Flipping back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmakers, Tristram Shandy is the making of a movie adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece, The Life and Opinons of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, written by Laurence Sterne.
The story begins with Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan) narrating his life story as he sees it. Crammed with literary jokes and dark humour, Shandy's warped childhood tales are constantly interrupted by his family and household, inadvertently revealing far more about himself than any conventional autobiography.
At the dramatic moment of Tristram's birth, the 1st Assistant Director calls cut, marking the end of a filming day on the set of Tristram Shandy. We then see Steve Coogan, the other actors and crew through the course of a chaotic evening on set. Steve Coogan's wife arrives with their six month old baby, a journalist is chasing him about a scandalous story, his agent has arrived with a load of Hollywood scripts and the film financiers are threatening to pull the plug.
A clever, post-modern take on the construction of a film, from an intricate, hilariously complex autobiographical novel.
All is not right underground. The tube is in chaos yet no one knows why. What's more the mice are disappearing. Who is the dark figure taking a fervent interest in both? Meanwhile deep below something is trembling.
Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, Viola finds herself in the midst of a fairytale. Shot entirely on location in the Greek islands, this jazz-age take on Shakespeare is a laugh-out-loud portrayal of romance at its most chaotic. It follows Viola’s strange and often hilarious encounters with the inhabitants of Illyria, and her struggle to survive in an unknown and bewildering country. An unrepentant dreamer, she finds happiness by retreating into her imagination – only to discover that, in Illyria, fantasy can turn into reality overnight. But if everyone’s dreams can change the world, then you’d better hope that no-one starts dreaming about you – especially not Illyria’s love-struck Countess, who’s hell-bent on getting her happy ending - A tribute to imagination, friendship, and imaginary friends, Twelfth Night’s laughter is tempered with a touch of melancholy, and another of wonder. ‘Just for once, you should believe the hype’ (BBC Radio). Dream on.
Christmas morning. The Tompkinson family’s peace is shattered by the arrival of narrow-minded Uncle Douglas. Michael and Sarah Tompkinson’s only solace is that Douglas’s wife Pat has proved to be an invaluable shoulder to cry on for their father Barry, and they appear to be growing closer by the day.
The sins of the father. Warren has a problem. He avoids school, other pupils avoid him and adults only ever shout. There are no easy answers. Under The Bridge uses gritty realism to take a new angle on the well-worn theme of school buildings.
As a special effects artist, Christine's mindset is that everything is correctable - Twisted, original and arresting, Undo strikes a chord with anyone who wishes they could erase life's problems.
What would it be like if you woke up tomorrow with no memory of today or any day since your birth? What would it be like to live without a history, without your experiences, relationships or past troubles? How would you feel if you could start your life over again, make a new set of friends, discover new talents, fall in love for the first time, see the world anew? This may sound like impossible fantasy, but to Doug Bruce it has been a catastrophic reality ever since he suffered a rare and profound form of amnesia.
On July 3rd 2003 Doug found himself travelling on the New York subway near Coney Island. He had no idea who he was, where he lived, what country he was in, he didn’t even know his name. He had suffered total memory loss. No doctor could offer an explanation or predict when his memory would return, although there is a 95% chance it will. In that moment 37 years of his life history, his family, his friends, every experience he ever had, was wiped out. Doug was reborn.
Filmed over one year by director and old friend Rupert Murray, Unknown White Male explodes the events of that fateful day and follows Doug as he rediscovers the world around him, as he travels from his new life in America back to Europe, his home for thirty years, to meet family and friends, to confront the past.
Future Legend has made several fictional films covering a range of genres. Always setting themselves high standards, their emphasis has been to produce high quality short films with a clear narrative, strong characters and wry humour.
In their latest production, ‘Up The Hill Backwards’, Future Legend has emulated what you might categorise as the classic European film style. The Director Richard Mann has followed his cinematic influences, such as Jacques Tati, Laurel & Hardy and the Ealing Comedies, to produce a highly stylised and distinctive film.
Set in a lively and energetic café ‘Up the Hill Backwards’ follows the mishaps of our hero, Charlie (played by Richard Mann). Charlie has just moved to town and is enjoying the active café culture when he catches the eye of Nadine (Beccy Killgariff). Stopping him in his tracks she hands Charlie her number with the intention of meeting for a date.
However, Nadine realises that Charlie isn’t all he is cracked up to be.
Charlie's new phone is behaving strangely. It's almost like it knows him. Almost. Except Charlie's phone doesn't want to keep what it knows to itself. So it's telling. Everyone.
Wah-Wah is a semi-autobiographical 'coming of age at the end of an Age' story, told through the eyes of young Ralph Compton. Set during the last gasp of the British Empire in Swaziland, South East Africa, in 1969, the plot focuses on the dysfunctional Compton family whose gradual disintegration mirrors the end of British rule.
As an 11 year-old, Ralph witnesses his mother's adultery with his father's best friend. His parents divorce and Ralph is sent to boarding school. Harry Compton not only loses his wife and best friend, but also his position as Minister of Education with the coming of Independence, prompting his rapid descent into alcoholism.
Now 14, Ralph returns home to discover that his father has re-married an American ex-airhostess called Ruby whom he has known all of six weeks. As round a peg as you could find in this square-holed society, Ruby ridicules the petty snobbery of colonial life by identifying colonial-speak as sounding like a load of old 'Wah-Wah'. Although Ralph is initially wary of Ruby, he bonds with her as his father's drinking escalates dangerously out of control.
Emotions climax against the backdrop of Swazi independence. Ralph throws himself into an amateur production of Camelot as a means to escape his hellish home life, falls in love and in the process begins to make sense of his turbulent relationship with his parents.
The filmmaker returns to her hometown - Stowmarket - a sleepy backwater in rural Suffolk where nothing much ever happens. As she sits with her camera in the local taxi office, a variety of characters pass through - from restless children and old school friends to drunken squaddies. While they sit and wait for their taxis to arrive they share their dreams, desires and disappointments.
