Stooge

Director: Madeleine Farley

Year: 2004

Trollywood initially started out as a collection of still photographs. The director, up and coming UK talent Madeleine Farley, was fascinated by the isuue of homelessness in Los Angeles, a city renowned - or at least in popular conception- for its opulence. As a symbol of material divide, Madeleine decided to focus on the humble shopping carts littered around LA as a central theme- ie. as both consumer tool to some whilst being a portable home to others.   Through her time spent photographing the homeless and the numerous conversations that ensued, Madeleine soon realised that there was a vast untapped wealth of personal testimony and that only a documentary could do the subject justice. This view was further cemented when a news story broke about an LA legal case involving the making and profiteering from a video called 'Bumfights' in which homeless people, often under the influence of alcohol, were filmed inflicting harm on themselves. The makers of the film, whilst making in the region of $6m dollars, were let off with 250hrs of community service.   Trollywood will focus on interviews with the homeless, Government officials, Charitable foundation workers, Mental health organisations etc. in a moving, well rounded look at a serious issue. More than anything, the programme will aim to be educational and uplifting, presenting homelessness with a human face and also providing an awareness of various remedial organisations. Essentially, Madeleine's intent is to show that amongst great material deprivation there exists a unique culture with its own sense of spiritual wealth.

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. 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. 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? 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. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Director: Barney Douglas

Year: 2026

The extraordinary story of Richard “Ric” O’Barry, once the world’s highest-paid dolphin trainer, now their most passionate defender, risking his life and liberty to free these remarkable creatures from captivity. In the 1960s, Ric was America’s leading dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium and the celebrated trainer behind the hit TV series Flipper, whose smiling stars enchanted a generation. Everything changed after the apparent suicide of one of the show’s dolphins, Kathie - a moment that shattered his beliefs and set him on a radical path from insider to activist. For over 50 years, Ric has led a global campaign against dolphin captivity. As founder of Dolphin Project, he has risked arrest, injury, and personal loss to rescue dolphins and expose the industry’s darkest secrets. Both celebrated and criticised, he remains steadfast that every captive dolphin can be returned to the wild. Told through intimate family access, joyous underwater imagery, and covert filming, Ric’s mission has transformed a non-issue into a global movement. Now 85, he must ask: after a lifetime spent freeing others, can he finally set himself free?