Uk Documentaries 2018
2018 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4
FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES 6
SHORT DOCUMENTARIES 26
COMING SOON – FORTHCOMING
FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES 34
UK DOCUMENTARY – AN OVERVIEW 42
ABOUT BRITISH COUNCIL 44
BRITISH COUNCIL AND FESTIVALS 46
BRITISH COUNCIL AND SHORTS 48
OTHER GLOBAL PROJECTS 50
INDEX OF FILMS 52
ST
Directorial debuts are indicated with this symbol
1
All inclusive images remain the copyright of their respective owners and may not be reproduced without the expressed permission of the rights holders.
3INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the 2018 UK Documentaries Catalogue presented by British Council.
We work with the Scottish Documentary Institute on Stories, a major programme of creative documentary workshops helping international filmmakers in challenging areas to give authentic voices to their work. The resulting short docs have screened at many major festivals. Read more about it at scottishdocinstitute.com/opportunities/stories
We’re proud to be championing new and upcoming UK films and filmmakers to programmers and audiences around the world. This catalogue includes details of selected UK featurelength and short documentaries that have been released in
2017 and 2018, as well as flagging up some feature-length documentary productions due for release later this year.
We are partnering One World Media to pioneer the Global
Short Docs Forum, a brand new initiative to nurture new talent in documentary shorts, giving them access to the growing number of digital media platforms. You can find out more about it at globalshortdocs.com
We work with a number of partners to support and promote excellence in documentary through a range of activities spanning both exhibition and skills development.
This PDF catalogue will be updated periodically throughout the year. You will be able to download it at
film.britishcouncil.org/british-films-directory/uk-filmcatalogues
We have a long-term partnership with The Grierson Trust, an organisation that exists to promote documentary filmmaking and holds the annual Grierson Awards, which enables us to screen a wide range of outstanding UK documentaries internationally. Read about them at griersontrust.org/ grierson-awards/the-grierson-awards
You can view the entire British Films Directory listing both short and feature length films, as well as further directories listing filmmakers and festivals, at britishcouncil.org/film
We bring international delegates to attend Sheffield Doc/
Fest, a world-leading annual festival celebrating the art and business of documentary and all non-fiction storytelling.
You can find more information at sheffdocfest.com/view/ aboutdocfest
45FEATURE-LENGTH
DOCUMENTARIES
6 FEATURE-LENGTH
1
Almost Heaven Arcadia
Synopsis
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Ying Ling is away from home training to become a mortician at one of China’s largest funeral homes. Despite her fear of ghosts and dead bodies, she learns the spa rituals; cleaning and massaging the corpses while the grieving families look on. Ying Ling finds solace from her macabre role through her playful banter with another of the young morticians. Together, they spend their time off talking about their hopes, fears and plans for the future. As one of many rural-to-urban teenagers working to support her family, Ying Ling must immerse herself in the surreal and grinding world of China’s industrialisation of mortality. With intimate access and moments of humour, we follow Ying Ling as she learns about life while surrounded by death.
From the earliest days of movie-making to the present day, through rare and unseen footage, we see the changing relationship the British have with their land. From images of local celebrations and festivals to agricultural practices through the seasons, village life and lost crafts.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - World premiere
Details
Year: 2017
Running Time: 78 mins
Director: Paul Wright
Producer: John Archer, Mark Atkin, Adrian Cooper
Executive Producer: Mary Burke
Music: Adrian Utley, Will Gregory
Official Selection Berlinale 2017 - Generation 14plus - World premiere
Details
Year: 2017
Running Time: 72 mins
Director: Carol Salter
Producer: Carol Salter
Executive Producer: Elhum Shakerifar
Editor: Cinzia Baldessari, Hoping Chen, Rodrigo Saquel
Director of Photography: Carol Salter
Sound: Peter Hodges
Music: Terence Dunn
Sound Designer: Raoul Brand
Film Image: © Carol Salter
Production Company
Sales Agent
Hopscotch Films
John Archer
Production Company Sales Agent
Rocksalt Films Rocksalt Films
Carol Salter Carol Salter
A Hopscotch Films, Crossover,
Common Ground production with the support of the British Film
Institute (BFI) National Archive. john@hopscotchfilms.co.uk rocksaltfilms@gmail.com rocksaltfilms@gmail.com
Hakawati (UK sales)
Elhum Shakerifar
info@hakawati.co.uk
Hopscotch Films
John Archer john@hopscotchfilms.co.uk
Common Ground
Lower Dairy
Toller Fratrum
Dorset DT2 0EL
+44 (0)1300 320013
FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES 7
Synopsis
Synopsis
When we started this journey several years ago, there was no expectation at all that Shirley would ever sing again. What initially attracted us to making the movie was Shirley’s deep commitment to English folk tradition, and her little-known involvement in arguably the most important field-recording trip of all time; back in 1959 with her then-lover, the iconic ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. The film was going to be about the past, and about the 30 years she had spent living without the thing she loved most. It’s been an absolute privilege to be with Shirley on this long journey back to her singing again, and along the way, the film has evolved into something we never expected.
Examining the relationship between ourselves and the other species we share the planet with has opened up new ways to understand our place in the world. This film offers an attempt to give some of these new ways of thinking a cinematic form. An essay based on a field trip to Wyoming’s wild nature, in the company of the bio-philosopher David
Abram and the two visionary filmmakers Emma Davie and Peter Mettler. And with an abundance of bison, moose and birds. Both form and thought are unchained in a film that ends up moving (far) beyond man’s self-centred view of nature, and into a state of almost psychedelic receptiveness.
As Mettler asks in a diaristic note: Are language and modern technology a barrier or an open door between ourselves and the world that surrounds us? And what about the medium of film itself?
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 -
International premiere
Details
Year: 2017
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere
Running Time: 93 mins
Director: Rob Curry, Tim Plester
Details
Year: 2018
Producer: Rob Curry, Tim Plester, Paul Williams
Executive Producer: James Nicholls
Editor: Rob Curry, Tim Plester
Running Time: 78 mins
Director: Emma Davie, Peter Mettler
Producer: Cornelia Seitler, Rebecca Day, Sonja Henrici,
Brigitte Hofer
Editor: Peter Mettler
Director of Photography: Peter Mettler
Screenwriter: Rob Curry, Tim Plester
Director of Photography: Richard Mitchell
Sound: Sound Recordist: Ludovic Lasserre, Justin Smith;
Re-recording Mixer: Michael Wabro
Music: Ossian Brown, Michael J. York
With contributions from: Shirley Collins, Stewart Lee, Lotti
Maddox, Sam Amidon, David Tibet, Elle Osbourne, Ossian
Brown, Stephen Thrower, Ian Kearey
Rob Curry
Sales Agent
Burning Bridges
Paul Williams
paul@burning-bridges.com
Production Company Production Company
Fifth Column Films Switzerland, UK coproduction
Sales Agent maximage
Neugasse 6
8005 Zurich maximage Filmproduktion (CH),
SDI Productions (UK)
film@fifthcolumn.org.uk
Switzerland
Burning Bridges
Paul Williams
paul@burning-bridges.com
+41 44 274 8866
info@maximage.ch
SDI Productions
SDI (Scottish Documentary
Institute)
Sonja Henrici
ECA
74 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9DF
+44 (0)131 6515874
sonja@scottishdocinstitute.com
SDI
Eve Korzec
74 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9DF
+44 (0)131 6515874
eve@scotdoc.com
8 FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES
1
Being Frank: The Chris
Sievey Story
A Deal with the Universe
Synopsis
Synopsis
The fantastic true story of the maverick mind behind Frank
Sidebottom and The Freshies, as told by the people who knew him. Chris Sievey was a Manchester performance artist, punk performer and stand-up comic who lived an elaborate double life. His most famous creation was Frank Sidebottom, with his huge papier-mâché head, but this was far more than an eccentric comedy performance. As long as the head was on, Chris transformed totally into Frank and the line between fiction and reality blurred. Very few people got to understand the man behind the mask, and sadly Sievey passed away in June 2010. For the first time Sievey’s
Jason Barker’s debut feature documentary ‘A Deal With
The Universe’ is a very personal chronicle of becoming a parent. Drawing on the filmed diaries made over the last ten years that document both Jason’s transgender journey as well has his parental journey. This film is groundbreaking in terms of it’s intimate insights into gender identity and new parenthood.
Details
Year: 2018
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Jason Barker
Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2018 - World premiere
Producer: Loran Dunn
Executive Producer: Natasha Dack Ojumu
Editor: Rachel Meyrick
Details
Year: 2018
Screenwriter: Jason Barker
Director of Photography: Jason Barker
Music: Hutch Demouilpied
Consultant Editor: Chris Wyatt
Running Time: 100 mins
Director: Steve Sullivan
Producer: Steve Sullivan
Executive Producer: Alex Usborne, Adam Partridge,
Thomas R Atherton
Editor: Steve Sullivan
Screenwriter: Steve Sullivan
Director of Photography: Ezra Byrne
Production Designer: Dave Arnold
Sound: Sound Designer: Dai Shell; Sound Recordist:
Dom Corbisiero
Music: Chris Sievey, Frank Sidebottom
With contributions from: John Cooper Clarke, Johnny Vegas,
Mark Radcliffe, Ross Noble, John Thompson, Mike Joyce,
Jon Ronson
Production Company Sales Agent Production Company Sales Agent
Bridge Independent Delaval Film Ltd Altitude Film Sales
Bill Straus Loran Dunn 34 Foubert’s Place
A Being Frank Productions, Piece of Cardboard Productions Ltd
film produced in association with Old Granada Studios London bill@bridgeindependent.com
Ffilm Cymru Wales, 104 Films, Fat Quay Street W1F 7PX
Controller Management Ltd. Manchester
+44 (0)20 7612 0662
M3 3JE info@altitudefilment.com loran@delavalfilm.com
Being Frank Productions
Steve Sullivan
steve@beingfrankmovie.com
FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES 9
1
Even When I Fall Fred
Synopsis
Synopsis
The incredible story of Saraswoti and Sheetal, trafficking survivors who reclaim skills that once came at a high cost: they were slaves in Indian circuses – sold as children. Now freed, together they form Nepal’s first circus. An intimate, beautiful film that harnesses the visual power of circus to give a unique perspective into the complex world of human trafficking.
A sombre and intimate portrait of notorious villain Freddie
Foreman, now aged 85 and seeking a catharsis from his sins.
The former London gangster Freddie Foreman is the only one of his generation who survived the English underworld long enough to be able to tell the tale. And this is exactly what he does in ‘Fred’: Tells his story. Today, he is 85 years old and lives alone in a nursing home, allegedly with several murders to his name and with his memories intact. A long and critical interview with the East End boy who grew up in the turbulent era of the war and became one of London’s most notorious gangsters in the 1960s and 1970s, when he hung out with pop stars and football players, is the thread running through Paul van Carter’s self-reflective portrait of the criminal mastermind. A film that balances between true crime, deep journalism and colourful cock-and-bull tales from another era with Swinging London as its backdrop.
The conversation with the charismatic Foreman unfolds against a richly detailed (pop-)cultural and historical background, where myth and truth meet – not least when he visits the set of the Tom Hardy film ‘Legend’. Dark psychology and captivating storytelling in a masterful film.
(CPH:DOX brochure)
Official Selection Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017 - World premiere
Details
Year: 2017
Running Time: 93 mins
Director: Sky Neal, Kate McLarnon
Producer: Elhum Shakerifar
Editor: Alice Powell
Director of Photography: Ben Marshall
Sound: Dennis Wheatley
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere
Details
Year: 2018
Running Time: 85 mins
Director: Paul Van Carter
Producer: Nick Taussig, Paul Van Carter
Executive Producer: David Rogers, Marcus Searancke,
Alena Walker
Editor: Tom Meadmore
Screenwriter: Paul Van Carter
Director of Photography: Gregory Taylor
Music: Composer: Martin Dubka; Music Supervisor: Phillip
Horatio Bush
Production Company Sales Agent Production Company
C International Sales Postcode Films A Salon Pictures production with
Camille Cheneval info@postcodefilms.com support from Premiere Pictures
Sales Agent
Kew Media
19 Heddon Street
London
W1B 4BG
+44 (0)20 7851 6500
info@kewmedia.com
36 Shepherd Market
London
W1J 7QR
camille.cheneval@cintsales.com
Salon Pictures
Unit 5B Rudolf Place
Miles Street
London
SW8 1RP
+44 (0)773 856 0860
info@salonpictures.co.uk
10 FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES
1
General Magic Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami
Synopsis
Synopsis
The side of Silicon Valley you never see, a tale of how great vision and epic failure can change the world. Spun out from
Apple in 1990 to create the ‘next big thing’, the ideas that now dominate the tech industry and our day-to-day lives were born at General Magic. The first smartphones. Social media. E-commerce. Even the beloved emoji. But this was before the web, before 3G, before Google, before everyone had a mobile phone in their pocket. The world was not ready in 1994 to hold the world in its hands. And though General
Magic died, those concepts and the people who pioneered them went on to change almost everything. Combining rare archive footage with contemporary stories of the Magicians today, this documentary tracks the progress of anytime, anywhere communication from a thing of sci-fi fiction in
1994 to a reality in our pockets and on our wrists today.
With members of the original Mac team and the creators of the iPhone, Android, eBay and more, this is the story of one of history’s most talented teams and what happens when those who dream big fail, fail again, fail better and ultimately succeed.
Larger than life, wild, scary and androgynous – Grace
Jones plays all these parts. Yet here we also discover her as a lover, daughter, mother, sister and even grandmother…
The stage is where her most extreme embodiments are realised and her theatrical imagination lets loose... With unique performances of iconic hits such as ‘Slave To The Rhythm’, ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’, as well as more recent autobiographical tracks ‘Williams’ Blood’ and ‘Hurricane’, these personal songs also link to Grace’s family life, as the film follows a holiday road trip across Jamaica, where her roots and the story of her traumatic childhood are uncovered. In Jamaican patois, ‘Bloodlight’ is the red light that illuminates when an artist is recording and ‘Bami’ means bread, the substance of daily life. Sophie Fiennes’
film weaves together the layers of Grace Jones’ public and private life, as she moves effortlessly between different facets... This is a Grace we have not seen before, someone who reminds us of what it is to dare to be truly alive.
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2017 -
TIFF Docs - World premiere
Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2018 - Spotlight
Documentary – World premiere
Details
Year: 2017
Running Time: 115 mins
Director: Sophie Fiennes
Producer: Katie Holly, Sophie Fiennes, Beverly Jones,
Shani Hinton
Executive Producer: Christine Langan, Joe Oppenheimer,
Lizzie Francke, Keith Potter, Francesca von Habsburg,
Danielle Ryan, Alan Maher, James Wilson, Émilie Blézat
Editor: Sophie Fiennes
Details
Year: 2018
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude
Producer: Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude
Co-Producer: Ceri Tallett, Dee Gardetti
Executive Producer: Reynold D’Silva, John Giannadrea,
Michael Stern
Editor: Claire Ferguson, Anna Meller
Screenwriter: Sarah Kerruish, Jonathan Key, Matt Maude,
Michael Stern, Ceri Tallett
Director of Photography: Jay Maude, Matt Maude
Sound: Alastair Sirkitt
Director of Photography: Remko Schnorr
Music: Grace Jones; Musical Director: Ivor Guest
With contributions from: Grace Jones, Jean-Paul Goude,
Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare
Film Image: © Grace Jones; Sligoville Limited; Blinder Films
Limited; BFI; BBC 2017
Music: Benji Merrison, Martin Phipps
Principal Cast: Tony Fadell, Marc Porat, Megan Smith
Financed by BBC Films (UK), BFI Film Fund (UK), Bórd Scannán na hÉireann/
Irish Film Board (IE), Roads Entertainment (IE) in cooperation with ZDF/Arte (DE)
Film Image: © Spellbound II Productions
Production Company Sales Agent Production Company
Sales Agent
US, UK coproduction Cinetic Media UK, Ireland coproduction
WestEnd Films
555 W. 25th Street, 4th Floor
New York
NY 10001
+1 212 204 7979
Shepherds Building Central
Charecroft Way
London
Spellbound II Productions (US),
Left Eye Blind Productions (UK)
A Sligoville (UK)/ Amoeba
Film (UK) Blinder Films (IE), production.
W14 0EE
Left Eye Blind Productions
113 Hackney Downs Studios Film Ltd
+44 (0)20 7494 8300 info@westendfilms.com
Matt Maude Sligoville Limited and Amoeba
London c/o Blinder Films
E8 2BT +353 1 677 8540
matthewmaude@gmail.com info@blinderfilms.com
FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES 11 ST ST
11
Granny Project Harmony
Synopsis
Synopsis
How does memory work? How can experiences be handed down from generation to generation? How does the act of narration change the experience? Three young men and their grannies go on a quest for their historic and personal legacy.
There’s the British spy with a bone-dry sense of humour, the Hungarian communist who survived the Holocaust and the German dancer whose look back turns out to be the most difficult… When the three grannies sit around a table with their grandsons and various interpreters we realise that two things at least are necessary to really bring the past and present in contact: an honest interest in one’s opposite party and a good translation. (Dok Leipzig brochure 2017)
Set against the backdrop of Chelyabinsk, one of Russia’s most industrially brutal and polluted cities, ‘Harmony’ explores social and gender dynamics of Russian youth through the paradigms and preconceptions of the country’s most prominent sports: ice hockey and rhythmic gymnastics.
The two respectively embody Russia’s nationalistic interpretation of hyper-masculine and feminine ideals and are examined through straddling the boundaries of documentary verite and visual art. Here, sport gathers broader meaning —reflecting the traits and obsessions of society as a whole.
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere
Official Selection Dok Leipzig 2017 - World premiere
Details
Year: 2018
Running Time: 71 mins
Director: Frederick Paxton
Producer: Maria Babikova, Frederick Paxton
Editor: Andrew Cross
Director of Photography: Frederick Paxton
Sound: Guy Chase
Music: Music Featuring: Oscar Powell, Tommy Cash, Blue
Hawaii, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Arthur Delaney
Film Title Note: aka Chelyabinsk
Details
Year: 2017
Running Time: 91 mins
Director: Bálint Révész
Producer: Bálint Révész, László Kántor
Co-Producer: Ruben Woodin-Dechamps, Meredith
Colchester, Mariann Kiss, Editor: Károly Szalay
Screenwriter: Meredith Colchester, Ruben Woodin-
Dechamps, Bálint Révész
Director of Photography: Ruben Woodin-Dechamps
Sound: Gábor Erdélyi Jr.
Music: Albert Márkos
With contributions from: Rosanne Colchester, Gudrun
Dechamps, Lívia Révész, Meredith Colchester, Ruben
Woodin-Dechamps, Bálint Révész Associate Producer:
Orban Wallace, Patricia D’Intino, Ágnes Horváth Szabó
Film Image: @Gallivant Film Ltd.
Production Company Production Company Sales Agent
UK, Hungary coproduction UK, Russia coproduction Sales Enquries
Maria Babikova
Gallivant Film (UK), Új Budapest
Filmstudió (HU)
Frederick Paxton
Freddie@frederickpaxton.com
babikova.maria@gmail.com
Freddie Paxton
Gallivant Film
Maria Babikova
babikova.maria@gmail.com
Universal House
25-33 Southwark Street
London
Freddie@frederickpaxton.com.
Festival Enquiries
Together Films