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A SECRET HEART

A young man meets a mysterious young woman who shows him true love.

In this mystery romance Ade is a 20 year-old African-Caribbean Londoner who after breaking up with his girlfriend, finds himself heart-broken and alone in his apartment. Rushing through winter twilight streets, he accidentally crashes into a beautiful, if other worldly, Jewish young woman who seems shocked to meet him. Captivated by her he asks her name, she responds “Phyllis”. Some days later Ade spots Phyllis again in the dusk and rushes over to meet her. She politely brushes him off but in a moment of obsession he follows her in a cab to an old train station where he witnesses her sadness as she wanders alone.

After hearing from his best friend that Phyllis is probably a nurse that works in the local hospice (an end of life hospital), he plucks up courage and ventures into the hospice building and tries to convince an officious receptionist to see her. Ade finds out that Phyllis is in fact not a nurse but a patient. He has come too far and is determined to meet her and on the second attempt to get to her room, he enters and discovers a shocking revelation that will tear apart the very world he lives in, but will reform his belief in love.

A Secret Heart is a mystery romance partly inspired by the director’s love of the British classic film A Matter of Life & Death (1946) and the death of his favourite aunt. The film’s opening text invites the audience to consider the fleeting nature of life and how lucky we are if true love touches us along this journey. It is in many ways a visual poem set within alternative multicultural East London, past and present.

In keeping with the Director’s other films so far A Secret Heart explores the architecture of difference between people and time, it considers the spaces in between where subtle nuances give way to mystery and the possibility of connection.

Cast: Feryna Wazheir, Kingsley Amadi, Ann Queensbury, Mitchell Kirkham, Claire Farrington, Victoria Ashford, Sampha Sisay and Johanna Thompson.

Crew: Writer / Director: Cary Sawhney | Executive Producers: Violet Elizabeth Sawhney, Atif Ghani, Tunde Shoderu, Feryna Wazheir | Producers: Parag Sankhe, Archie Johnston Stewart | Cinematography: Adrian Peckitt, Oliver Ford | First Assistant Directors: Andrew Whiteside, Lucas Kudapcenka | Sound: Jordan Tewkesbury, Tiago Morelli | Production Manager: Satwant Gill | 1st Assistant Camera: Constance Meath Baker | 2nd Assistant Camera: George De-Freitas | Costume: Andrew Joslin | Makeup: Katie Campbel | Props Manager: Andrew Whiteside | Runners: Martin Wickens & Shyam Pompat | Editor: Daniel Davies | Additional Dialogues: Anjum Malik | Music: Niraj Chag | Sound Designer & Re-recording Mixer: Siddharth Dubey | Colour Grading: Peter Wilson | Visual Effects: Ravindra Badgujar, Andrew Whiteside | Casting Co-ordination: Tejinder Jouhal.

KHAANA

The film's Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney was formerly Head of Diversity at the British Film Institute and has always been fascinated by cultural difference and hybridity. What are the reference points that makes someone feel they belong to a culture, religion, or nation? Many of us people of immigrant descent slide seamlessly between cultures on a daily basis, often without even realizing it.

Inspired by the great humanist Director Satyajit Ray's films, Khaana explores the boundaries between the 'home' and the 'world'. The story is based on a poem by Anjum Malik, about a Pakistani woman who loves the British dish of fish and chips. Khaana depicts a young, orthodox Muslim woman and her husband, who live in East London, with his less orthodox mother. The young woman is clearly pregnant and through her preoccupation with food, we see not only her changing relationship with her husband, but also her engagement with her 'domestic' culture and the outside English world, both of which are part of her identity.

Khaana won the renowned ‘Future Filmmaker Award 2012’ at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It won 'Best Short Film' at the New York Indian Film Festival (2013) before touring to 12 other US festivals and being picked up by IndieFlix. It also received high praise and had it's South Asia Premiere at the Kerala Short & Documentary Film Festival.

Cast: Feryna Wazheir, Rez Kempton, Gouri Kar, Matilda Crew, Paul Crew, Kristin Shury, Chenelle Shury, Cary Sawhney.

LOOKING FOR YOU

A mystery romance drama set in London about Indian ideas of reincarnation. Actors include Gordon Warnecke (‘My Beautiful Laundrette’), Preeti Saul and Siddiqua Akhtar and music by Composer Niraj Chag. The film has been well received at several international film festivals including the East End Film Festival, Happy Soul Festival, Kerela Short Festival, Moonshine Cinema at the Wapping Project, MIAAC Film Festival New York and the River to River Film Festival Florence.

Cast: Gordon Warnecke, Preeti Saul, Siddiqua Ahmed, Karen Fisher-Pollard, Cary Sawhney, Liam Nolan.