Projects in genres: Black

Synopsis

Truthful, tender and brutally comic, Top Girl tells a story of girls growing up in a man's world.

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The dramatic true story of Rwandan school students, attacked by rebels in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide - whose refusal to betray each other cost some of them everything, but gave hope to a nation.

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It wasn't exactly a promising childhood. An impoverished father at fifteen, Daniel joined the family business, becoming a drug dealer despite watching his two brothers jailed for the same crime. But when his mother narrowly escapes a prison sentence, and moves the family from North Carolina to the South Bronx, Daniel is given a fresh start. At Taft High School, one of the most violent, notorious high schools in the nation, Daniel discovers that education can give him a future away from poverty and crime. Mature beyond his years, and increasingly articulate, he becomes a dedicated student, not only is he the first of his family to graduate high school, but he wins a scholarship to one of the most elite universities in the US. Just as he thinks the world is his oyster, Daniel falters. A fish out of water he feels alienated not only by his white classmates, but even more so by his middle-class black ones. Filmed over nine years by director Daniela Zanzotto, and narrated by Daniel himself, this is a remarkable portrait of a self-believer determined to steer his own path in life.

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The story of the childhood of Olaudah Equiano in Benin between 1745-55 before he was kidnapped and enslaved.

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Filmed on location in the US, Europe and Southern Africa, The Hunger Season tells the story of a young teacher called Justice and the children in his care living in the heart of rural Swaziland as they struggle to survive a year of drought and diminishing food handouts.

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On a run down council estate, Robert visits his mentally disturbed friend and recounts the details of a vicious street attack, only to discover that his own perception of reality has been turned upside down.

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Having fled Iraq, 9-year-old Ali arrives in Britain. Unable to speak English he is shunned by those around him. He builds a plane from objects discarded by the locals and makes a special friend along the way. A visually driven lyrical tale that explores loss, the sweetness of hope and the realisation of dreams.

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A restless spirit longs to return home. After the removal of Saddam, Ali, an Iraqi exile is invited to return to Baghdad. As the moment of his return draws closer, it re-ignites a series of memories that Ali had long forgotten and reawakens anxieties, which he thought that he had left behind when he fled as a child from East to West. As these feelings become more intense, Ali is forced to re-evaluate the meaning of his journey. What awaits him now in post-Saddam Iraq? Ali’s fears and doubts are only alleviated when he connects with the memory of his own childhood in the Middle East, where as a little boy he set his spirit free on the wind.

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A masterclass of minimalist expressionism by a class master. Dave Heron provides 33 classic expressions as a unique guide for all budding actors, two faced gits and prospective brazen liars. 'Dave taught me everything I know about acting' - L. Olivier.

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This film follows 25-year-old William Francome’s investigation into the arrest of Mumia Abu Jamal, famed death-row prisoner and award-winning Black Panther journalist. Francome, born on the day of Mumia’s 1981 arrest, engages intellectuals, writers and musicians in an effort to expose the truth about justice in America for black activists in general and Mumia in particular. The energetic, poetic and deeply moving interviews of Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky, Mos Def, Snoop Dogg and Steve Earle raise questions about the repercussions and damage of racial injustice not only to those targeted, but to the American culture itself. And most pointedly the film asks, what does it signify that Americans are still determined to put to death potential leaders and powerful political voices of the African-American culture.  

Synopsis

Starting at dawn and finishing at dawn we witness Bradford at work, at play and at odds with itself. The sounds and sights of the city can tell us more than what life is like in Yorkshire today, they point to the greater global challenge of what happens when east meets west and neither wishes to lose its cultural identity.

Synopsis

A lonely station master in an isolated railway station endures ‘Maya’ (the illusory appearance of the sensible world) while within his soul there is a tortured moment of loss.