Tag Archives: freedom

Fish Out of Water

Fish out of Water tackles the seven Bible verses used to condemn homosexuality and justify marriage discrimination.

This documentary uses humour and original animation to make a traditionally complex and controversial topic accessible to those who don’t like talking about religion and sexuality. Fish out of Water dives into the underbelly of America, crisscrosses red and blue states and talks to ministers from every denomination to uncover America’s impassioned relationship with homosexuality and the Bible. With slapstick animation and quirky interviews taken everywhere from barbershops to mega churches, Fish out of Water delivers a voice to the oppressed and informs the misled. Most importantly, Fish out of Water sits down with hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks to impart their experiences with faith and sexuality.

Three Days of Freedom

After 15 years behind the prison walls, Piotr goes on his first leave.Three Days of Freedom follows him as for the first time he engages with an outside world that has changed dramatically, and left him behind.

Public transport, eating at restaurants, experiencing consumer culture and even speaking to women are all new and baffling experiences for him, but perhaps none are so intense as a visit to his sister who he had lost contact with.

Meditating on a the life he could have had, Piotr is forced into the realisation that he must soon once again return to his prison cell, and adjust his expectations once again of what kind of future he can realistically expect.

When China Met Africa

A historic gathering of over 50 African heads of state in Beijing reverberates in Zambia where the lives of three characters unfold. Mr Liu is one of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs who have settled across the continent in search of new opportunities. He has just bought his fourth farm and business is booming.

In northern Zambia, Mr Li, a project manager for a multinational Chinese company is upgrading Zambia’s longest road. Pressure to complete the road on time intensifies when funds from the Zambian government start running out.

Meanwhile Zambia’s Trade Minister is on route to China to secure millions of dollars of investment.

Through the intimate portrayal of these characters, the expanding footprint of a rising global power is laid bare – pointing to a radically different future, not just for Africa, but also for the world.

Egypt: Behind the Revolution

Filmed primarily in Egypt in March of 2011, soon after the January revolution, this film introduces you to the Egyptians who lived under Mubarak and helped to bring him down.

Including interviews with revolutionaries from all walks of life fighting for a new start in Egypt, we get an inside glimpse at the sequence of events that led to what some are calling the first Facebook revolution.  Ordinary people give their reasons for taking to the streets of Egypt to call for freedom and reforms, and what led them to demand Mubarak’s resignation.

This broad-ranging film gives the events of January 2010 both the context necessary to fully understand how a powerful regime could fall so suddenly, as well as on-the-ground testimonials that fill in important details that went unreported at the time.

From the brewing discontent that preceded the revolution, to the 18 days of often brutally suppressed protests when success seemed far from inevitable, this film puts us in the centre of the action. Finally, Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution captures the peoples joy and relief when Mubarak steps down after thirty years in power.

Quadrangle

Quadrangle is an unconventional documentary about two “conventional” couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 1970s. Coming out of the era of free love, and struggling with the monotony of marriage and suburban life, Deanna and Paul, began swapping partners with another middle class married couple. This four-way affair became a domestic living experiment when the two couples moved into one home, along with their children. While their individual marriages were failing, they found that together they were happy and thought they had discovered an alternative to divorce – a brave new world that would pave the way for how couples would live in the future. Instead it unraveled. Both couples divorced and married their foursome partners, but they could never truly separate because they were bound by the children they shared.

This film examines the story of the group marriage as told by Deanna and Paul in the present. They are forty years older and estranged, and through seperate interviews a simulated conversation takes place as they recount their stories. How do we grapple with marriage, monogamy, and desire? What happens when you challenge the boundaries of social convention? And what, if anything, did we learn from all that sixties-inspired experimentation?

Parallel Worlds

As the world prays for a breakthrough at the latest round of Middle-East peace talks, a film that shows the conflict from the inside, and why the talks will fail.

Filmed during the 2009 Gaza War, three conflicted, Jewish-Israelis, navigate toward their differing visions of Israel’s future: and thereby the future of the conflict itself.

The Teacher: Erez, an ideological settler, founded two of the largest youth movements in Israel – he plans to train a generation of hyper-nationalist, pro-military leaders to shape Israeli society in the decades to come.

The Peace Activist: Mihal runs a Jewish/Arab peace group planning to bridge the ethnic divide when at it’s most pronounced – Israeli Independence Day. To Israel’s Jews a day of great celebration but to Palestinians known simply, as The Nakba: The Catastrophe. The group must hold together as the war rages on and find a way to accept each other’s frank confessions of mutual suspicion and a thirst for revenge.

The Photographer: At 23 years old, Mor finds herself straddling the fault lines of Israeli society. Recently atheist but raised religious orthodox and ultra-nationalistic, her love for Israel is all that’s left of her traditional upbringing, but as she begins to see what life can be like for Israel’s Arab population, her faith is tested once again.

Instead of the endlessly rehearsed contestable facts, this film focuses on the atmosphere in which they are created. From mortars raining down in Southern Israel to the collision of pro and anti-war marches in Tel Aviv, this is the story of five months in the life of the Arab/Israeli conflict as seen from the streets. And the lives of three unique individuals reacting to the history unfolding around: of lives lived in exceptional conditions, and the beliefs that crystallise under the intense pressure of life at the centre of our geo-political world.

Ghosts

Three Canadian men of Muslim faith were detained and tortured during a three-year period in Syria and Egypt. Upon their release, they return to Canada struggling to find answers to why this happened to them.

An internal inquiry was struck into their cases in order to determine the role of Canadian agencies and officials in their detention and torture. The inquiry was conducted almost exclusively behind closed doorsand the findings of this inquiry were made public in late 2008, revealing that the Canadian government was complicit in their detention and torture.

Ghosts follows the lives and cases of these men for a year and a half as they – with the help of lawyers, organisations and regular Canadians – fight to leave the horrors behind them, to receive an apology and compensation, and to see accountability as they attempt to rebuild their lives.

A portrait of life after experiences of torture, this is a powerful and intimate documentary about the fragile balance between democracy, human rights and national security fears in the post 9/11 era.

The Unreturned

Iraq’s continuing middle-class refugee disaster is a crucial but unacknowledged reason why peace in Iraq remains so elusive. Forty percent of Iraq’s professional class is now displaced in neighboring countries. This is an unmitigated disaster for Iraq, a shattered nation that desperately needs its native professional class to help rebuild.

The Unreturned, filmed in Syria and Jordan, lets the displaced Iraqi middle class speak for itself.

This film vividly portrays the lives of five displaced Iraqis from different ethnicities and religions. Caught in an absurdist purgatory of endless bureaucracy, dwindling life savings, and forced idleness, these refugees nevertheless radiate vitality and warmth. With an unflinching eye, candid dialogue, and a subtle touch of humour, The Unreturned captures scenes of daily life that are both personal and illustrative of the larger issues facing Iraq.

Jeremy Hardy Vs The Israeli Army

When comedian Jeremy Hardy is asked to visit Palestine and do his bit to solve the world’s longest running conflict, facing the world’s fourth biggest military power is not his idea of a holiday. On the other hand, neither is travelling to Florida to spend Easter with his in-laws. What he doesn’t know , as he arrives in Tel-Aviv a week later, is that he will become one of the most unlikely witnesses to a horrific yet seminal moment in the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Disastrously unprepared, Jeremy suddenly finds himself dodging bullets and running for cover as the realities of life under occupation begin to emerge, and it’s no laughing matter. As the danger mounts and the rubber bullets are exchanged for live ammunition, the courage and determination of those who risk everything to help the Palestinian people is tested, and for the first time, the terrifying life of a human shield is captured on film.

Jeremy Hardy Vs The Israeli Army is a quirky, moving story about the courage and resolve of those who pack their bags for Palestine to stand in the way of tanks and bring an end to the occupation.

Informant

Informant examines Brandon Darby, a radical activist turned FBI informant who has been both vilified and deified, but never entirely understood.

In 2005, Darby became an overnight activist hero when he traveled to Katrina-devastated New Orleans and braved toxic floodwaters to rescue a friend stranded in the Ninth Ward. Soon after, he became a founding member of Common Ground, a successful grassroots relief organization.

After two young activists were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention, Darby shocked close friends and activists nationwide by revealing he had been instrumental in the indictment as an FBI informant.

As the only film with access to Darby since his public confession, Informant meticulously constructs a portrait of his life – before and after the death threats – through interviews with Darby and tense reenactments starring the man himself.

Darby’s version of events are accompanied and often contradicted by commentary from acquaintances and expert commentators on various points along the political spectrum.

“The unreliable-narrator docu develops a new wrinkle or two with “Informant.” Jamie Meltzer’s engrossing portrait lets Brandon Darby tell his own story – of a self-proclaimed far-left, anti-government activist-turned-FBI snitch now feted at Tea Party gatherings –while fellow travelers cast doubt on that testimony every step of the way. An absorbing puzzle with the potential to intrigue viewers all along the political spectrum.”
– Dennis Harvey, Variety

“A kind of ‘Fog of War’ for the age of Occupy”
– Indiewire

“The force of Darby’s personality – a rich stew of righteousness, arrogance and self-delusion — gives the doc a psychological appeal independent of politics… it deserves a theatrical run.”
-John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Trophy Hunters

With exclusive access to the Dallas Safari Club we go behind the scenes into the hidden world of big game hunting, where millionaires bid to hunt endangered species. We follow them from the auction room to the African continent where they claim that their sport actually saves lives in bringing much needed funds to impoverished communities, and help in the conservation effort.

Each year, the club itself comes under intense media scrutiny and severe criticism for it’s annual big game auction, and it is here that the arguments in favour of trophy hunting can be heard at their most impassioned.

In this revelatory documentary we will enter the world of the Dallas Safari Club, who for the first time are letting a documentary film crew into their inner circle.  With this access we have an opportunity for some of the world’s most prolific (professional and amateur) Trophy Hunters to tell their side of this story. Through them we’ll seek to shine a light on the big questions in this debate. Does trophy hunting actually help or hinder conservation? In this most expensive of ‘sports’ where does their money go and who ultimately benefits?  This revealing and at times shocking film will explore the world of this close knit and fiercely loyal community, where the legal and the moral are often conflated and Hunters are revered as professional athletes.

——————————–

Contact us to request full treatment, more screening material, information on broadcast partners, budget, finance plan or any other matters relating to potential partnerships.

——————————–

Director: Des Henderson
Producer: Ed Stobbart
Executive Producer: Kazz Basma
Distributor: Sideways Film
Country of Production: UK
Language: English
We are looking for: Co-Pro and Pre Sales
Stage of Project: Early Development
Delivery Date: TBA

——————————–

Key Biographies

Director – Des Henderson

Des is an award wining director with ten years experience originating and directing hard-hitting and startling factual content for a range of broadcasters, including the BBC, C4 and RTE. Des is currently in post-production on his latest feature-documentary that will screen at film festivals in the fall. Credits include: Project Children (Currently in Production), Keepin’ ‘Er Country (BBC 2015), Hit the Stage (BBC 2013), Life Patrol – BBC (2012).

Producer – Ed Stobart

Ed is a multi award winning producer and director who has delivered successful, high quality series and films for all the UK’s major terrestrial and digital broadcasters, and his work has been seen in over 150 territories around the world.  He executive produces all of Alleycats output – BBC4’s Killing me Softly, The Roberta Flack Story; Here Comes the Summer, The Undertones Story; BBC1/CBBC Music City/Hit the Stage, BBC1 Longest Night and the award wining BBC1 NI/RTE1 Life Patrol and CBBC My Life: The Big Climb are highlights. Among his many award winning credits, Ed Stobart Executive Produced Pink Saris, directed by Kim Longinotto, which was BAFTA and Grierson nominated, winner of the Prix Europa, selected at numerous festivals including IDFA and Sheffield and broadcast on HBO, BBC and elsewhere worldwide.

Executive Producer – Kazz Basma

Kazz Basma set up Sideways Film in 2010 to distribute social justice and dramatic narrative documentaries. He has licensed films to broadcasters, all rights buyers, the education market and online on every continent and have been screened at prestigious festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest. He attends at least twelve documentary festivals each year where he is regularly invited to speak on panels and at round-tables, serves as a guest lecturer at the London College of Communication and is an invited expert at EAVE (the European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs network).

Driverless

Over 40,000 people will die from car crashes in the U.S this year; the leading cause of death for young people.

The driverless car’s arrival promises to save many of these lives by eliminating human error, but how will the introduction of such a revolutionary technology shape our cities and influence our behaviour?

From the fascinating history of America’s embrace of the automobile to a present grassroots movement against them, Driverless is a documentary that seeks to look beyond the engineering marvel and ask, in what kind of world do we want to live and are we driving down a road that will get us there?