Projects matching: John Boorman

Synopsis

It is 1952. Bill Rowan is eighteen years old, dreaming his life away at the family's riverside home, waiting to be called up for two years' conscription in the British Army. His idyll is shattered by the harsh realities of boot camp. He meets Percy, an amoral prankster; they are rivals and antagonists, but they gradually forge a deep friendship in the claustrophobic environment of a closed, prison-like training camp. The pressure is briefly relieved by excursions into the outside world, where they both fall in love. Finally, Bill is confronted with the shattered lives of wounded boys returning from Korea.

Synopsis

An intimate portrait about the iconic filmmaker John Boorman directed by his daughter Katrine. The story is told through the relationship of father and daughter, it is a journey about film making, family conflict, love and reconciliation.

Synopsis

Identical twins are separated at birth. One, Liam, becomes a successful though over-stretched property developer in the new godless, greedy Ireland; the other, a homeless bum in Leeds. They are the have and the have-not.

In a series of wickedly devious comic episodes, the have-not sets out to steal Liam’s life. He succeeds, but finds nothing but debt and grief. Liam, on the other hand, discovers he is less aggrieved than he thought he might be to find himself relieved of his burdens.

Synopsis

21,800 vicitims told their stories to the truth and reconciliation commission. 1,163 perpetrators were given amnesty, beginning the process of healing the wounds of apartheid.

Set against the backdrop of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings, Washington Post journalist Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) meets Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) an Afrikaans poet covering the hearings for South African state media.
His horror at the revelations at the truth commission leads to instant animosity between Langston and Anna, but as he becomes increasingly drawn into her world and her passion for the country of her birth, he softens his stance and, against his will and principles, falls in love with the white African.

This is a re-cut version of Country Of My Skull.

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings, Washington Post journalist, Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) meets Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) an Afrikaans poet covering the hearings for South African state media.
 
His horror at the relevations at the truth commission leads to instant animosity between Langston and Anna, but as he becomes increasingly drawn into her world and her passion for the country of her birth, he softens his stance and, against his will and principles, falls in love with the white African.

Synopsis

John Boorman's documentary records his personal quest to understand this 'complex, colourful crazy man' who had such a profound effect on his own life and work.

Synopsis

Hollyfield was a Dublin slum where the rejected, the derelict and the anti-social were housed, a garbage heap of humanity. Martin Cahill grew up in a milieu where crime was the main occupation. Sent to a correction school when caught stealing food for his fatherless family, abused by priests and police, he grew up with a deep-seated resentment of all authority. Throughout his life he derived a deep satisfaction from making fools out of the police, the church, the establishment and devised a series of elaborate pranks to embarrass them.





He organised a number of daring and carefully planned robberies, gaining the sobriquet, The General. Hollyfield was a no-go area for the police and the fierce loyalties of it's inhabitants protected Cahill. He lived outside the system easily eluding the law.





He overreached himself when he and his gang stole paintings from Russborough House including the only Vemeer in private ownership. With public and political pressure mounting, the police instigated a surveillance operation headed by Ned Kenny, a man who admired Cahill but was determined to break him. Cahill and his men were trailed night and day. Even so, he continued to defy and elude them. Despite suffering from diabetes and the enormous strain, they could not break him. He regarded the IRA as just another aspect of the authority and he defied them as he did all others. Lacking the forbearance of the police, the IRA shot him dead in the street on the eve of the 1994 cease-fire.





His potent mix of violence and humour and generosity made him a legend in his lifetime.