Projects matching: Just

Synopsis

In the spirit of The Full Monty and The Commitments, Swing is the heartwarming, triumphant story of working class friends who break free from their bleak Liverpool lives to follow their dreams and launch a swing band. Young Martin finds himself in prison, the fall guy for his brother. When Martin gets out, the guards hand him two years of unopened love letters and a warning: get a job or end up back in jail. Home is just as he left it - hopeless. Martin's only hope comes from the sage advice from his sax-playing cell mate, Jack, who taught him how to see his future and how to play it. Martin decides to start his own band. He recruits bassist Buddy, a skirt chasing football star, drummer Oi, an ex-skinhead, and a brass section made up of bar flies who owe his dad a favour. But the one person who can transform the band from a dream to success is the beautiful singer Joan, the love of Martin's life. Joan, married to Martin's arresting officer, wonders if this is just another one of Martin's dead end dreams. Martin convinces them all, most of all Joan, that their dream is worth fighting for. Despite a raid staged by Joan's jealous husband, the band's break-through gig is a smashing success and it lands them a recording contract, a happy ending! That is . . . until the police find that Martin's brother backed the band with stolen money and Martin ends up back in jail. But this time Martin walks out of jail with Jack and finds Joan and his band waiting and ready to swing!

Synopsis

A dark contemporary thriller set in Edinburgh. Nick Dryden has just been released from prison after serving 16 years for murder. In his youth he was Edinburgh's most notorious and violent criminal but his rehabilitation has been remarkable, and now he finds himself a free man once more, married to a successful journalist and much lauded in the art world for his striking and disturbing sculptures. For Gary Keltie, the policeman who arrested him, life has been different. Depressed by the futility of his job and alone in the world apart from his ageing mother, he is outraged by Dryden's new found success and makes it his mission to sabotage it. Flipper, a seriously disturbed adolescent gangster working his way up on the criminal ladder, is also obsessed by Dryden albeit for reasons of hero worship rather than hatred. The three men are on a collision course in this modern Scottish myth showing the extremes of human nature.

Synopsis

You wouldn't describe Leicester as a fast town, but that suits Frank just fine. Overweight and out of work, Frank exists in a fantasy world in which he's cast himself as a vigilante for hire. But when he's thrown out of home by his long-suffering mother, Frank has to face reality. Looking for somewhere to spend the night, Frank meets the hopelessly naive Kenny, who helps his alcoholic father run a dilapidated B & B. For two years, Kenny has dreamt of vengeance against London hard-man Donut for the savage beating he administered to Kenny's much admired elder brother. So when Frank arrives, boasting of his years in the SAS, Kenny sees his dreams of revenge coming to fruition. The pair arm themselves with a reconstructed handgun, and head for London. But Frank and Kenny are faced all too soon with their obvious inadequacies as hit men, when they arrive at Donut's flat to find him missing, and have to deal with his street-wise girlfriend instead. The situation spirals badly out of control, and Frank and Kenny turn upon each other until they realise that, truly, the only way out of this mess is to work together. The Last Yellow is a powerful, hilarious, tragic and ultimately redemptive story which celebrates the irrepressible spirit of two very ordinary men.

Synopsis

London 8am. A letter arrives. Finder's lover is leaving on an early train for Paris. He rushes to the Eurostar terminus but his hopes of catching her are extinguished by missed connections and a tube delay. 'However much you think you're prepared for something, you never are'. From a Eurostar telephone Finder calls his work-partner, Blind Date Man, only to find a journal belonging to a Canadian actress just arrived in London, Tina 'The Tourist'. The journal contains Tina's money, passport, and a Polaroid of her host and mentor, Wheelchair Woman. 'One moment you're one person, the next you can be someone completely different'. As Finder is led on a three-day journey of chance and coincidence we meet a host of other eccentric characters whose paths entwine. The compassionate Buddhist Fashion Victim, beautiful Question Mark Woman, her naive admirer Kebab Boy, and the enigmatic Caretaker. But Finder has still to locate Tina. He takes another look at the Polaroid. It looks like any other tourist snapshot, but with one difference - he recognises himself in the background . . . . . . of a picture that hasn't been taken. Yet. 'Maybe if we were confused all the time, things would be a lot clearer'.

Synopsis

Trailblazers takes the viewer on a series of intrepid journeys, visiting locations with presenters. The journeys take us to some of the world's most pristine environments, which by their nature, are adventures. All have a specific goal in view eg: to swim with the whale sharks, to visit a lost Peruvian City.

Synopsis

You Big Bully is a drama documentary about a youth who is picked on by a gang of bullies. A girl in the gang is saved by the youth from a fate worse than death. The girl shows her gratitude by helping the youth out of trouble. The film ends on a positive note, as the rest of the gang are converted into respectable human beings.

Synopsis

After an ecstasy induced joy riding accident, 12 year old Lizzie lies dead on the operating table - slowly she is taken into the light - but is pulled back to earth when she is revived by the doctors. Lizzie feels sure that during the 184 seconds that she lay dead on the ER table something latched on to her and came back into her world. The nightmares and visions that follow only crystallise her belief that she should have died in the crash... Then the disturbances start, at first merely tappings and bad smells - but soon the activity escalates. Lizzie seems to be the focus, but according to others, she's just playing games for attention. Only when Kate, her mother, is confronted with inexplicable events does she face the possibility that they may be the victims of a poltergeist infestation. The family have no option but to ask for help, but everywhere Kate turns she is met with ridicule or a brick wall of civil servant red tape. Finally, Kate's only help is a newspaper journalist from the local press with his own hidden agenda - he brings in all manner of 'experts' - parapsychologists, spiritualists, Christians - all of whom offer their services whilst championing their own individual theories for the unexplained phenomena. As the Fisher household is invaded by battling investigators, Lizzie continues to experience terrible nightmares, recurring apparitions of the crash and visions of a hell in which she is sure she is damned to spend eternity. Ultimately, Lizzie has to accept that she should have died in the crash, or face up to the demons of her past...

Synopsis

It's Friday night. Joan, an award-winning TV producer, has just been made redundant. The obnoxious and lecherous Fred seems to be losing his touch with the ladies. Fate throws Joan and Fred together. It looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Synopsis

'Breaking the Code' tells the story of the mathematical genius, Alan Turing who, seconded to top secret Bletchley Park during World War II, designed the first computer, which enabled the Allies to crack the German Enigma code and, some would argue, win the war. On Churchill's instructions, Turing was given all the resources he required - and his personal behaviour was tolerated. Turing was a practising homosexual at a time when it was illegal. At Bletchley, Turing's genius was recognised immediately - as perhaps were his sexual predilections. While discussing the practical applications of his scientific research, Turing speaks what is perhaps the central line of the film: 'I have always been willing - indeed eager - to accept moral responsibility for what I do'. It was that uncompromising stance, plus his unworldly genius which was Turing's strength in scientific research, but his personal undoing. After the war, Turing continued research, but became progressively entangled in the law after voluntarily reporting a burglary to the police. When asked whom he suspects, Turing suggests a casual male lover. Surprisingly, he confesses to his homosexuality - it was illegal - and is charged. Later, Turing goes on holiday to Corfu and picks up a young Greek boy. Shortly afterwards, Turing commits suicide. Summarised as baldly as this, 'Breaking The Code' sounds rather bleak: it is not. It is frequently funny, always compassionate and provides real insight into the dilemmas and problems homosexuality in a genius presents; not just to Turing, but to his family and professional colleagues.

Synopsis

Kevin Miller is a young journalist who travels everywhere on his mountain bike; his 'cycle of violence' has been sent by his Belfast newspaper editor to work on its sister paper in the small country town of Crossmaheart. Jamie Milburn, his predecessor on the local paper, has disappeared, presumed dead. Arriving in the town, Miller finds that his new editor is doing little to find out what has happened to Jamie, who has now been missing for two weeks. The paper likes to sit on the fence and the editor tells Miller not to become involved. Shortly after his arrival, Miller meets Jamie's girlfriend, Marie and immediately the two of them are attracted to each other. She tells him that she believes that Jamie was killed because of a story he was working on. Despite warnings from his editor, he decides to carry out his own investigation. With the help of police sergeant Craig, Miller unravels a web of intrigue going back over fifteen years, at the same time unlocking Marie's ghosts of the past. Undeterred by threats and physical violence, Miller pursues his investigation to the end. Finally justice is done and Miller and Marie, now in love, return to Belfast. The film, both a black comedy and a love story, was shot entirely on location in Northern Ireland, using Belfast and the towns of Banbridge, Dromore and Rathfriland to combine as the town of Crossmaheart.

Synopsis

Set in contemporary New Delhi, Dance of the Wind follows a young singer, Pallavi Sehgel, whose successful professional life comes to a sudden halt at the death of the woman and musician who was both her mother and teacher. She loses her voice and with that her career, students, and finally, it seems, her husband. At first it appears that she is simply grief-stricken. But her silence persists. The efforts of those closest to her to discover the reason fail. The answer lies in her own desire for the pure music she once heard as a child, in the veiled past of her mother's death and in the laws of the sacred tradition itself... A strange old mendicant appears at the hour of her mother's death, accompanied by a young girl, Tara, who sings with a voice of angelic beauty. Pallavi is haunted by the child's voice, but she proves to be as elusive as she is entrancing. The only acknowledgement she offers Pallavi is to disappear into the shadows from whence she came. And the old man, is he her mother's teacher, who renounced the world for mysterious reasons many years ago? Or is he just another wandering madman? If he is truly 'Baba', of whom her mother rarely spoke, then perhaps he also holds the key to her voice. With perseverance, however, and with help of the young girl, Pallavi comes to learn that the old man communicates his knowledge in dreams and visions. Pallavi's downfall sees everything she holds dear stripped away. While her husband, a usurping pupil and a ferocious critic all have a part to play in her journey through silence and near madness in the nightmare of a market place, Pallavi somehow finds the strength to reconstruct herself as a link in the ancient chain.

Synopsis

The Driscolls have a lifestyle to be envied; successful, rich and glamorous, they travel in private jets and live in beautiful mansions. But there is a down side. Mark Driscoll is jetting back to the Isle of Man to close a deal. A deal that could save his life. Whilst his household is preparing an extravagant feast for Mark's banker, Mr Hayter, somebody is watching the Driscoll Mansion. Fastidiously, obsessively, noting down the movements of the staff, letting his binoculars rest on the alluring Sally Driscoll. One by one, the staff leave, carefully noted by the man and Sally allows herself finally to relax with a long, long drink, and a soak in the Jacuzzi. The voyeur cunningly gains entrance to the mansion; a semi-naked Sally is confronted by this strange intruder. But John Barret says he knows her. That they've met. Shared a table at a Masonic dinner and dance. Vague memories of a distant, drunken evening are triggered. In flashback we see the Driscolls forced to share a table with an innocuous couple, 'Hoi Polloi', Sally had called them. Whilst Sally is covering herself, John Barret starts meticulously dismantling the security system without her noticing. Mark Driscoll returns, with that 'disarming smile': no problem, all the man wants is money, isn't that what everybody wants? Although apprehensive he can't take the intrusion seriously, intent as he is on this deal. He just wants John to go away. And his wife to stay sober. John has other plans. It seems his wife, Jane, was in a dreadful accident and obviously unhinged by this, John wants to talk it through, finally producing a gun to command Mark's attention. Mark, still intent on ridiculing John, provokes him to prove his marksmanship with chilling effect......