Projects in genres: Human Rights

Synopsis

Premier/Divisions is an artist film that blurs the line between documentary and experimental observational studies, in an attempt by the maker, as an outsider, to understand the complexities and tensions surrounding perceived and real notions of division in Kenyan society in the run up to the 2013 presidential elections.

The footage was documented at a time when tensions were particularly at the forefront of Kenya’s collective consciousness due to the occurrences of the 2007/08 election and the so called ‘post-election violence’ wherein tribal, class and political conflicts resulted in the murders of over 1,200 people.

Through a series of interviews with Nairobi residents, including artists, film makers, journalists, and musicians, director Chris Paul Daniels mixes oral anecdotal perspectives on contemporary Kenyan life within the context of tensions highlighted by the election, which was controversially won by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 4 March 2013.

The film aims to present a personalised portrait of Nairobi with all its vibrancy, complexities and contradictions and reflect on universal societal habits to seek communal identities, ideologies and alliances.

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Sayadeen is a short documentary shot over one morning from a boat off the coast of Gaza. Forced to fish within a three mile sea frontier, local fishermen struggle to survive - supplies are dwindling and they risk everything to feed their families.

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A young woman is kidnapped and held captive by two men in a terraced house in a busy London neighbourhood. She is slowly conditioned to accept her captivity by threats of death to her young son, sex trafficking and by the threat of a mysterious all seeing ‘network’ that will seek punishment if she were ever to expose her situation. Complex relationships develop between the captors and the woman resulting in an explosive finish in this dark and disturbing drama.

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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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When Criticism of faith and the freedom to offend is outlawed by the Politically Correct Militia. Bella and her gang of cyber punks push Darwinism door to door. But with violent agnostic thugs in the street, and the terrorist "Atheist Revolutionary Army" attacking the liberal establishment. Bella and her friends are driven underground into a dark fetish existence, where the future and the past collide, allegiances are strained, and old scores must be settled. In this frighteningly bizarre and surreal feature film. Full on gothsploitation This is a truly independent film. Created by a bunch of friends about freedom of expression when all around us freedoms are being suppressed by those who claim to be offended.

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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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Stop the Show is a reference to international relations and arms trade. The campaign was created in support of a United Nations treaty to regulate the arms trade between countries and reduce worldwide killings through firearms.

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The lives of three men collide in a London toilet with unforeseen consequences - yet this could happen in 42 countries globally. It’s a ticking time bomb nobody wants to discuss. Will you...?

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A pitch-black comedy about Minnie the oddball owner of a Euthanasia Centre and her desperate attempts to keep it from closing.

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Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial in a case that has gripped the nation and the world beyond, three young artists or the society they live in?