Discoveries from United Kingdom World Cinema

We've all had "one of those days" - when nothing seems to go right, when life just seems to be dealing you one poor hand after another. Unfortunately for Howard Whittam, that day is Judgment Day.

Working closely with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Sunflowers goes beyond a ‘virtual exhibition’, delving into the rich and complex stories behind each of the paintings to unveil the mysteries of the sunflowers. What did the flowers mean to Van Gogh, and why do they resonate so much with audiences today? With a striking portrayal of the artist by actor Jamie de Courcey and fascinating insights from art historians, botanists and everything in between, the film offers a unique insight into Van Gogh’s life and artwork.

What happens when two gay men in a disintegrating relationship leave the big city to spend some time alone, together in nature? Is it possible for nature to reveal the truth, their true essence and help them to change? Can these two wounded men; traumatised, hurt, lost and desperate on a remote beach find a way back to innocence? Is there a way back to reality, back to love? Their relationship was formed against fear and loneliness. They fell in love, but they can't handle love. They've both made mistakes, poisoning their relationship through secrets and lies. They suffer when together, but they can't be apart. Life in the big city hasn't been letting them breathe, think or feel - creating constant and never-ending problems. Are they both ready for the next step?

Starry architects Purves and Pekkala are offered the chance to redesign a Georgian church, but when the head of Scottish Heritage falls from the church tower in a mysterious accident, it becomes a question of whether he fell or was pushed.

Essex has been the central hub for many famous criminal activities. For generations Essex Boys have ruled the streets of Essex and East London in their underworld empires. Many people thought this ended in a Range Rover in 1995. They were wrong... Danny - an ex hooligan is driven back into a life of crime after his world is turned upside down on the streets of Essex.

This film relishes us with a true, intricate and accurate depiction of underrepresented characters, unspoken family dynamics and unheard communities in Manchester’s notorious Moss Side. Centred around B, a middle-aged woman balancing her role as a mother to an overprotective son, and her intimate relationships with other men. The film explores what happens when these two worlds collide.

Three individuals describe their unique ways of coping with everyday stress, anxiety, and mental health. A narrative short film presented as documentary-style interviews, exploring the honest, messy reality of coping mechanisms and neurodivergent life.

A modern-day retelling of the Arthurian legend with the Lady of the Lake as a reporter and Pendragon as an evil businessman. Merlin's immortal apprentice is trying to protect a powerful sword forged by Merin from the clutches of Pendragon.

At the age of forty Dame Margot Fonteyn is considered to be past her best as a prima ballerina and Ninette de Valois is reducing her roles at the Royal Ballet. Then the exciting young Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, a recent defector to the West, comes into her life and her bed and revitalizes her career. Frederick Aashton creates a new ballet for them and they become the golden couple of the ballet world. However, Margot is married to Roberto 'Tito' Arias, a Panamanian politician of dubious repute who is not sympathetic to her calling and is probably faithless. When he is shot and paralyzed for life Margot must carry on dancing well into her sixties in order to pay for his costly treatment though she still collaborates with Rudolf in the occasional ballet.

Produced for Scottish television, Venus Peter was financed by the Orkney Islands Council. The title character is transformed into a "sea child" when he is baptized with salt water. Though his family tries hard to accustom him to life on land, Peter (Gordon R. Strachan) yearns to go to sea -- or, at the very least, to escape his cloistered community. He finds a kindred spirit in Princess Paloma (Juliet Cadzow), the village "looney," who, alas, is eventually carted away to an institution. Briefly fascinated by poetry and music, thanks to his lovely teacher Miss Balsibie (Sinead Cusack), Peter is disillusioned when he finds his teacher in the arms of her lover (and out of her clothing). The final blow to Peter's idealism comes when his grandfather's ship is repossessed. Despite the bleakness of his surroundings and his seemingly dead-end existence, however, Peter never completely lets go of his dreams, and the film ends on a positive note.

A gang of aspiring bank robbers involve themselves with arsonists and purchase their very own fire truck in an attempt to create the ultimate diversion. But posing as firemen leads them to disaster.

Frederick is a young medieval French prince with magical powers, turned into a frog by his evil sorceress aunt, who kills his father in a bid to seize the throne. After being pursued by his aunt, the prince is saved by the Loch Ness Monster, who indebts herself to him, and hides out with a colony of anthropomorphic frogs for a time. After ultimately deciding to accept his fate and fight evil using his powers, Freddie grows to the size of an adult human, travels to the future, and becomes a French secret agent with a sentient car.

A group of college students book a bargain dream holiday to a remote tropical island, little knowing that they have been lured there by the island's evil owner to fulfill an ancient voodoo prophecy. Soon, what appears to be paradise is transformed as friends and siblings are pitched against each other in a desperate fight for survival. Doubt, suspicion and panic splinter the group as each member begins to fall victim to the terrifying reality of their own worst nightmares. Can those who are left find the strength to confront and overcome the fear that will otherwise be their end, or will the voodoo curse win out?

A look at the April 15, 1989 tragedy at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, where a stampede in the stadium's standing-room-only areas killed 96 people and injured 766. The film also examines the ongoing efforts of victims' families to seek truth and justice, as well as tangible effects on English football, including stadium upgrades and the emergence of the English Premier League.

The exploits of two friends who make the move from partying at illegal warehouse raves to becoming successful promoters at the peak of the Manchester, Amsterdam, and Ibiza rave scene in the early 90s.

Santa Claus comes down the chimney and delivers toys to the children.

In present day East End, an aspiring novelist falls in love with a Ukrainian cleaner whilst his best friend attempts to rekindle his romance with a social climbing sex bomb.

Tang Yuan, Jiao Zi and their family enjoy Chinese New Year together, learning about traditions, and sharing Peppa Pig stories.

Drama exploring the story of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor, who died on a housing estate in South London in 2000. After leaving Nigeria to embark on a new life in the UK, the young Damilola and his family are full of optimism. Little do they realise that their lives are about to be shattered

In 2015, Christopher Nolan curated a selection of short films by the surrealist animators the Quay Brothers to be distributed as a touring 35mm presentation. The three films—"In Absentia" (2000), "The Comb" (1991) and "Street of Crocodiles" (1986)—were accompanied by this brief portrait of the brothers at work in their London studio.

An English soldier must find and win back his girlfriend from the clutches of a mysterious group of hardcore ravers before he flies to Iraq in the morning.

In 1941 Greece, on the eve of German occupation, cynical American foreign correspondent Michael Morrison arrives in Athens, intending to depart for London the following day. While there he is tricked into smuggling a list of resistance leaders out of the country and is pursued by the Germans.

After receiving an advance inheritance, a bored London couple set off on a world cruise hoping to rejuvenate their marriage and escape their dull routine. But newfound wealth and freedom only expose deeper cracks in their relationship, as each becomes infatuated with someone else. Their journey through exotic ports and mounting disillusionment ultimately brings them face to face with the fragility—and resilience—of love.

Silent comedy drama starring Tim Key and Matthew Perry as two men who try to entertain a crowd by throwing their dogs in the air.

The hilarious adventures of young Bumbo Bailey, who enlists in the Brigade of Guards and is based in the prestigious Wellington Barracks in London in the Swinging Sixties. He regards his social life as important as his military.

Single drama telling the story of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's formative years, from child stars to national treasures. 'Big head, short legs' is Eric Bartholomew's first impression of Ernie Wiseman, but their friendship endures and, encouraged by his well-meaning but determined mother Sadie, Eric became the funny man to Ernie's 'feed'. After a successful stint in children's variety, they work their way up the ladder of live performance, but after a disastrous television debut in the series Running Wild, Morecambe and Wise learn to trust their own instincts and just make people laugh.

"The Fall" depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a very personal documentary, and Whitehead appears in a large number of scenes, and we hear his lengthy ruminations on the state of the United States and the war in Vietnam.

An enigmatic stranger, a couple who no longer exist, danger in the shadows and the key to it all - The new Ford Edge. Mads Mikkelsen and screen legend Barbara Steele star alongside the new Ford Edge in LE FANTÔME.

A series of stories about the lives and loves of men in a Prisoner of War camp over five years. The main story is of Hasek (Redgrave) a Czech soldier who needs to keep his identity a secret from the Nazis. To do this, he poses as a dead English Officer and corresponds with the man's wife. Other inmates’ stories are also revealed. Location shooting in the British occupied part of Germany adds believability.

Encore is a 1951 anthology film composed of adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham: "The Ant and the Grasshopper", directed by Pat Jackson and adapted by T. E. B. Clarke; "Winter Cruise", helmed by Anthony Pelissier, screenplay by Arthur Macrae; "Gigolo and Gigolette", directed by Harold French, written by Eric Ambler. It is the last film in a Maugham trilogy, preceded by Quartet and Trio.

Jamie, an 11-year-old boy, is fascinated by his father Charlie’s espionage work until the world of spies becomes all too real. Charlie lives in his own reality—an undercover agent, always on an important mission, always on the move. Life for Charlie is highly charged and on the edge. He is unpredictable, explosive, yet kind hearted and fiercely protective of his Jamie who hero-worships his father.

The story of five British soldiers trying to stay alive on the last night of the Afghan War, facing not just the Taliban, but also supernatural forces more terrifying than anything they've encountered before.

A petty crook finds himself mistaken for a murderer and a secret agent.

After saving each other from jumping off a bridge, Henry Bell and Karen Knightly plot to avenge the people who drove them to suicide. Henry will ruin the life of the woman who married Karen's boyfriend, while Karen will work as a secretary for the man who took Henry's job. Whether revenge will be sweet – or bittersweet – is anyone's guess.

A Secrets of Nature short.

TV drama - following Adam Bishop, a petty criminal, as he leaves prison for a drugs rehabilitation programme in order to turn his life around.

When hard-working single father Luke stumbles across an underground nightclub, he meets Aysha, a beautiful, seductive woman. Their first kiss yields fireworks — which are immediately followed by Luke’s sobering realization that Aysha is not the cisgender woman he thought, but a remarkably femme drag queen. Unable to deny the spark between them the pair are forced down the unexpected path of transformation, where they must question their identities and confront their individual truths.

Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder.

David Callan, secret agent, is called back to the service after his retirement, to handle the assassination of a german businessman, but Callan refuses to co-operate until he finds out why this man is marked for death.

The young druid Imp y Celyn comes to Ankh-Morpork to become a famous musician, but a new guitar from a mysterious shop possesses him with a new kind of music - the Music with Rocks In. To make matters worse, Death, saddened by the death of his adopted daughter, has gone away to try and forget, and his granddaughter Susan suddenly has the family duty passed on to her.

Seventeen and pregnant, Felicia travels to England in search of her lover and is found instead by Joseph Ambrose Hilditch, a helpful catering manager whose kindness masks an unsettling secret.

Attorney Henry Strauss grew up in Germany, but left the country with his Jewish family during the rise of the Third Reich. Still wondering about what happened to his boyhood friend Konradin Von Lohenburg, Strauss travels back to Germany for the first time since he was a young man, bringing up some painful memories.

A desperate mother is trying to reconnect with her son. Navigating an obvious void, she will finally have the chance to ask the questions that have haunted her past, and will decide her future.

Adaptation of Catherine Cookson's novel. In mid-19th century Yorkshire, Hannah Boyle is left with the family of Matthew Thornton, the man her dying mother claims fathered her. Ill-treated by Thornton's bitter and vindictive wife Anne, who views Hannah only as evidence of her husband's infidelity, she is married off to the village butcher, whose waspish mother torments her further. But through her patience, intelligence and strength, she wins her freedom and the man she loves.

Shoot the Messenger follows one man's painful journey towards self-discovery. On the way he finds both his own attitudes and the expectations of his community challenged.

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

After years working in Brazil, middle-aged engineer Martin Boyner returns to Switzerland to marry his longtime friend, the recently widowed Rose Sellars. En route, he encounters an old acquaintance and soon finds himself entranced by and then caring for her seven emotionally abandoned children. The oldest girl, Judith, quickly beguiles Martin with her unsettling blend of innocence and maturity. And suddenly Martin's orderly blueprint for the future is thrown into disarray as Judith's youth and spirit transform his routine life into a dangerously passionate new equation.

Helene Moskiewicz, a young Jewish woman living in pre-World War II Belgium, is forced to suffer through German occupation by watching her parents arrested and her life destroyed. To fight back, Regine joins the underground resistance movement and strikes the Nazis from within...by joining the infamous Gestapo.

During World War II, an American serviceman in London decides to impress his English girlfriend by acting as an American gangster, which soon turns deadly.

A young boy believes he can save his dying father if he can become an angel.

Lawyer Wakem takes the mill on the river Floss away from Edward Tulliver (whose ancestors have owned it for 300 years) and becomes the worst enemy of Tulliver's family. When Edward's daughter, Maggie, grows up, she falls in love with Wakem's son Philip. However, her brother Tom (true to the memory of their father) forbids her to meet him again. When she visits her cousin Lucy Deane, Lucy's fiance, Stephen Guest, falls in love with Maggie at first sight, further complicating matters.

Kaisa is a Scot, a successful London lawyer, who snorts coke and has one-night stands with strangers. Her mother calls from Aberdeen with some story begging her to fly to Norway and collect her alcoholic dad whom she hasn't seen in years.

Is Richard the pub bore, or is he someone very intriguing? Arthur is a man of habit - four pints a night and home by 7.0, but tonight it's past 11.0 before he leaves the pub.

Toothsome Tracy Reed heads the cast of Deadly Females. The ladies in question are female assassins, specializing in knocking off lascivious males. Like the proverbial black widow spider, the girls lure their victims with promises of sexual favours, then strike when said victims are exhausted. Naturally, this requires plenty of exposed female flesh.

Years after fleeing his ancestral home with his mother, Jason returns home to claim his birthright, only to find his way blocked by his evil cousin Thomas. In order to reclaim his title, Jason must do battle with his cousin, who calls upon the members of the deadly Hellfire Club to stop him.

After nearly a decade apart, two former lovers from Hong Kong unexpectedly meet again in the UK, where they have each built a different life. Their reunion brings back memories they have tried to move on from, as they slowly reconnect and begin to see how much has changed. Now living far from home, they are forced to face the distance between who they were and who they have become. Set within the everyday reality of immigrant life, The Distance We Drift is a quiet and intimate story about love, memory, and the way time reshapes people in ways they don’t always realise.

Samantha and daughter Blake invite Chloe, a foreign exchange student from Britain, into their California home. The two girls become close friends but Samantha's uneasiness begins with the suspicious death of Blake's boyfriend. Samantha sets out to prove her daughter's innocence, discovering Chloe's ultimate plan is to "adopt" Samantha as her "mum".

20-year-old Will is on his stag-do when, handcuffed to a lamppost, he is rescued by Michael. The attraction between the two men is immediate. But back at Michael's apartment, Will is sent into a tailspin of shame and confusion.

Depressed and suicidal, thirtysomething bachelor Duncan – determined to find the secret to a healthy, strong relationship, – flashes back to his last five relationships (in the last four years) and considers what caused each one to fail. Based on the novel 'Essays in Love' by Alain de Botton.

During WWII a youth deserts his country's army after a combat experience, but not before wounding his commanding officer with a knife in order to escape. The young man, now very emotionally distraught, dresses in women's clothes and eventually joins a passing gypsy caravan, who think him a young girl... as well as a kind of seer, or 'rawney'. In time, however, he regains some composure and becomes attracted to one of the gypsy girls, which only leads to problems within the gypsy band, especially when the wounded commanding officer finds him.