Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

The unique story of how Dr Garri Urban, the film maker's father, went back after the fall of the Soviet Union to recover the evidence of his imprisonments by, and escapes from, the Soviet secret police, and also to discover how his family died in the Holocaust. The film comprises video diaries shot over 14 years by Stuart Urban and an interview with Dr Garri Urban who also presents and narrates the story. We experience sorrow and joy as his 25-year search, to find out if anyone from his family survived the Holocaust, brought about the discovery of his brother in Israel in 1964. We see Garri find the woman who had been his fiancée and discover that she was imprisoned for eight years because of him. Less than one in a hundred men who were tortured by the KGB were able to withstand the pressure to make a false confession or work for the organisation. Even fewer survived and almost none escaped. Garri Urban is thus a unique survivor, but also a humanitarian and a distinguished doctor whose work brought him awards from Soviet authorities. After Garri's death in 2004, Stuart probes more and more fascinating mysteries and secrets to the man who survived what so few did. There are even allegations that Garri went on a dangerous mission for the KGB in Nazi Germany.  

Synopsis

Trouble Sleeping tells the story of a Palestinian refugee, Ahmed, and his struggle to survive and remain a good man. He is about to be deported from the UK and be forced into a return to the Middle East which is fraught with danger. Halla knows a secret which can save him but he cost of revealing that secret will be terrible for her. Trouble Sleeping is based on the true stories of refugees in Scotland.

Synopsis

Terry is an average gay guy, searching for love, but hardly noticed in a looks and body orientated London gay scene. Coming home alone from a night of clubbing - again - Terry logs on to one of the many gay pick up sites available on the Internet. With nothing but sleazy men, timewasters and strange men on line, Terry almost gives up on meeting the man of his dreams until a magic website promises him otherwise. Suddenly given the powers to change his body to anything he describes himself as on-line, Terry starts to conjure up an array of gorgeous looks for himself. But as he embarks on a string of sexual encounters, Terry has to discover the hard way that beauty really is only skin deep.  

Synopsis

The film follows Pete, a repeat offender, trapped in an inner city economic, and social underclass, as he struggles to make sense of the void around him. This powerful film perfectly captures the cycle of destruction brought about by hate, fear and distrust, and the isolation this environment creates.

Synopsis

A troubled young black teenager Maxine rescues an eccentric old lady Eve from an unhappy slap by a mixed-race gang of teens and is rewarded for her act of kindness with the gift of a terrible secret: how to make and operate a Wishbaby. With Eve's help Maxine gives life to a magic doll and sets out to solve her current problems, inadvertently releasing Eve's dead Governess from her astral prison and unleashing a storm of supernatural activity. Her older brother Colin is gradually drawn into the dangerous situation created by the 'Little King' and must finally face his own mother in a brutal fight to the death.

Synopsis

The film's five episodes explore the legacies of Finland's post-war period, digging deep into the unspoken stories, misunderstandings and mysteries that a child of those years experienced.

Synopsis

Whilst on a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy the artist meticulously recorded her experience through photography, text and video to create an installation that takes us on a disembodied journey through the labyrinthine gardens and ruins overlooking Lake Como. The passage of time, light, and people is central to this work where location and landscape become devices to explore enclosure and isolation - both physical and psychological states. Intersecting paths open out into seemingly impossible locations, mysterious doors set into the rock reveal secret passageways, and as the cicadas call, a sense of languor gives way to obsession and an unravelling of sanity. In collaboration with Robert Arnold. Available as a single split-screen film or a 2 channel installation.

Synopsis

Imagine being convicted and sentenced to years in prison for a crime you did not commit. Years of your life lost and the only thing in your mind while in prison is to clear your name and prove your innocence. Finally after a long struggle and fight to clear your name you get released back into society, a world that has completely changed and is totally alien to you. This film touches on some problems encountered by four miscarriages of justice victims after their release and explores the lack of help and support for these victims. Paddy Hill and John McManus also explain the work undertaken at the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation and their dream of building a retreat for the innocent.

Synopsis

Niall, a naive and unsuccessful local news reporter, is under pressure to get results on a 'death-knock' from hardened-pro reporter, Tammy. He gets more than he bargains for when Mrs Wright - the grieving mother of a boy killed in a road traffic accident - appears to mistake him for somebody else.

Synopsis

'Like Me, Only Better' is a laconic comedy about Neuroses, Catholicism and Prozac. Clive tries to become a better person and to overcome his various Obsessive Compulsive disorders. The film establishes a link between his Catholic upbringing, his childhood imagination and his adult phobias and compulsions. A hand-drawn animation in pencil, it moves between the inner and outer worlds of the main character.

Synopsis

A group of bored teenagers mimic tv shows by making video clips with 3G phones. Loner Jake wants to be known and liked, but peer pressure takes hold, reality blurs, and what started as innocent fun with new friends turns to disaster.

Synopsis

Sofia remembers a bedtime story her father told her.