Projects in genres: Black

Synopsis

The Starfish Principle was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. It is an independently funded documentary that focuses on vision, hope and building bridges. We filmed individuals and groups who are creating positive change. Our focus is on community, youth and the Aids situation.

Seeing beyond the despair and hopelessness, and reaching out to make a change and a difference. Seeing the possibility in everyone and in every situation.

So often there is huge overwhelm that blocks the will and people’s ability to find solutions. People often feel broken down by isolation, betrayals, loss of trust, hunger and poverty. In this film we interviewed people, groups and organisations, listened to their stories, bearing witness to their hopes, dreams, despair and struggles. We hope to build bridges in communication, healing, forgiveness and to nurture community. We hope to inspire, demonstrate solidarity and also empower the projects and people we came into contact with.
 

Synopsis

A crew of Rastafarians evacuated to London after a volcanic eruption in Montserrat, adjust to life in inner city London.
 
The Rastamen reinvent themselves as 'rude-boy' rappers and small time hustlers. They pitch between enjoying the thrills of the city and committing to Rastafari ideals.

Synopsis

The Havana Boxing Academy is a Cuban boarding school that takes 9-year-old boys, and turns them into the best boxers in the world. Sons Of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through 8 dramatic months of training and schooling as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba's National Boxing Championship for Under-12's.

But during the season, crisis strikes: Fidel Castro is taken ill, and all of Cuba's Olympic boxing champions defect to the USA, leaving Cuba at a crossroads, and the boys contemplating a changing world.
 

Synopsis

Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. Told in Letts' unique voice, Superstonic Sound is a documentary about his family legacy that mirrors the history of Bass in the UK and his fighting for identity being the first generation of British born Black. A journey from Dub and Reggae to the legendary very first Punk club 'The Roxy' in the mid-seventies, crossing Hip Hop towards Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal travel between past and present.

Synopsis

A dying psychic, consumed with bitterness, corrupts the naïve inhabitants of a small, sea-side village and in the process, alienates her daughter. Can the dying commune with the dead?
Noir-influenced black comedy.

Synopsis

Angela is a braid stylist to the stars. Wayne and Cyndia are the leading junior stylists at the UK's biggest chain of Afro hair salons. George and Apple are a Thai husband and wife team obsessed with Afro hair.

Michael is Birmingham's leading Afro stylist who is out to beat the all-powerful London salons. Afro-Saxons follows all of these stylists as they enter the Black Beauty and Hair awards - the most competitive Afro hair competition in the UK.

'An engaging and entertaining documentary - it's impossible to watch it without a smile on your face' (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian).

'A MUST-SEE FLICK - if you don't find it compulsive viewing, you're dead from the neck up' (Elsa O' Toole, NEW NATION).

'Big hair and bigger egos make for an entertaining and frequently amusing documentary - even those with no interest in hair will find something to amuse them in this admirably unusual film' (FILM FOUR).

Synopsis

Exile is an intimate look at identity through the eyes of a young British Nigerian woman. It interweaves contemporary dance inspired by African masquerade, and documentary footage from Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria to give a distinct and personal narrative.

Synopsis

Invalid Debris is an original and thought provoking new film about love, friendship and revenge by The Young Persons' Theatre Company which examines the chain of events leading to a young man’s death at the hands of a gang and the psychological and emotional consequences for all involved. This gripping and emotionally charged story asks the question is truth simply a matter of perspective.

Synopsis

Several diverse characters recite part of a poem called Gold From the Stone written by Lemn Sissay. Each character is in a different location and time zone but the same country and the same City. We jump from one character to the next fragmenting their monologues further isolating them- are they real people?

Synopsis

Mental Block depicts the journey of a young freerunner (Ali) striving to find his own personal route through life using the discipline of parkour, but all motion stops when he reaches the inevitable mental block. Set within inner-city estates Ali discovers the hardest obstacles to overcome are in the mind.

Synopsis

Midnight Madness is Europe's first basketball film.

The film follows Nhamo Shire, the founder of the Midnight Madness tournament, and two players, Mike Martin and Pierre Henry-Fontaine, as they battle through the summer to make it as one of the top 10 basketball players who will go to Los Angeles to train and compete against their American counterparts.

Nhamo recollects how in 1999 he launched the first Midnight Madness in Harlesden as a means of deterring teenagers from gangs and crime when they are most vulnerable: night time. 9 years on we follow him as this extreme basketball tournament rages in twelve cities across the UK. Midnight Madness culminates at Crystal Palace where 5,000 screaming fans attend the finals.

We also follow Mike Martin who lost his mum a couple of months before the summer and wants to win the tournament as a tribute to her memory and Pierre Henry-Fontaine who's dream of making the big time in the United States ended prematurely. He now sees the opportunity of playing against the Americans in their own backyard as a means of proving to himself he can play and compete with the best.

Far from the violent picture painted in the media of inner city life we discover through Midnight Madness passionate, hardworking and touching individuals trying to make a difference.



 

Synopsis

Motherland is a breathtaking passage, which sweeps the continent of Africa. With an all-star cast, it is a vivid cinematic centrepiece washed with an African aesthetic. A bold empowering sophisticated story of Africa, which in progressive dignity reaffirming terms looks at Africa's past, present and future. Motherland is an epic and unprecedented entry into the canon of African-owned cinema, which charts the glory and majesty of the Motherland (Enat Hager). Motherland is a film that unapologetically calls for African unity, self-determination and the African rebirth.

From the acclaimed producers of the multi-award winning 500 Years Later, Motherland is Directed by Owen ‘Alik Shahadah. Motherland has been in the making since 2004 and is expected late 2009.