This year we are delighted to host the 2024 FOCAL Awards at the Church House Westminster on June 20th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2024 shortlisted nominations
Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Director:
Michèle Stephenson / Joe Brewster
Producer(s):
Michèle Stephenson / Joe Brewster / Tommy Oliver
Footage Archive Producer:
Hannah Shepard
Archival Sources:
WNET / WGBH / Getty / Fox / British Pathé
Production Company:
Rada Studio / Confluential Films / Cinetic Media / HBO Documentary Films
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
"The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans." Legendary poet Nikki Giovanni's revelation is a launching pad to an inspiring exploration of her life and legacy. Through a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings of her poetry, and impressions of space, Giovanni urges us to imagine a future where Black women lead, and equity is a reality.
Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson (American Promise, The Changing Same) craft a vision fit for the radical imagination of Nikki Giovanni. Present-day Giovanni reckons with the inevitable passing of time, while an evocative melding of vérité and archival images act as openings into her mindscape, transcending time and place. Brewster and Stephenson's approach is imaginative and dreamlike, akin to the way Giovanni's words are hair-raising in their power to summon unrealized ways of seeing. The Afro-futuristic lens honors Giovanni's complexity and transports us on a journey through Black liberation from the perspective of one of America's most acclaimed and beloved writers, a profound artist and activist. Next stop, Mars.
Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story
Director:
Barnaby Thompson
Producer(s):
Barnaby Thompson / Gregor Cameron
Footage Archive Researcher:
Emma Gibbs / Chris Lovell / Mark Macey
Footage Archive Producer:
James R.M. Hunt
Archival Sources:
The Noel Coward Estate / BBC / BBC Motion Gallery / David Paradine Productions Ltd / Reelin’ In The Years Productions / ITV Archive / Sony Pictures Content Licensing
Production Company:
Fragile Films / Unigram / AI Films / BBC Films / BBC Arts / Altitude Distribution / Warner Music
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Noel Coward grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was queer in a very straight world. And yet by the age of 30, he was the highest paid writer in the world, and a star on the Broadway stage. He wrote, directed and acted in some of the finest plays and movies of all time, including Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter and In Which We Serve. He also became a world renowned songwriter and performer of whom Frank Sinatra said, ‘If you want to hear how a song should be sung, go see Mr Noel Coward’.
And if that wasn’t enough, he discovered John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and David Lean, and was a spy in the Second World War!
Against all odds, Noel Coward became the most successful multi-talented artist of the Twentieth Century. He defined an era and led an extraordinary life. This is his inspirational story told in his own words and music, and unique home movies. The film features Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Harold Pinter, Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Michael Caine and Lucille Ball. Narrated by Alan Cumming. Rupert Everett is the voice of Noel Coward.
Mary Pickford, a blessing and a curse
Director:
Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg
Producer(s):
Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg
Footage Archive Producer:
Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg
Archival Sources:
Mary Pickford Foundation / Bison Archives / Pond 5 / UCLA
Production Company:
Wichita Films / Kali Pictures
Country of Production:
France / USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Mary Pickford's name remains inseparable from the legend of American cinema. She invented the star system at the beginning of the 20th century, and was the biggest star ever known, not just in Hollywood, but worldwide, at a time when actors didn't even have their names on movie posters.
She was more than a pioneer, she was a jack-of-all-trades: world-famous star, producer and formidable businesswoman, screenwriter and director in the shadows, studio boss, Mary Pickford alone embodied the entire legend of cinema and the advent of women in that particular era.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Director:
Davis Guggenheim
Producer(s):
Davis Guggenheim / Annetta Marion / Jonathan King / Will Cohen
Footage Archive Producer:
Jackie Clary
Archival Sources:
WTTW / CBS Media Ventures / Universal Studios / Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan / Carson Entertainment Group
Production Company:
Apple Original Films / Concordia Studio
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Told in his own words with a mix of archival and scripted elements, STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE recounts Fox’s rise to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The look at his public life unspools alongside his private journey including the years following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease.
Obsessed with Light
Director:
Sabine Krayenbühl / Zeva Oelbaum
Producer(s):
Zeva Oelbaum / Sabine Krayenbühl
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lewanne Jones / Jennifer Latham
Footage Archive Producer:
Judy Aley
Archival Sources:
EYE Museum / Gaumont / University of South Carolina / Lobster / BFI
Production Company:
Between the Rivers Productions / ARTE / ZDF / YUZU Productions
Country of Production:
USA / France / Germany
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
"Obsessed with Light" is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create. It is about a trailblazer who disrupted the prevailing notions of dance and the imagined limits of the human body.
The film pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, a wildly original performer who revolutionized the visual culture of the early 20th century. The American creator of modern dance, Fuller (1862–1928) invented a completely new kind of spectacle which combined dance, fabric and movement. She pioneered the ingenious use of electricity for the stage, even building a glass floor so she could be lit from below. Fuller shot to international stardom after performing at the Folies Bergère in Paris in 1892. She inspired some of the most important artists and thinkers of her era including Auguste Rodin, James Whistler, Stéphane Mallarmé and W.B.Yeats.
Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, our film delves into the astonishing influence Fuller's work has on contemporary artists like Taylor Swift, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bill T. Jones, Shakira and William Kentridge, among others. In the process, the film explores the creative process and uncovers commonalities that connect these luminaries to Fuller and to each other.
