Life Illuminated

Director: Edward Lovelace

Year: 2022

An immersive cinematic experience about a young Deaf boy's emotional journey to express himself; a love letter to the power and magic of human communication.<br /> Lawand is a young Kurdish boy, deaf since birth. After a treacherous journey and a year in a Dunkirk refugee camp, the help of a deaf volunteer brings his family to Derby, where Lawand joins the Royal School for the Deaf. As he grows older, the film follows his dramatic progress in learning British Sign Language, revealing a bright, charismatic, and inquisitive boy who discovers friendship and a new way to express himself.<br /> Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2022 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection Hot Docs 2023 - International premiere<br /> Grierson Awards 2023 - Nomination - Best Single Documentary – Domestic

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Director: Tristan M Copeland

Year: 2025

WHAT ABOUT GARY is a raw and emotive documentary that delves into the tragic consequences of misinformation, exploring how conspiracy theories led to the death of Gary Matthews from Covid-19. The film intimately portrays the profound grief of Gary's family and friends as they grapple with this senseless loss.<br /> Director Tristan Copeland, Gary's cousin, questions the purveyors of these falsehoods, driven by a need to understand why they ensnared Gary. Through vérité footage, archival materials, and Gary's own paintings, the film explores Gary’s descent into a distorted reality, seeking the root causes of his susceptibility to misinformation.<br /> Shot during the pandemic in Shrewsbury, England, WHAT ABOUT GARY captures the isolation that made many, including Gary, vulnerable to manipulation. With kinetic editing, evocative camera work, and a poignant score, the film examines how society failed to protect its citizens from misinformation.<br /> A potentially controversial yet vital work that questions how conspiracy theorists wield such influence and whether others can be saved from similar fates. A cautionary tale for a world grappling with truth in the digital age, and a tribute to a life tragically cut short, driven by a need to understand why.