Projects matching: Georgia Parris

Synopsis

Anna is a single mother balancing work with raising her nine-year-old daughter, Thea, a bright, sensitive child experiencing severe school- related distress and stuck on a three-year waiting list for an autism assessment. At home, Thea is creative, affectionate and deeply vulnerable. At school, her psychological distress is mistaken for truancy, fabrication or bad parenting. As Anna fights for support, she faces mounting scrutiny from the school and local authority. She is blamed for Thea’s behaviour, instructed to attend parenting courses and ultimately served financial fines for repeated “unauthorised absence”. Her daughter’s needs remain unrecognised, the morning routine is reduced to a battle of increasing violence, and Anna is pushed to breaking point. Threatened with criminal prosecution, on the brink of losing her job and now in a state of complete exhaustion, Anna attempts a final school drop- off. Thea, in a state of sensory overwhelm, takes desperate measures to avoid a public meltdown which ends in unspeakable tragedy. Yet, the calls from the school continue: a relentless reminder that, to the system, Anna's young daughter remains little more than another “unauthorised absence”.

Synopsis

Boldly combining the power of dance and cinema, 'Mari' tells the life-affirming story of professional dancer and choreographer Charlotte (Bobbi Jene Smith), as she prepares for a new show. Uniquely using the poetic expression of dance to drive the narrative, Charlotte’s world is turned upside down when she discovers she is pregnant and also that her grandmother Mari is coming to the end of life, forcing her to confront her past in order to choose the future she wants. As the weekend with her family progresses, Charlotte’s own mortality sinks in, her identity unravels and truths about the women in her life surface. Lost, she is driven to find new meaning in places she'd previously avoided or dismissed, leaving her changed forever. With original choreography, MARI follows Charlotte on a personal journey that goes from her grandmother’s deathbed to the prospect of motherhood. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere