Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

Game Keepers Without Game is a film set within the structure of a feature length melodrama. Formally based on the Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Play La Vida es Suena (Life is a Dream), it follows the narrative of the return of a child who had been banished from the family home. Translated into contemporary British life, the film is comprised of a mixture of acted scenes where nothing and nobody touches each other. Still shots of objects become characters and a drumming sound track builds up and breaks down like the building of a house.

Synopsis

Matthew, a successful businessman, and his aging father George, a tough, bitter old man, have little in common other than their shared grief for the recently deceased Mother, but on one fateful day out their two differing worlds and characters collide forcefully in a shocking encounter of truth and discovery.

Synopsis

Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King spent almost a century between them in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentary. They are known as the Angola 3. Herman and Albert are still in solitary confinement after thirty six years in solitary confinement. How could this be?

In America. Today. In The Land Of The Free... Is a documentary feature that examines the story of these extraordinary men who appear to have been targeted by the prison officers for being members of the Black Panther Party because they fought against the terrible conditions and systematic sexual slavery that was rife in the prison. They were subsequently convicted of the murder of a prison guard. There was no physical evidence against them and the main eye witness was bribed and promised his freedom by the warden in exchange for testifying. After years in the oblivion of solitary confinement, this year has finally seen dramatic developments of the Angola 3. This documentary tells the on going story of the case of the Angola 3.

Synopsis

Little Matador  is a feature length documentary about children bullfighters in Mexico. Kids as young as eight are trained to kill bulls ten times their weight. The film follows three children who are fighting not just the bull but their own demons;

Michelito is ten. The adored child of a matador Dad, Michelito has killed over two hundred bulls. ‘Picasso was born to paint, Mozart to make music – and Michelito to be a matador,’ says Dad. Can Michelito fulfil his father’s dream to become the youngest matador in history?

Joel is nine. Neglected by his mum and step-father, he finds paternal love in the ring. Matador Ismael becomes Joel’s surrogate father and guardian angel. But if Ismael moves to Spain for his own career, what will happen to Joel?

Andrea is twelve. She started bullfighting when her father moved to America. Andrea has disowned her dad – who has found a new woman - and vows to save her mum from poverty by becoming a superstar bullfighter. But will Andrea ever get over her terrible nerves every time she enters the ring?

Little Matador is an extraordinary testimony to the lengths these kids will go to realise their dream.

Synopsis

Mickey B is a world first, a feature film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, made with serving prisoners as cast, in Northern Ireland's notorious maximum security prison, HMP Maghaberry.

Set in the fictional private prison of Burnam, where gangs run the wings, violence and drugs are the common currency.

Duncan, the number one drug dealer, is about to be released. Mickey B is the muscle collecting on his behalf.

The three witches take on the guise of three bookies, fixing the odds for their own ends. Ladyboy, Mickey B's bitch embodies the corrupting role of the queen of hate, scheming to reach the number one slot.

Shot in hand held close up with cold, razor-blue filters, an unrelenting claustrophobic intimacy draws us into this dark world of ashen, scarred faces and tattooed flesh. Casual everyday violence, bourn out of the prisoners’ first hand experiences, ensures gritty, authentic and visceral performances. The laconic, drawling voices snake the story through each unexpected shocking attack. The brutality of clipped street slang delivered at staccato pace punctuates the monotony of endless prison time. This is a Macbeth like no other.

Synopsis

Eli is an emotionally disturbed young woman who turns up at the family beach cabin unaware of what is fact or fiction, what has and what hasn't happened. Her mind spins with visions and nightmares while the past desperate to catch up with her takes pleasure in haunting and teasing her with snippets of horrors, nightmares and bizarre interaction with her sister Chloe, her Mother and ex-husband Frank.

Imprisoned by her own actions, Eli plays out her past, present and future with the distraught and horrific behaviour of a damaged mind living on the edge.

Synopsis

August 2008. Two homeless alcoholics meet on Brighton beach. A short film about friendship, creativity and alcohol.

Synopsis

A heart felt comedy drama about a disillusioned man caught between his dream retirement holiday and his eccentric mother’s last dying wish: to re-unite his dysfunctional Jewish family.  

Synopsis

Written and Directed by the creators of Shank, Darren Flaxstone and Christian Martin, Release is a love story that thematically explores the hypocrisy that society thrives on and which fuels prejudice and hatred. Emotionally rich and varied the story seeks to touch upon the honesty of true love and the deception of ideology, theology and morality.

Father Jack Gillie (Daniel Brocklebank) enters prison a guilty man, convicted for a crime that sees the Church abandon him, his congregation desert him and his faith challenged. His fellow inmates believe he's been convicted of paedophilia and begin to plant the seed of doubt into the mind of his teenage cellmate, Rook (Wayne Virgo). After rescuing Rook from a beating Jack now becomes the inmates prey. Protection comes in the unlikely form of a prison officer, Martin (Garry Summers) with whom Jack falls in love and together they embark on a dangerous and illicit affair behind cell doors. As trust forms between the two men so Jack feels enabled to confess the truth behind the crime for which he has been imprisoned. Emboldened by Jack's honesty the two men plan their lives together post Jack's release.

Prison gang leader Max (Bernie Hodges), however has ulterior objectives and sets about ruining this relationship and manipulates the Governess, Heather (Dymphna Skehill), into suspending Martin for misconduct after disclosing the affair. Alone and vulnerable Jack is now tormented and hunted by Max who takes revenge on him for his crime.

Waking from the near fatal actions of Max, Jack keeps his head down and bides his time comforted by letters of love and support from Martin - delivered with disgust and loathing by one of Martin's colleagues. With the end of his sentence in sight Jack readies himself for a new life and a new beginning with Martin. The only obstacle to this tabula rasa remains Max and Father Elliott (Dave Jones) the Church's messenger sent to establish what Jack's intentions are once free.

Synopsis

April 2003, three weeks after the fall of Saddam. A journey through Iraq, a troubled land where no one knows what lies ahead. On hearing the news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, a curious young boy Ahmed and his obstinate grandmother set out to uncover the fate of the boy's missing father, one of the many soldiers who never came home since the gulf war 1991.

From the mountains of the North to the sands of Babylon, the pair hitch rides with strangers and cross paths with fellow pilgrims on an all too similar quest. As a grandmother struggles to accept an awful truth, Ahmed retraces the footsteps of a father he never knew. This is a journey that will not only connect them to the past, but will determine their lives forever.

Synopsis

SSDD: Same Sh*t Different Day is a slice of life in the east end of London following Lee (Samuel Anokye), recently released from prison, and Phil (Richard Oldham), a squatter and former rioter, who both work night shift together.
 
Retaining both a social realist approach and a comedy delivery, the film is set to the backdrop of the recession in contemporary Britain, executed on a shoestring budget and marking a mature step forward for critically acclaimed auteur Greg Hall (The Plague, Kapital).

Synopsis

Storage is the story of an autistic 19-year-old and the relationship with his father.

Jason is isolated by his autism; his father loves him but is unable to break through Jason's defences to communicate this or anything else.

Jason, meanwhile, boxes up everyday objects each box representing certain experiences he needs to control. When items suddenly go missing from the storage boxes, Jason's autistic world is forced to rub up against a more alien one, ours.