Inspired by true events, a young Frederick Douglass is secretly taught to read and write by his master's wife. Using only the air as their blackboard, this random act of kindness provided an education that paved the way from slavery to freedom.
Social & External
The people behind it
Lindsey Bryce
Mistress Auld
Brion Marquis Watson
Frederick Douglass
Edward Watts
Master Auld
Part of the Wade on 8 collection 'Dreamland' is an arthouse, shot on video short film. Jack returns for university wanting to rekindle his secret romance with repressed Billy.
Huw Stephens presents an exciting selection of short films from emerging artists and film-makers from across the UK. Topics are fresh, varied and thought-provoking, including a behind-the-scenes look at a zoo closing for the night, an honest account of farming the land, and a powerful love letter from a son to a mother who has cancer. Expect to be moved and challenged by these short dramas, observations and dance, made by a new generation of storytellers. Yew; Echdo; King of the Pit; Two B or Not Two B; Lucky House; Everything Is Fine; The Jacket; Cages; It's Always Been; Mary Lost Her Battle; Between the Dog and the Wolf; From His Perspective
With not much to show for in his life, Andre takes his health to extreme measures by attempting an eating challenge at his local diner.
Roaming the streets of Ahmedabad on a festive Navaratri night, two young women may have the chance to fall for each other.
A coming of age tale. A young boy, on the outer of the outer, at the edge of the edge, in a nameless place, discovers the faster he goes, the closer he can get to outrunning his loneliness.
A gay teenager desperately attempts to hold on to the only companion he has left. A rough, dirty, and realistic take on the breaking point of a relationship between two boys living on the streets.
Native American Chief Sitting Bull seeks refuge in Canada.
After the death of their child, Thomas, Louis and Anna try to overcome this tragic event. While one of his father's friend try to help him, Louis begin to fall in madness by following instructions coming from a mysterious creature in his dream.
A retired hitman returns to rescue a kidnapped girl.
The OceanMaker is a 9-minute animated short film that takes place after Earth's oceans have disappeared. It tells the tale of one courageous pilot who fights against vicious sky pirates for control of the last remaining source of water: the clouds.
A series of precipitous events force the ensemble cast into a fateful intersection with justice and violence. Griot and the community struggle against the errors of terror so many make when it seems all is lost.
Short film written and directed by Lauren Miller.
Chance mingles the fate of a vet from Barcelona zoo, a skin head and a female orangutan about to give birth.
On Mexico's northern border, adolescent Sandra tries to cross to the United States in the search of the American Dream.
A man recalls his first contact with the sea in a very concrete way.
Tarik helps his father Elias transport illegal immigrants into the Netherlands. When an accident occurs, Tarik gains the acknowledgment from his father he has yearned for, but at a high price - the loss of his own innocence.
After a disastrous event on his construction site, Armando acts quickly to save his crew, but instead stumbles upon an unspeakable truth.
Piotr Majdrowicz’s film The Misunderstanding of 1978 presents the story of a young photographer in love with an athlete who he photographs.
After discovering that John Milton is buried within London's Barbican grounds, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard reimagined his epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ as part of Doug Aitken's Station to Station project. The piece uses the architecture and atmosphere of the Barbican to update the story, which is told in three parts.
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Dido Elizabeth Bell, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, plays an important role in the campaign to abolish slavery in England.
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Whitney Wolfe uses extraordinary grit and ingenuity to break into the male-dominated tech industry.
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.
The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.
An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.
Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.
A seamstress recalls events leading to her act of peaceful defiance that prompted the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.
The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.
Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.