Projects with status: Complete

Synopsis

The Engagement is a complex and fascinating love story set in contemporary London. Dario is a mysterious motorbike courier who falls in love with a girl who is engaged to be married, but he cannot escape his horrifying experiences as a Serb paramilitary in the Bosnian war.

The film is directed by John Duigan (Flirting) from his own screenplay which sticks to his familiar theme of exploring an unusual and difficult relationship. The film stars Emma Pierson and Croatian acting sensation Dragan Micanovic who stars in Black Sheep with Anthony Hopkins. The very intimate and intense nature of this story dictated the way John choose to make this film, and he has shot it with a small film crew using a state of the art digital beta video camera.

Synopsis

Commercial pilot, Denis Hopkins (Jonny Lee Miller), has everything to live for. His beautiful wife, Valerie, with their first born on the way, a fulfilling and lucrative job as a commercial pilot and an idyllic house by the sea. A vicious break-in, which results in the murder of his pregnant wife, expunges all that. Denis turns his back on what's left of his perfect lifestyle and vows to take revenge on Ricky Barnes, the man responsible for the death of Valerie.

He reinvents himself as a petty criminal, gets caught smashing up a police car and is duly sentenced. Having infiltrated the prison system, Denis goes about his revenge mission with studied, obsessive commitment. But to get to Barnes, Denis must reach Sullen Voe, the highest security prison in the land and to do that he must become a Category A escape risk. Through a series of daring though intentionally flawed escapes, his risk status rises as he is demoted down through the system. With the help of Ron (Gary Lewis), Denis breaks out of the formidable Ulathorn, in order to be caught and sent down to Sullen Voe. Now, only revenge will set the escapist free.

Fast paced and raw, The Escapist is an intelligent and highly charged thriller about an ordinary man pushed beyond his limits, and his instinctive fight to uphold the power of love.

Synopsis

Gaynor and Rory have been together for three years. Rory is about to end the relationship and Gaynor knows it. He has been seeing someone else.

Synopsis

'Come and get yer grins - one pound each, three for a fiver. Come on, it's Christmas, we all wanna be smiling at Christmas'. A black comedy about consumerism.

Synopsis

Charlie is a successful young illustrator of children's books. She and her boyfriend Simon have decided to flee the big city to live a dream life in their newly acquired cottage in the country. Charlie arrives at the cottage to find it far from ready and not a builder in sight. When Simon is called away on business she faces the daunting prospect of spending several nights alone in the woods.

Disturbed by the presence of a mysterious man who stalks the grounds of her cottage, she is relieved when her new neighbour Lisa arrives to welcome her into the fold.

Charlie's dream of an idyllic life in the country is shattered by vivid nightmares of a terrible and haunting secret, a mystery hidden deep in the woods that only she can unravel.

Charlie is about to learn that living in the woods is no walk in the park.

Synopsis

After the death of their father, Madeleine invites her sister Dinah to stay in her elegant London home. Madeleine's husband, Rickie, is now effectively head of the family, and a man of persuasive charm and sophistication. Efforts to find a husband for the free-spirited Dinah seem to pay off at last, but having announced her engagement, Dinah is secretly told by Rickie to call it off. The reason remains unspoken - as they are both aware of a profound mutual attraction. So begins a wild affair, as Rickie and Dinah's illicit passion spirals into deception, offering ecstasy and despair in equal measure and, finally, as the sisters attempt a reconciliation, an insight into the heart's capacity for forgiveness.

Synopsis

A vain hypnotherapist discovers that a difficult client is also a journalist. When he finally succeeds in hypno-tising her, he suggests that she write a glowing article about him. He goes too far and her addiction to cigarettes is replaced by an addiction to him. He finds a rather unusual way out of the dilemma.

Synopsis

The fine line between fiction and reality becomes blurred when a horror video rental is used by a serial killer to morally justify his crimes to the world. What starts off as a conventional teen slasher, transforms into a stark and disturbing journey through the mind of Max Parry, a mild mannered wedding photographer, with a taste for human flesh.

Synopsis

The Lighthouse Keeper lives alone. As he prepares to move out of the Lighthouse, his chess game by post nears its conclusion.

Synopsis

Mervyn is deaf and recently has become blind. Mervyn perseveres through this. The lifecycle of a butterfly, memory and the simple act of making a cup of tea are entwined in this film. What is the sound of the sea to a man who has never heard?

Awards
RTS Student Award

Synopsis

This is a story of when boundaries begin to blur. When life imitates Art and Art wins. For several years Van Gogh was under the care of Dr. Gachet. It was a period of immense creativity and comparative contentment.

Peter Saunders is a successful modern artist who suffers from hypochondria. His condition has been confined to all the usual ailments found in any medical textbook until two key events catapult him far beyond the realm of any known medical diagnosis.

Synopsis

A quite depressed writer, Ia, meets one of his old friends at a bar who starts talking about another old friend Teddy, who is in a terrible state mentally. Ia visits Teddy and finds him in the freezer, destroyed by paranoia. Ia tries to calm him down but doesn't succeed. Teddy reaches his climax of insanity when he starts drilling holes into his neighbours flat.