Written and Directed by Clio Barnard

Produced by Tracy O'Riordan

Funded by BBC Films, BFI, Screen Yorkshire with Altitude handling world sales, and UK & Irish distribution.

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‘Barnard’s Bradford romance is an understated triumph…an essay in acceptance and love’ - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘the emotional journey of two lonely people who find each other in an ordinary place like Bradford and bathe it with the magic of their love… the glow of emotion makes this a very rich watch.’ - Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

Ali & Ava is a love story based on people Clio Barnard got to know through making her previous films THE ARBOR (2010) and THE SELFISH GIANT (2013), in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Both lonely for different reasons, ALI and AVA meet through their shared affection for SOFIA (6), the child of ALI’s Slovakian tenants, whom AVA teaches. ALI finds comfort in AVA’s warmth and kindness, and AVA finds ALI’s complexity and humour irresistible. Over a lunar month, sparks fly and a deep connection begins to grow. However, the legacy of AVA’s past relationship and ALI’s emotional turmoil at the breakdown of his marriage begins to overshadow their newfound passion.

Enveloped in music and imbued with humour, ALI AND AVA is a compelling contemporary love story written & directed by BAFTA-nominated Clio Barnard (The Arbor, The Selfish Giant, Dark River).

Written by Neil McKay

Directed by Euros Lyn

Produced by Katherine Butler and Tracy O'Riordan

Executive Produced by Ollie Madden, Peter Touche, Piers Vellacott, Richard Mansell, Pauline Burt

Funded by Film4, Ingenious Media, Ffilm Cymru

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DREAM HORSE is a RAWTV production and is the true story of one woman’s extraordinary dream to breed and raise a champion racehorse on the allotment of her forgotten Welsh village – and of how she brings her entire community with her.

Written and Directed by Hong Khaou

Produced by Tracy O'Riordan

Funded by BFI and BBC FILMS

Sales Agent Protagonist Pictures

UK Distribution by Peccadillo Pictures

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The second feature film by Hong Khaou (Lilting, 2014) is a subtle exploration of a British-Vietnamese man’s search for national and cultural identity as he returns to his birth country of Vietnam for the first time in thirty years.

In Cinemas and On Demand from 25th September 2020.

‘beguiling, sensual tale of cultural dislocation’

‘Monsoon emerges as nothing short of poetic’

‘Nothing short of Poetic’

★★★★

Joshua Winning, THE RADIO TIMES

‘deep compassion’

‘Beautifully shot and subtly delivered, Monsoon offers a poignant picture of the emigrant experience’

‘cements Golding’s position as a leading man to watch’

★★★★

Hanna Flint, EMPIRE

‘tender, beautifully composed second film’

restrained, sensual filmmaking’

★★★★

ATTITUDE

‘this fleeting character study leaves a lasting, optimistic impression of love and friendship’

‘Breathtaking Healing Journey’

★★★★

LITTLE WHITE LIES

‘Hong Khaou follows-up his delicate debut Lilting with another elegant study of cultural alienation and displacement’

‘An elegant study of cultural alienation and displacement’

★★★★

THE SKINNY

‘A touching, thoughtful and gorgeously shot piece of work which both examines its protagonist's experience of displacement and tenderly evokes a country moving energetically forwards while some are still tied painfully to the past’

‘A Touching, Thoughtful And Gorgeously Shot Piece’

SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

Written and Directed by Clio Barnard

Produced by Tracy O'Riordan

Executive Produced by Left Bank Pictures

Funded by BFI, Film 4, Screen Yorkshire and the Wellcome Trust

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On learning the news of her father’s death, itinerant contract sheep shearer Alice Bell (Ruth Wilson) returns to the family farm, a once beautiful small holding on the Yorkshire moors, to claim the tenancy she believes is rightfully hers.

Estranged from the family for fifteen years, Alice’s homecoming is not an easy one. Her brother, Joe (Mark Stanley) has remained at home caring for their ill father, Richard (Sean Bean) and kept the declining farm going in her absence. Joe is thrown by Alice’s sudden arrival and is hurt and angered by her claim on the tenancy.

In an unconscious attempt to turn the clock back Alice is determined to make both the farm and sibling relationship work. However, she suffers intrusive memories because of her father’s sexual exploitation of her when she was a teenager. Joe finds Alice’s presence impossible to deal with as it stirs up the past for him too.

Following Richard’s death the landlords want to capitalise on the property and perceive Alice to be a threat. They offer Joe a way out of what he sees as an impossible situation by offering him a backhander – on the condition that he evicts his sister.

Battling to regain control in a fraught and fragile situation, Alice must confront deep- seated and painful family secrets and betrayals to find a way to repair the damage to the farm and her bond with her brother before both are irrevocably lost.

Written and Directed by Clio Barnard

Produced by Tracy O’Riordan

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‘***** stars: Clio Barnard's social-realist tale of a teen scrap scavenger goes at it like a supercharged Ken Loach…the direct humanity and sympathy here signal her maturity as a film-maker, particularly in the handling of the two young leads…It is a richly allusive and moving work.’ - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s story of the same name, THE SELFISH GIANT is a contemporary fable about two teenage boys who get caught up in the world of copper theft. 14-year-old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas) are excluded from school and are outsiders in their own community. They meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrapman, and begin collecting scrap metal for him using a horse and cart. Swifty has a natural gift with horses while Arbor boasts a business brain and a way with words. But when Arbor begins to emulate Kitten, becoming greedy and exploitative, tensions build, leading to a tragic event which transforms them all irrevocably.

'A re-telling of a fairy tale based on fact', THE SELFISH GIANT is writer-director Clio Barnard’s second feature film. Barnard based her adaptation on stories she was told and people she met whilst making THE ARBOR. She got to know a group of boys between the ages of 10 and 16 who used horses and carts to collect scrap metal, and in particular one boy who was the basis of the character of Arbor in the film. 

Directed by Clio Barnard

Produced by Tracy O'Riordan

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'Numerous celluloid experiments have fudged reality and fiction lately, but few are as formally inventive or socially revelatory as The Arbor' - Ronnie Scheib, Variety

THE ARBOR is the powerful true story of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue and Bob Too) and her troubled relationship with her daughter Lorraine. Andrea wrote honestly and unflinchingly about her upbringing on the notorious Buttershaw Estate. When she died, tragically at the age of 29 in 1990, Lorraine was just ten years old. THE ARBOR catches up with Lorraine in the present day, also at 29; ostracised from Buttershaw and her family. Through compelling interviews we learn that Lorraine sees her mother as a destructive force; an alcoholic who let her suffer abuse and whom Lorraine blames for all that is wrong in her life. Through interviews with other members of the Dunbar family, we see a contrasting view of Andrea, in particular from Lorraine’s younger sister Lisa, who idolises Andrea to this day.

Clio Barnard began recording audio interviews with Lorraine, Lisa and members of the Dunbar family over a period of two years. With over 90 hours of audio recorded, Barnard edited the material to form an audio ‘screenplay’ which forms the basis for the film as actors lip-synch to the voices of the interviewees. Barnard’s film seeks to chart the changes and reflect on the insights Andrea’s plays offer into the tragic circumstances of Lorraine.

AWARDS

Best New Documentary Filmmaker - Tribeca Film Festival 2010

The Sutherland Award and Best British Newcomer - LFF 2010

The Innovation Award - Sheffield Documentary Festival 2010

The Douglas Hickox Award (plus 5 nominations) - BIFA Awards 2010

Best Screenplay - Evening Standard Film Awards 2010

Jean Vigo prize for Best Director - Punto De Vista - 2011

Guardian First Film Award - 2011

Doc Art Award - Planete Doc Film Festival 2011 - Warsaw

The Grierson Awards 2011 - DocHouse & The Bertha Foundation Best Cinema Documentary

Cinema Eye Honors 2012 - Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Documentary / Non-Fiction Film 

NOMINATIONS

Four London Critics Circle Awards

BAFTA 2010 - Outstanding Debut, Clio Barnard and Tracy O'Riordan

Funded by More4 and Arts Council England. 

Acclaimed dancer and choreographer Akram Khan provides a remarkable insight into the creation of Desh - his first contemporary solo show in 11 years.

DESH, meaning 'Homeland' in Bengali, is an exploration of acclaimed contemporary dancer and choreographer Akram Khan's British/Bangladeshi heritage and is his most personal work to date. It draws multiple tales of land, nation, resistance and convergence into the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world. Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection.

The film follows Akram and his production team at each stage of the creative process, beginning with a research trip to Bangladesh as they gradually develop a visual and sonic celebration of one mans desire to reconnect with his heritage.