The Last Reel
Follows three cinema projectionists in declining high street theatres across northern England. The film resists any urge to be sentimental — it just watches. There's a scene in Hartlepool where the projectionist threads a 35mm reel for the last time before the switch to digital. No score. No voiceover. It lands harder than it has any right to.
Forty Frames
A student filmmaker discovers a box of 8mm footage in his grandmother's loft — his grandfather's recordings from the 1960s. Forty Frames is about inheritance and silence. It won three festival awards without ever feeling like it was trying to. Shot almost entirely on the same camera as the original footage.
Corner Shop Blues
Three days in the life of a Birmingham newsagent family. Written and shot in twelve days. The budget was less than most feature films spend on catering. There's an argument in the back room on day two that feels completely real — probably because it was. One of the most honest British films in recent years, and almost nobody has seen it.
Overnight Hours
A night porter at a budget hotel in Manchester. The guests come and go. He watches. Beautifully lit in a way that makes fluorescent corridors look like paintings. The director was 23 when she made it and has since disappeared into television. We hope she comes back.