British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Gearhead

Synopsis

On a bleak English housing estate a dysfunctional teenager is reduced to a mere automaton. Using heavily manipulated video and strong colourisation, Joe Magee's film conveys the surreal experience of a young drop-out. The protagonist's state of mind manifests through extreme film loops and continually recurring sound motifs. Dogs become agitated, birds circle and clocks stop working all to the backdrop of a melancholy ice-cream van.

Details

Year
2004
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
9 mins
Format
Beta SP
Director
Joe Magee
Producer
Josephine Lanyon, Carolyn Hassan
Editor
Joe Magee
Screenwriter
Joe Magee, Matt Kirk, Simon Willis, Nck Giles
Director of Photography
Joe Magee
Sound
Joe Magee
Principal cast
Matt Kirk

Genre

Drama

Categories

Fiction

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Periphery/Picture this Moving Image

Spike Island Studios
40 Sydney Row
Bristol
BS1 6UU
UK

T +44 (0)117 925 7010

info@picturethis.demon.co.uk

Sales Company

Periphery/Picture this Moving Image

Spike Island Studios
40 Sydney Row
Bristol
BS1 6UU
UK

T+44 (0)117 925 7010

info@picturethis.demon.co.uk

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Fly Little Bird Fly Little Bird

Director: Johannes Boesiger

Year: 2026

Judith, an American singer-songwriter struggling with addiction, flees her Jewish relatives' West Bank settlement and finds refuge in Ramallah with Leena, a British-Indian journalist, and Rafiq, a Palestinian photographer. Judith falls in love with Rafiq and reconnects with music through local DJ Amira, but when her grandfather threatens military intervention, Leena escorts Judith to London. Rafiq doesn't follow. Although Judith performs again, her freedom and artistic expression prove fragile.

Drama
A man in a dark room illuminated by red light that is being held on the ground by another person Tales of the Underworld

Director: Darren S. Cook

Year: 2026

Told through the eyes of a journalist digging too deep - exposing a ruthless criminal empire where missing men, police informants, and shifting loyalties make survival a dangerous game.

Crime / Mystery Drama Thriller
A young man is standing out of car sun-roof as another young man drives the car The State of Us

Director: Jake Harvey, Ollie Gardner

Year:

A coming-of-age odyssey of love, loss and life at breaking point. Over one riotous night in Bradford, Frankie steals his dying best friend Taylor out of hospice to outrun the inevitable. Euphoria spirals into chaos as Frankie unravels and Taylor fights to hold him together. Beneath exploding fireworks, the truth ignites: how far Frankie will go not to be left behind. At dawn, the illusion collapses, leaving Frankie to confront an impossible future: a world without Taylor.

Comedy Drama