ITINERANT DOCUMENTARIAN, LECTURER IN FILM
Work in progress: Karen (2021)
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Karen is an ethnographic, poetic, documentary representing Karen women living in the jungle, at the edge of Thai society. |
Boundaries: A Stranger's Journey across Nepal and India (2018-2019)
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Red Wind, representing a smiling mother carrying her sleeping baby in the backstreets of Jodhpur (Rajasthan, India), is part of "Boundaries: A Stranger's Journey across Nepal and India (2018-2019)" - a documentary photography project interpreting the notion of boundaries through the face-to-face encounter between the local and the stranger, traveling across Nepal and India.
The photographic series focuses on the construction of the face as a “widow, orphan, or stranger” as discussed by French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas in Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority (1961). |
Romanians of New York (2017)
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A documentary on the lives of Romanian migrants in the US at the dawn of the Trump era. The film turns the lens on marginalized immigrant communities in New York at a time of unprecedented global movement of peoples and contention surrounding migration. Interviews with Romanian immigrants reveal their reasons for migrating, their views of the welcome they have received after Trump and the challenges they have faced. The research project was sponsored by London Middlesex University, Pembroke College (Oxford University) and the Sandrew Travel Fund.
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The Last Warriors (2016)
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Set in the thickly forested mountains of Guizhou Province among the wooden houses of the Miao people of Basha village, The Last Warriors is an episodic short film exploring the gendering of Miao warrior culture throughout the circle of life, as seen through the outsider lens of a female European filmmaker. More info: www.thelastwarriors.com |
Removidos Olimpicos: E15 - Episode 1 (2016)
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A short campaign video supporting Focus E15. Focus E15 is a campaign group formed in 2013, in London, by a group of mothers threatened with eviction from their emergency accommodation. |
Removidos Olimpicos: Clays Lane - Episode 2 (2016)
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A solidarity message from a Clays Lane estate resident to Vila Autódromo residents, a favela that has been removed to make way for real estate developments associated with the Rio Olympic Park. |
Lucile (2014)
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In a series of self-narrated vignettes, gay poet-librarian Lucile ushers us into the vibrant instability of her world, where, as a sufferer from manic depression, she struggles with the effects her medications have on her ability to create art and find love. |
Bye Bye Bunny (2013)
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Every year 33,000 rabbits end up abandoned and sheltered in rescues across the UK. 50 of those bunnies live at 'Fat Fluffs', a rescue centre, run by Chloe Hennegan. Bye Bye Bunny opens a small window into the life of Chloe: an aircraft engineer who has drastically changed her life to take care of 50 unwanted bunnies until they are re-homed. Chloe takes you through her emotional experience in Animal Rescue, revealing how her love for bunnies has also affected her married life.
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Extra Info: Raising awareness about the 33,000 unwanted rabbits across UK rescues, the film reveals how 'appearance can fool the eye'. In fact, because of their sweet fluffy look, baby bunnies have always been an impulse buy for many families with young children. Wrapped up with a red ribbon around their neck, baby bunnies are often given as Easter presents to please kids. Truth comes hitting rabbit owners when they soon realize that these cute animals may turn into biting, moody, 'hormonal teenagers'.
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Voiceless Reel Goes Digital (2012)
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Two years after Voiceless Reel was made, The Giant Screen Cinema (Birmingham) closed down, leaving room to a 4K digital projector. Projector Graham Lee tells the story of how the future of technology is changing. |
Paths (2011)
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Based on a true story, Paths holds 72 years of love in a 90 second experimental documentary which pushes the boundaries of traditional cinema. This romantic super-short video tells the story of Edward, a 92 year old man who has lost the love of his life to cancer. On board breathtaking vehicles made by the hundred-year old British car manufacturer - Morgan Motor Company, the film takes you on a metaphorical journey through the paths of life, reliving memories of a beautiful love that will last forever. |
Voiceless Reel (2010)
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Veteran projectionist Graham Lee recalls his experiences of the hidden world of cinema in a documentary produced by Valentina Ippolito. He recounts his cinematic experiences as part of Voiceless Reel, a documentary about 3D projection technology. The film encapsulates Graham’s passion for the cinema as he talks about its history and how technology has affected the way in which we receive, consume or engage with films. Hypnotic shots of rotating reels unfold the busy workday of Graham - a 3D cinema projectionist who works at the state-of-the-art Giant Screen at Millennium Point, Birmingham. |
Babies Behind Bars (2007)
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Set in a female prison unit in the city of Rome, Babies Behind Bars tells the story of newborns and toddlers kept in the care of their imprisoned mothers. Forced to spend the first years of their lives behind prison bars, children are separated from their inmate mothers soon after their birthday. To gladden children's hearts, a generous group of volunteers takes the babies out of prison every weekend for a day saturday of freedom. Filmed from the POV of the inmates and the volunteers, the film portraits the natural desire of freedom against the vital need for motherly love. Due to distribution agreements, Babies Behind Bars is not available online. |
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Ladies Room (2007)
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The director spends three months filming in the toilet of a crowded Oxford pub, trying to find out whether women are tyrannies or victims when it comes to men. The film reveals its true mood by personally engaging with the women interviewed, some of which show degrees of disenchantment, bitterness and irony. Through the symbolic presence of the mirror, women’s personal voices play an active part in the narrative, while men represent the absent subject under scrutiny.
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