Project Detail

The Pigeon Tunnel

Synopsis

David Cornwell, aka spy novelist John le Carré, opens up to Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris in what was to be the author’s final and most personal interview. Spanning six decades, from a stormy Cold War backdrop extending into the present day, the film is punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatic anecdotes, including reflections on the influences Cornwell/ le Carré took from his father’s life as a con man.
Official Selection Telluride Film Festival 2023 - World premiere
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival - European premiere

Details

Year
2023
Type of project
Features
Running time
93 min
Director
Errol Morris
Producer
Errol Morris, Dominic Crossley-Holland, Steven Hathaway, Simon Cornwell, Stephen Cornwell
Executive Producer
Hossein Amini, P.J. Van Sandwijk, Michael Lesslie, Arthur Wang, Joe Tsai, Michele Wolkoff, Katherine Butler
Editor
Steven Hathaway
Director of Photography
Igor Martinovic

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

A The Ink Factory (UK), Fourth Floor Productions (US), 127 Wall (HK), Apple Original Films (US), Hero Squared (HK), Jago Films (US), Storyteller Productions (UK) production

Sales Company

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.

See also

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

American Dharma American Dharma

Director: Errol Morris

Year: 2018

From groundbreaking documentarian Errol Morris comes a probing portrait of controversial Breitbart honcho and Trump advisor, Stephen K. Bannon. If Stephen K. Bannon were a fictional character, you'd have a hard time believing his narrative arc. He did stints as an investment banker and movie producer before steering the far-right media site Breitbart News as it swiftly moved from the fringe to the centre of American politics. As the chief executive of Donald Trump's campaign, he helped the candidate navigate several controversies that would have ended the career of any previous politician. He had a brief run in the White House as Trump's chief strategist. After being ousted, he continues to exert a powerful influence on right-wing ideologues in the US and abroad. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2018 - TIFF Docs

A meditating Buddhist Nun at Bodhgaya Temple Tracing Transcendental Tone

Director: Julian Konczak

Year: 2025

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.

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.