London Lift-Off Film Festival 2015

London Lift-Off Film Festival 2015

My Mom’s Motorcycle, USA
Dir. Douglas Gautraud
This is a short film about how my mom became the owner of a motorcycle for the My Rode Reel competition. More deeply it is about how people use objects to connect with times, ideas, and people.

Him Upstairs, UK
Dir & Writers. Neil Mooney & Sonya Quayle
Produced by. Jane Glasson & Zoe Guilford
DOP. John Craine
Editor. Jim Hampton
Margaret Conroy lives somewhere in between. Somewhere in between a little sit down and a bit of a dance. Somewhere in between the then and the now. Somewhere in between Her Next Door and Him Upstairs.

Alex – Incomplete Faith, Germany
Dir. Nikolas Migut
Just before 5AM, video journalist Nik meets Alex, a homeless person, at the railway mission in Berlin to join him for a short journey through the night. After eight years of living on the street, Alex has changed. He is no longer the man he used to be, spending each day confused and lost, hardly able to remember anything.

Unforgivable, UK
Dir. Christian Parton
Writers. Christian Parton & Louis Turner
DOP. David Wright
Editor. John Danvoye
Unforgivable is a story of friendship, love and betrayal. Set over a birthday weekend, close friends uncover truths about each other that will radically change their relationship forever.

Let’s be practical, USA
Dir. Madison Lovely
An animated short film about a boy who takes control of his grandfather’s bedtime story and makes a more ‘realistic’ version by adding a cynical and depressing ending to the ‘happily ever after’ one told by his grandfather. The short demonstrates the world kids are growing up in today and the things they’re really taking away from the hushed conversations of adults and divorce culture.

Cowboy Ben, UK
Dir. Scott Rawsthorne
Co Dir. Jon Shaikh
Writer. Tony Burke
Producers. Campbell Beaton & Tiernan Hanby
DOP. Steve Annis
Editor. Nick Allix
Production Design. Ruth Crawford
Desperate, delusional and destitute, Ben (Shaun Dooley – Broadchurch, The Game, The Woman in Black) meets with his childhood friend Brian (Ramon Tikaram – This Life, Stella, Jupiter Ascending), in a trendy London bar to patch up and catch up on happier times. But with nothing left to lose, it soon becomes clear Ben has a dark and deadly vendetta against the people he blames for his failings.

Seven Days a Week, UK
Dir.Tal Amiran
For the last 36 years, Paul has opened his North London paper stall at 4.40am, seven days a week, every week of the year. Now 66, and with his time selling papers nearing an end, Paul reflects on his life in the paper booth and what the future holds for the stall he inherited from his father.

AGRAVOY, UK
Dir & Writer. Jacob Nizzola
Produced. Jacob Nizzola & Tom van den Broek
DOP. Eben Bolter
Editor. Thomas Jones
In a dark, dilapidated apartment suppressed door latches and muffled conversations bring a figure scuffling out from the shadows. It leers through peepholes out onto a world of beauty and despair. Obsessive lust over a female neighbour boils up to jealousy and rage when the voyeuristic relationship becomes a ménage à trois.

A Six and Two Threes, UK
Dir & Writer. Andy Berriman
Producer. Maria Caruana Galizia
DOP. Ross Marshall
Editor. Stephen Hedley
A Six and Two Threes is a short film about two boys from different sides of the tracks who meet when one goes in search of his real father. Shot on location in Stockton on Tees, the film was part of the Creative England iShorts 2 scheme.

Bozena & Pawel, Poland
Dir. Kamil Iwanowicz
Short documentary that depicts the life of Bozena and Pawel, who approach another winter living in a devastated shed.

Fractures – ‘It’s Alright’, Australia
Dir. Matthew Chuang
A man returns to a place he once called home. Nature and decay have taken over but the memories are still strong. He brings life back to Pripyat, Chernobyl – hoping to capture how it was and how it could have been.

The Pig Child, UK
Dir & Writer. Lucy Campbell
Producer. Loran Dunn
DOP. Davey Gilder
Editor. Daniel McPake
Production Design. Elena Riccabona
An ambitious scientist takes the perilous decision to inseminate herself with an embryo combining both human and animal cells. Discovering that she is carrying a “pig child” she is torn between scientific drive and maternalistic urges.

Sub Rosa, Iceland
Dir. Thora Hilmarsdottir
Writer. Snjolaug Ludviksdottir
DOP. August Jakobsson
Editors. Thora Hilmarsdottir & Valdis Oskarsdottir
SUB ROSA observes the 8 year old Tilda, she lives with her grandmother who runs a flower shop. The young girl roams around freely and discovers a world of indecent activities lurking behind the flower store walls.

Diego, USA
Dir & Writer. Sara Seligman
Producer. Sara Seligman, Van Johnson, Santiago de la Paz
DOP. Tom Sullivan
Diego, a 10-year old boy growing up in a family where violence is equivalent to manhood, doesn’t fit in. He finally meets a friend and is left with a choice: follow in his family’s footsteps, or follow his heart – while putting his own life at risk.

A Way of Life, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan
Dir. Tian Ji & Adrian Lo
This short documentary explores the art of modern pottery, in the regions of Kasama and Mashiko, near Tokyo. These areas are home to potter families that stretch back for generations. It is in modern Japan that these artists practice their craft and strive for originality and purpose. The film offers a glimpse behind the doors of a handful of potters’ workshops and reveals their inspiration, their philosophy, and their passion.

Acoustic Kitty, UK
Dir. Jennifer Sheridan
Writer. Adam Shakinovsky
Producer. Adam Shakinovsky
DOP. Dan Stafford-Clark
Editor. Andy Schofield & Joe Wilby
Production Designer. Laura Ng
Agent Cooper is an MI6 agent and resident laughingstock at the CIA during the height of the Cold War.
Tasked with surgically inserting listening devices into cats, Cooper has had no success in the last five years.
Shunned and ridiculed by his colleagues, Cooper knows the only thing that will save his reputation and the fate of the free world is the heartbeat of a furry feline agent.

Into the Surf, UK
Dir & Writer. Tom Evans
Producer. Rebecca Mills
DOP. Brett Turnbull
Editor. Adam Dunlop
Art Director. Alizé Speed
A short film about Sebastian, a young man who always lived in the shadow of his older brother. Until his brother became ill and Sebastian had to find his own voice.

Be Now, UK
Dir. Graham Atkins-Hughes
Writers. Graham Atkins-Hughes & Kate Bingham
Producer. Kerryn Arcari
DOP. Ewan Mulligan
Editor. Emma Collins
Production design. Jo Atkins-Hughes
It’s ‘The Morning After’, and Karen isn’t sure what she thinks about that. As the present moment jumbles in her mind with fragments of what happened the night before, she’s close to something like madness.

Murmur, UK
Dir & Editor. Aurora Fearnley
Writer. Simon James Cookson
Producers. Maria Forsstrom & Jude Goldrei
DOP. Phil Wood
Production Designer. Thea Von-Mantripp
A young woman makes a dawn escape from a commune she has grown to distrust.

Curtains, UK
Dir, Writer & Producer. Nathan Evans
DOP. Scott Sandford
Editor. Steven Sander
Production Design. Moi Tran
Curtains takes a dark, and darkly comic look at modern relationships. Set in London’s Theatreland, it follows the fallout of an unlikely love triangle between two men and one lesbian, whose casually shifting sexualities and allegiances mask a more old-fashioned need for love and security.

Franky and The Ant, USA
Dir & Writer & Producer. Billy Hayes
DOP. Josh Harrison
Franky is a methodical, professional killer who believes that loyalty trumps all in this crime thriller ignited by betrayal and driven by vengeance.

John & Claudia, USA
Dir. David B. Redish
Writers. David B. Redish & Matthew Thomas
Producer. Leah Chen Baker
DOP. Mark David
“Do you ever think about love?” questions Claudia as she trembles in a stolen 1968 red GTO on an isolated road in West Texas. Her hands soaked with John’s blood.

Tickle the Ivories, UK
Dir. Glenn Hanstock
Tickle the Ivories is a documentary focusing on the street piano busking festival of the same name which takes place in Liverpool. Using interviews and completely live street performances, the film brings together wide range pianists from all walks of life, all sharing a unique gift and asks why we as human beings, are so profoundly moved by music?

Patch, UK
Dir. Jennifer Borcea
Writer. Jane Costello
Produced. Adam Gregory Smith
DOP. Louis Devereux
Editor. Jennifer Borecea & Theo Ribeiro
Patch is a tragic father son relationship story. It is about a loving but hapless father (Kieran) who wants to protect his boy from the realities of poverty.

Sty, Hungary
Dir & Writer. Árpád Hermán
Produced. Árpád Hermán & Csaba Oskó-Szabó
DOP. Dávid Hartung
Editor. Judit Czakó
Production Design. Vera Várszegi
Endre tries to earn money as a butcher. One morning an old farmer ask him to slaughter his pig, and this changes his life forever.

CONTRAPELO, USA/Mexico/UK
Dir. Gareth Dunnet Alcocer
Writers. Gareth Dunnet Alcocer & Liska Ostojic
Produced. Molo Alcocer Délano & Pin-Chun Liu
DOP. Carolina Costa
Editor. Oliver Harwood
Production Designer. Aashrita Kamath
CONTRAPELO is the story of a proud Mexican barber who is forced to shave the leader of a drug cartel. As he faces the man who is destroying his country, he is confronted by a difficult decision: to become a killer, or to let this man continue to kill. By the end of the shave, the Barber will find out that he and the Capo are not so different.

Fortune’s Smile, UK
Dir. Marcus Liversedge
Writer. Daniel Higley
Produced. Daniel Higley & Fred Rowson
DOP. Jaime Feliu-Torres
Editor. Mark Neale
Production design. Dave Paul
Ivan, an aspiring writer, stumbles upon The Fortune – a bohemian drinking club – by chance. here he meets flamboyant drunk Lester Oliphant – a teller of tall stories – and the beguiling socialite Harriet Fabian. Ivan becomes entranced with their promises of the success he craves but in the cold light of day things are not quite as they seemed.

AERIS, UK
Dir & DOP. Tijmen Veldhuizen
Writers. Tijmen Veldhuizen & Phillip Whiteman
Produced. Phillip Whiteman & Abbas Nokhasteh
First the fish died, then the plankton, the trees and with them our air. Due to the effects of pollution what remains of the human population has been forced to take refuge deep within the Earth. Years later, consumed by dreams of the world he’s never seen, one man journeys to the surface in search of a better life.

A Small Party, UK
Dir, Producer. Anton Saunders
Writers. Anton Saunders & Philippa Cooper
A contemporary and twisted love story, Johnny is planning a reunion party as a guise to lure his old friends into a trap. He refuses to move on from his past and will do anything to get love back.

Corpus Research Institute, USA
Dir. Tynesha Foreman
This is a short training video for Prospective Animal Researchers. The company that produced this values “science” over the well being of Laboratory Monkeys. Watch as this tape displays a Research institute with a passion for torture, er science.