Heathcote Williams

One of several collaborative dance films by the Brothers Quay & (dancer, choreographer) William Tuckett. Little enough info around on line, but there's briefly by way of Wikipedia entry. Adapted rather loosely from the works of the E.T.A. Hoffman. Familiar Quays' tropes, much in evidence: automata, trompe l'oeil effects, etc. No credit on the sound design (which is fairly elaborate), tho' that is possibly Larry Sider.

This 37-minute 3-D Imax film adaptation from E.T.A. Hoffman's story is a straight narrative fantasy rather than a ballet. Little Clara receives a Christmas gift of a nutcracker doll and that night witnesses toys expanding in size and coming to life. The Nutcracker Prince takes Clara to his enchanted sugar castle where she meets pastry chef Sugar Plum who uses spun sugar to concoct the dancing Sugar Fairy.

Enrico Malatesta (Eddie Constantine) leads a group of Latvian dissidents in the siege of Sidney Street. Chief of police Winston Churchill organizes against the anarchist who threaten to disturb the peace to make their demands known to the British aristocracy. Authorities break up the volatile gang and Malatesta is deported to Italy. Constantine gives a sympathetic portrayal of the agitator that organizes the revolt that shocked the Edwardian sensibilities of London in this historical drama.

Prospero, a potent magician, lives on a desolate isle with his virginal daughter, Miranda. He's in exile, banished from his duchy by his usurping brother and the King of Naples. Providence brings these enemies near; aided by his vassal the spirit Ariel, Prospero conjures a tempest to wreck the Italian ship. The king's son, thinking all others lost, becomes Prospero's prisoner, falling in love with Miranda and she with him. Prospero's brother and the king wander the island, as do a drunken cook and sailor, who conspire with Caliban, Prospero's beastly slave, to murder Prospero. Prospero wants reason to triumph, Ariel wants his freedom, Miranda a husband; the sailors want to dance.

A young American computer hackeress is hired by a liberal British lawyer to right the wrong done to a third world country by a London investment company. Even the expertise of her building inspector sidekick can not prevent a surprising development though.

Frac, a mime who is suffering from a severe bout of depression, happens to meet a troupe of circus entertainers and immediately falls in love with one of the stars, Giulietta. But while his affection for Giulietta and admiration for the performers gives him a new lease on life, Giulietta's father, the leader of the troupe, opposes the relationship and is determined to keep them apart. Meanwhile, Frac and Giulietta discover a gang of children who are held prisoner by a criminal leader who forces them to do his bidding, and they devise a plan to win the kids their freedom. .

Marla Darland is blessed with the voice of an angel, a singing legend. But when her agent, Marty Starr, finds his agency in trouble, he concocts a sinister plot to bring up her record sales. Amazed at the posthumous record sales of Elvis and Jimi Hendrix, Marty becomes determined to arrange a similar fate for Marla, staging the perfect tragic demise. But he didn't count on Marla not being quite ready to go.

JC is the hero of the Cornish surfing community. Staring thirty hard in the face, he fears that the wave that has carried him through a prolonged adolescence is heading for the rocks as his girlfriend pressures him for commitment and his friends contemplate growing up.

England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.

It is night and, in the foyer of a small hotel, a receptionist performs her tasks, unhurried and impassive, her face ghost-white, an emotional mask. Like the camera, she gazes steadily, both silent spectator and vicarious participant in the fantasies played out by the hotel's transient guests. As the night progresses, she answers a phone, hands over a key; guests pass back and forth gradually taking on a dream-like presence. She continues to work and, when morning comes, she leaves, her nightshift over. 'NIGHTSHIFT shows what film can do if the conventional pace of narrative is slowed down and montage diminished. It is not a new idea, of course, but the way it is done here is both absorbing to look at and satisfying from the moral point of view.' (Jill Forbes, Monthly Film Bulletin)

Middle-class parents face difficult decisions if they want their sons to go to the “right” school.

Novelist Catherine Tramell is once again in trouble with the law, and Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her. Though, like Detective Nick Curran before him, Glass is entranced by Tramell and lured into a seductive game.

A troubled detective befriends a single woman and her daughter with the intention of using them as bait for a serial killer.

The trials and horrific visions that made the most famous mystic of all time.

A footman seduces a count's daughter. Adaptation of August Strindberg's famous play.

A folklorist researching an 'urban legend' becomes caught up in his task. The film tells its fictional story in documentary style, featuring interviews with real folklore scholars.

On a trip to Paris Sally meets Pablo, a tango dancer. He starts teaching her to dance then she returns to London to work on some "projects". She visits Buenos Aires and learns more from Pablo's friends. Sally and Pablo meet again but this time their relationship changes, she realises they want different things from each other. On a trip to Buenos Aires they cement their friendship.

When a corrupt American businessman tries to strong arm his way into businesses in Newcastle, England, he is thwarted by a club attendant and his waitress girlfriend.

A younger boy falls in love with a tragic girl who flirts with, and manipulates, her older suitors in 1800s Russia.

Fleeing from his wife in France to London, 45-year-old Pierre is barely able to support himself. He meets friendly Tom, who offers to help him make ends meet by working as a male escort.

Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire for 'health reasons', and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His unfaithful wife Laura tries to hurt him in any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and at least regain his own self-esteem.

Cousin Bette is a poor and lonely seamstress, who, after the death of her prominent and wealthy sister, tries to ingratiate herself into lives of her brother-in-law, Baron Hulot, and her niece, Hortense Hulot. Failing to do so, she instead finds solace and company in a handsome young sculptor she saves from starvation. But the aspiring artist soon finds love in the arms of another woman, Hortense, leaving Bette a bitter spinster. Bette plots to take revenge on the family who turned her away and stole her only love. With the help of famed courtesan Jenny Cadine she slowly destroys the lives of those who have scorned her.

The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 (Tim Roth) learned about the outside world through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love of his life. Years later, the ship may be destroyed, and a former band member fears that 1900 may still be aboard, willing to go down with the ship.

Since A.D. 50, a mysterious sacred artifact known as the Loculus has been at the center of a bloody clandestine war. Missing for a few hundred years, the puzzling relic has suddenly reappeared in the present day, bringing with it a terrible secret that could spell doom for all of mankind. Now it's up to Magnus Martel to subvert a murderous secret society and uncover the truth behind the ancient treasure.

In 14th Century England, this tale of murder and mystery follows a fugitive priest who falls in with a troupe of actors. As they arrive in a small town, the actors encounter a woman being sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft and murder. Discarding the expected bible stories, the actors now stage a performance based on the crime. Through the performance of the play, they discover a mystery.

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers, in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, before the the lights go out forever.

Freelance journalist David Dunhill stumbles onto the biggest story of his career - but his personal eccentricities seem likely to thwart him.

The film is an edgy black comedy set in swinging London in the late 60s. The All Saints girls play three street wise sisters who head 'up West' to rob and generally cause trouble.

Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit-hole into a whimsical Wonderland, where she meets characters like the delightful Cheshire Cat, the clumsy White Knight, a rude caterpillar, and the hot-tempered Queen of Hearts and can grow ten feet tall or shrink to three inches. But will she ever be able to return home?

A sex worker, a hired killer, and a movie crew cross paths in a Venice hotel where human meat is on the menu.

A drama based on the novel by Charles Dickens which tells the story of Arthur Clennam who is thrown into a debtor's prison. There he meets a young seamstress whose father has been imprisoned for twenty-five years. A film in originally released in two parts.

Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.

Six young people from New York City, on their own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the companionship, comfort and support they get from each other to be the perfect antidote to the pressures of life.