergoing rehab, Lorraine is re-introduced to her mother's plays and private letters and as she reflects on the parallels in their lives, she begins to come to terms with her role in the death of her son.

Clio Barnard, began recording audio interviews with Lorraine Dunbar, other members of the Dunbar family and residents from the Buttershaw Estate over a period of two years. The material was edited to form an audio 'screenplay' which forms the basis for the film as actors lip-synch to the voices of the interviewees. This footage is intercut with archive footage and extracts from a re-staging of Andrea's first play.

Synopsis

This five piece glam-rock band go on a UK tour for one week gigging every night until they give up and cancel half way through. This is a comical 'behind the scenes' look at a journey of hopes and dreams smashed by reality. Musicians bonding and ultimately falling out all in one week of rock n roll.