Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

A Story of Children and Film is the world's first movie about kids in global cinema. It's passionate, poetic, portrait of the adventure of childhood: its surrealism, loneliness, fun, destructiveness and stroppiness: as seen through 53 great films from 25 countries. A story of children and film is an eye opener, a landmark film and a celebration of both childhood and the movies.

Synopsis

Closure is a short, experimental documentary focusing on one woman’s valiant campaign to save her childhood home (a local pub) from closure and demolition.

As hopes for the campaign fade in the face of unrealistic renovation costs, Úna reflects upon the connection between the building's deterioration and that of both her ageing mother (the former landlady) and her local community.

Úna's benevolent actions and efforts meet blow after blow until all that remains is a pile of rubble. But internally, her ability to forge connections with others and her relentless positivity mean that ultimately, her memories are enough. She engineers her own form of closure.

In an attempt to express Úna's inward journey, the events of the film are presented in a reversed chronology, beginning with the pub's demolition and ending with Úna’s earliest memories.

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Cold Open is part of a series of films shot over a year, 2007 in the environs of the Waterworks (Queen Mary's Park), in north Belfast.

Synopsis

Synopsis

Hawking is the extraordinary story of the planet’s most famous living scientist, told for the first time in his own words and by those closest to him. Made with unique access to Hawking’s private life, this is an intimate and moving journey into Stephen's world, both past and present. An inspirational portrait of an iconic figure, Hawking relates his incredible personal journey from boyhood under-achiever, to PhD genius, to being diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease and given just two years to live. Despite the constant threat of death, Hawking manages to make many remarkable scientific discoveries and rises to fame and super-stardom.
Hawking - a remarkable man, and a remarkable movie

Synopsis

A poetic documentary following Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's journey through Iran in 1951 on an assignment to write a publicity film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Combining archival photographs with Thomas's own words (spoken by actor Michael Sheen), the film captures the poet's haunting vision of oil, colonialism and exploitation.

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February 2013, a group of people came together with one question in mind "What if we forget?" The seaside town of Folkestone was the gateway to the war for over eight million troops.

With the First World War moving out of living memory what does that mean for us?

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At the age of 21, Sarah Begum, a British born Bengali girl realised the ambition of a lifetime when she went to live with the Huaorani tribe deep in the Amazon Rainforest and immersed herself in their way of life. This is the film she made of her extraordinary journey.

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A richly enjoyable exploration of the life of the unforgettable legend and born performer Bette Bourne.

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When Madge Elliot complained about the announced closure of her local train station in Hawick, her mother told her to do something about it, and that’s just what she did. It’s Quicker By Hearse The Tale of the Petitioning Housewife, the Protesting Schoolboy and the Campaign Trail Student tells the story of Elliot who, together with her 11-year-old son Kim, Harry Brown the piper and Edinburgh University Railway Society president Bruce McCartney, marched to Downing Street to deliver a petition of 11,768 signatures on 18 December 1968. When final closure was penciled for January 7 1969, Madge and her campaign group continued their protest by posting a coffin on the last train to leave Hawick station and travel to London. The coffin was emblazoned with the words ‘Waverley Line – born 1848 killed 1969’ and was addressed to the then Minister of Transport Richard Marsh.

This work investigates how the national changes recommended in the infamous Beeching report, titled The Reshaping of British Railways, impacted Elliot and her local community. Like Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel Waverley (the railway lines namesake), Elliot’s grassroots campaign raised questions of the need for social progress that does not reject the traditions of the past.

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Having left family and parents behind, teenagers from Afghanistan, Iran and Ethiopia find themselves caught in limbo at a Danish Asylum Centre. Their everyday life is filled with waiting and uncertainty, whilst staff prepare for one of the toughest days on the job.

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Sylvester, a Roma youth worker, explores the issues of crime, migration and anti-social behaviour in Redbridge, East London. Includes interviews with community leaders, former youth gangs and Bashir Chaudhry MBE, Chair of the League of British Muslims.