Lockdown

In 1999, teenage sisters Celeste and Eleanor survive a seismic, violent tragedy. The sisters compose and perform a song about their experience, making something lovely and cathartic out of catastrophe — while also catapulting Celeste to stardom. By 2017, the now 31-year-old Celeste is mother to a teenage daughter of her own and struggling to navigate a career fraught with scandals when another act of terrifying violence demands her attention.

There's this fantastic improv show on WNYC called "The Truth". Headed up by a chap named Jonathan Mitchell, these guys generate a story, usually dark and ironic, and then workshop the hell out of it with their ridiculously talented cast, then edit it down into something succinct and powerful. All of their pieces are worth a listen, but this one, called "That's Democracy", I knew at once would make a tremendous short film. Jon Bowden and I contacted TheTruth in New York, and managed to strong-arm them into letting us to turn their podcast into a film. And so here it is...

Military cadets take extreme measures to ensure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.

A troubled and bullied high school student fights against judgement from his community after threatening to bomb the football team.

A documentary about the Kerch shooter Vladislav Roslyakov.

Seemingly disparate portraits of people - among them a single mother, a high school principal, and an ace student - Distinctly American - all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society.

African-American student Malik is on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college. Fudge, a "professional student" who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America.

Liu Xing a brilliant Chinese student, arrives at University and makes the transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver. Xing joins a cosmology group working to create a model of the origins of the universe. He is obsessed with the study of dark matter and a theory that conflicts with the group's model. When he begins to make breakthroughs of his own, he encounters obstructions.

In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.

A dramatic investigation into the mind of violent individuals by following a school shooter in the days leading up to his egregious act.

Following a mass shooting, high schooler Leo returns to school, where he must face the fact that his brother was the shooter.