UK

PRIDE (2014)

PRIDE (2014) is currently playing on BBC iPlayer. Brilliant film! Thoroughly recommend it.

'In 1984, with Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party in power, a group of lesbian and gay activists, led by Mark Ashton, find unlikely allies in a collective of Welsh miners taking industrial action following pit closures.

With both groups equally despised by Thatcher, Ashton proposes a show of solidarity between them, but tabloid smears and a frosty reception from the miners' families threaten to derail his plans.'

BAIT (2019) - Dir. Mark Jenkin

‘Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm camera using monochrome Kodak stock, Mark Jenkin’s remarkable new film is a timely and funny, yet poignant tale that gets right to the heart of a Cornish community facing an unwelcome change.’ Watershed

Modern-day Cornish fisherman Martin (Edward Rowe) is struggling to buy a boat while coping with family rivalry and the influx of London money, holiday-homes and stag parties to his harbour village. The summer season brings simmering tensions within the community to boiling point, with tragic consequences.
BAIT.jpg
Mark Kermode reviews Bait. A fisherman without a boat - his brother having repurposed it as a tourist tripper - is displaced to the estate above the harbor after his childhood home becomes a getaway for holidaying Londoners. Please tell us what you think of the film -- or Mark's review of the film.

Special People (2008) Dir. Justin Edgar

Special People is a disability comedy feature film, Directed by Justin Edgar

Also see guest page for Justin Edgar, who gave seminar with us at UCW, here: http://poool.co.uk/justin-edgar

Watch full feature length film here

You can watch Special People short film on BFI: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-special-people-2004-online

104 films are a film production company set up by Director Justin Edgar and Producer Alex Usborne in 2004 to make original feature films for a global audience and create a paradigm shift in the representation of disabled and disadvantaged talent in front of and behind the camera.

Justin Edgar

Justin Edgar made a series of award winning shorts using the architecture and character of Birmingham which led to his first feature Large for Film Four in 2001 aged just 28. The film sold internationally to over 20 territories and sold 30,000 DVDs.

His second feature film Special People premiered at the Edinburgh film festival in 2007 competing for the Michael Powell award and coming second in the audience award. The film went on to win audience awards at the Moscow, Calgary and Berlin Britspotting Film Festivals. It was critically acclaimed and the Guardian hailed it as a “Milestone in mainstream cinema” for its use of disabled cast. Writing in the Evening Standard, Derek Malcolm described the film as “An excellent piece of filmmaking”.

http://www.104films.com/about/

Lift (2001) Dir. Mark Isaacs

Dir: Marc Isaacs / UK / 2001 Filmmaker Marc Isaacs sets himself up in a London tower block lift. The residents come to trust him and reveal the things that matter to them creating a humorous and moving portrait of a vertical community.

In this video, below, from a talk at Birmingham City University, there's an excellent discussion about the debates in Documentary Film especially regarding 'Truth', 'Reality', intervention.

Marc Isaacs talks about his approach to making documentaries and shows clips from some of his films at a Creative Networks event at Birmingham City University on 25 April 2013.