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Mela Hilleard

Synopsis

The feature-length documentary is an attempt to answer one of the most vital questions in all our lives: What is the meaning of home? The film focuses on family, identity, emigration (through the lens of Polish-Irish-South African-English ties), as well as the circle of life, death and rebirth. The axis of the film is a house which connects and shelters, and which allows the lives of the characters to be transformed. It's genesis and inspiration was a seven-year collection of films and photographs covering the lives of residents who lived and worked under the cover, protection and generosity of the house’s owner – a 90-year-old, bed-bound writer – Elizabeth – in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London.
Official selection Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2024 - UK premiere

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Details

Year: 2024
Type of project: Features
Running time: 95 min
Format: DSLR
Director: Mela Hilleard 1st Feature
Producer: Cait Lyn Adamson, Terence Chim, Mela Hilleard
Executive Producer: Rory O’Callaghan
Editor: Terence Chim
Screenwriter: Mela Hilleard
Director of Photography: Mela Hilleard
Sound: Chiara Cabri, Alex Bird
Composer: Eugeniusz Rudnik

Genre

Experimental Woman Director Drama

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Kochanie and Kochanie Ltd

11 Wincott Parade
Kennington Road
London
SE11 6SR

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Following a pilgrimage through the sacred sounds of India – a land of many faiths, including Vedanta, Islam and Buddhism. Using striking visual material accompanied by an evocative, multi-layered soundtrack, the audience is taken on a unique sonic journey through the sacred sound practices of many of the world’s key religions. A combination of interviews, performances, and natural sounds creates a rich, immersive cinematic experience. With an intimate, direct camera style, viewers can get close to the many spiritual practitioners, musicians, and meditation teachers who form the fabric of the journey. Bubbling hot springs, subtropical nocturnal symphonies of insects, and harsh, frozen mountain winds combine with mantra chanting, classical Hindustani music, and the dynamic temple sounds of drums and trumpets. This audiovisual tone poem invites you to experience heightened sensory awareness and the transformative, healing power of sound.

Music

An audio cassette tape, with the title 'Childrens Tape for Sue', being repaired.

The Solway

Director: Eamon Bourke

Year: 2026

Filmmaker Eamon Bourke lost his mother, Sue, when he was three and has no memory of her. When his father decides to sell the remote Lake District home where she died, Eamon returns with his camera to document the house and its clearing. Among Sue’s belongings - diaries, poems, photographs and tapes - he discovers a box of damaged cassette recordings. After painstakingly repairing them, he uncovers something extraordinary: his mother’s voice. Through these intimate audio diaries, Sue speaks candidly about motherhood, sings to her children, and captures fleeting family moments Eamon never knew. One final tape records her describing the onset of hepatitis, days before she fell into a coma and died in 1983. Another, more haunting still, features three-year-old Eamon calling out to his unconscious mother in hospital, in a desperate attempt to bring her back. As Eamon pieces together this archive, he confronts the enduring impact of early loss, speaking with his father and sisters while retracing the emotional landscape of his childhood. Set against the vast beauty of the Lake District, a deeply personal exploration of grief, memory and love - an attempt to recover what was lost, and to finally say goodbye.

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