Projects in genres: Drama

Synopsis

An elderly Greek-Cypriot man lies dying in a hospital bed, attended by a nurse and his daughter. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, we follow him into his memories of 1955 and a secret.

Synopsis

AIPS is an observational piece, exploring the very private world of re-enactment. It focuses on a Kent-based group who play the roles of both a US and a Vietcong unit, six weekends a year. They aim to recreate 'living history' by dressing, camping and eating as authentically as possible.

Synopsis

It's 1927, the height of the Roaring Twenties, and Chicago is rife with corruption gambling, prostitution and prohibition. Jimmy and his two Liverpool pals, Dan and Eddie, work as lowly waiters on a luxury liner. Always on the make, the three lads are pinning their hopes on getting enough money to jump ship in New York and start a new life in the USA. They plan a ruse which nets them six bottles of gin from the ship's stores, which they know will fetch a good price in Prohibition America. Unwittingly they sell them to two gangsters on the New York quayside, one of whom turns out to be the right-hand man to Al Capone. It soon becomes clear that the trio have got themselves into a dangerous situation. A further complication is created by Jimmy's attraction to Edith, girlfriend to one of the gangsters. When Capone's son is kidnapped and the lads are implicated, it's time to get out of town. But not before Jimmy's big fight and a small matter of Dan and Eddie removing the contents of Capone's vault to pay for their trouble.

Synopsis

Interlocking emotional stories about various characters on a housing estate, focusing particularly on a family whose young son's illness has a traumatic effect on his parents' relationship.

Synopsis

Set in South Yorkshire, An Angel for May tells the tale of schoolboy Tom who is transported from the present to the time of the Second World War. Tom's time tunnel is a burnt out fireplace in the ruins of an old farm yard and his time travel guide is a sheepdog called Tess. Tom finds himself in the same farm yard, but it's the 1940s and the farm is thriving. The farm is run by salt of the earth Sam Wheeler who is looking after orphaned evacuee May. Tom develops an immediate and strong friendship with May. Others Tom meets in the 1940s are housekeeper Susan Higgins, Sam's daughter Alison and the vigilant local bobbie PC Clegg. In the present day Tom's mother Barbara is separated from Tom's father and wants to marry Bob Harris. Tom is not happy with his mother's plans for re-marriage. In Tom's present day world are his next door neighbour and an old beggar woman Rosie. Stories in both time frames are intricately told and interwoven.

Synopsis

I will destroy everything that comforts you, the servant who obeys you, the physician who heals you, the priest who gives you absolution, the husband who protects you. Anazapta is a medieval thriller, set in 1348 in England; a tale of lust and revenge that unfolds beneath the shadow of the Black Death. It is the story of an enigmatic French nobleman, brought to a small English village as a hostage, who turns out to be an impostor, a nameless stranger with a deadly agenda, a man who embodies the most primal instincts and who uses them to exact a merciless revenge on those around him. He has the ultimate weapon at his command. It's the Black Death itself. 'So it drifted away, an evil noxious mist, contaminating all it touched'.

Synopsis

Although based on the history of Cambodia during the years of the Khmer Rouge Regime (Angka), the film takes place in an unspecified country at an unspecified time. Could be anywhere where there is civil war and people are imprisoned and tortured just for 'being'.

Synopsis

Darkly comic digital short about two women who are desperate to have a baby. They arrange to meet a man at a seedy industrial estate in the hope that he will make one of them pregnant.

Synopsis

Meena is twelve years old and lives in the village of Tollington 'the jewel of the Black Country' - in 1972. She is the daughter of Indian parents who have come to England to give her a better life. Her idyllic adolescence, surrounded by eccentric relatives and friends, is disrupted by the arrival in Tollington of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family. At 14 - blonde, aloof, beautiful, outrageous and sassy - Anita is everything Meena thinks she wants to be. Meena wheedles her way into Anita's life, but the arrival of a baby brother, teenage hormones, impending entrance exams for the posh grammar school and a motorcycling rebel without a future, threaten to turn her salad days sour. ANITE AND ME paints a comic, poignant, compassionate and colourful portrait of village life in the era of flares, power cuts, glam rock, decimalisation and Ted Heath.

Synopsis

A funny, poignant, thought-provoking story of four very different characters who set out on the longest walk of their lives and discover their true selves. Arthur, Geoffrey and Andy first walked the 177 miles of Offa's Dyke twenty years ago when they were studying law together at university. They vowed to repeat the walk, but this time the motley crew are joined by a stranger - a forty year old wife and mother in the throes of a mid-life crisis who throws more than one spanner in the works. As the miles pass in a haze of pouring rain, screaming rows, hilarious encounters and dodgy B&B's, our intrepid travellers discover hidden depths, long-buried antagonism and secret passions...and an unlikely friendship.

Synopsis

A native son of north Belfast, award winning playwright, Gary Mitchell, speaks the language of working-class Protestants in the unflinching realist drama that tells the story of the lifelong friendship between two Loyalists blown apart by political change. As The Beast Sleeps is a hard-hitting film about friendship, loyalty and betrayal. The political leadership of the UDA have placed a ban on paramilitary activity which may damage their position in the peace process. The men this affects are the young teams groomed for fighting. For some, the new rules mean a drastic change in lifestyle, a loss of stability and identity. Kyle is caught between loyalty to the UDA and loyalty to Freddie, his best friend. Freddie wants to carry on doing what he was groomed for. They are drawn into conflict when Kyle is reluctantly recruited to head a punishment squad to deal with renegades. When Freddie breaks the ban, personal and political loyalties collide violently. This powerfully-acted BBC film offers a sombre reflection on the peace process.

Synopsis

The story of Tom and Penny - their love for each other, Penny's rapidly advancing cancer, and the pledge Tom has made to help Penny die. Penny has reached a point of no return. She and Tom have had a very strong relationship, habitually at ease and attracted to one another.