The Secret Soldier
Based on a True Story
In 1808, Joanna Żubr could no longer stand to be apart from her husband, so she disguised herself as a man and joined the Polish army to fight alongside him in the Napoleonic Wars, as Poland tried to regain independence. She fought 17 battles, but during Napoleon's retreat, she was separated from her division and managed to escape from Russia on her own. She was the first woman to receive the highest Polish military award, the Virtuti Militari. This is an incredible story of resilience, bravery, and love against all odds. It also honours a really amazing woman who risked her life time and time again just to be near her husband, creating one of the most famous untold love stories.
Wherever You Are
Twenty-nine-year-old Annie is happy, content, and excited as she is imminently due to marry the love of her life, or so she thought. Six weeks before their wedding she catches her fiancéé, Luke, with her best friend. Amidst the chaotic devastation of what follows, Annie decides that while she has given up on love- she is not ready to give up on herself. After pawning her engagement ring, moving out of her home with Luke, (and despite her family and friends thinking she has gone totally nuts) she embarks on a backpacking journey around Australia. Not only does Annie discover more about herself and those who surrounded her while on her journey, but she also meets the dashing photographer, Henry, who is on tour with his gay father’s amdram group while they perform Pricilla Queen of the Desert around Aus. Henry is a classic case of right person at the wrong time—but as their paths continue to cross during Annie’s trip, can the stars align for them before it’s too late, and can Annie find it within herself to give love one last try?
The Idle Women
Based on a True Story
The "Idle Women" were a group of around 45 women who operated canal narrowboats during World War II. Nicknamed “the land girls of the waterway” the British government actively enlisted female volunteers to operate canal barges during World War II. They took over vital freight transport to replace men who had gone to fight. They played a crucial role on the Home Front and their grueling, highly demanding work involved hauling cargo, intense 20 hour days, and heavy labour all to keep London with fuel and therefore electricity throughout the war. Without them the spies, government, hospitals and civilians could not have done their jobs.
Everything You See
Based on a True Story
From Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi to Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, this film starts during the French Revolution when the Reign of Terror saw the destruction of works by prominent female artists, and flits back and fourth between different time periods to focus on the systematic erasure of women from art history, such as the misattribution of female-authored paintings to male counterparts and the destruction of some of the most iconic pieces of art world the world has ever seen.
Pat
Based on a True Story
Pat Moss was a legendary British Mortosport pioneer and one of the most successful rally car drivers of all time. The younger sister of Formula 1 icon Stirling Moss, she made history by standing toe-to-toe with the world's best male drivers and securing major outright international rally ictories. She won the grueling, multi-day Liège-Rome-Liège in 1960 driving a heavy Austin-Healey 3000, and claimed victory at the 1962 Tulip Rally in a Mini. She also won the European Ladies' Rally Champion five times, being crowned the champion in 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, and 1965. She was the first woman to break the top ten in several major endurancerallies, including the Alpine Rally, the RAC Rally, and the East African Safari, yet her legacy remains largely unexplored.
Runner 261
Based on a True Story
Katherine Switzer was the first ever woman to run a marathon. In 1967 at the Boston marathon, she managed to get herself on the running ballot, convinced that women were perfectly capable of endurance running, and ran alongside her husband. Despite multiple officials trying to pull her off the running track, she made it to the end. Switzer later won the 1974 New York City Marathon and campaigned extensively for women's distance running. She was highly influential in successfully lobbying to get the women’s marathon added to the Olympic Games. She also founded 261 fearless, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering women through running.
Maverick
Based on a True Story
Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, also known as ‘Christine Granville’, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France. Known as Churchill’s “favourite spy’ She was the first female agent of the British to serve in the field and the longest-serving of all Britain's wartime women agents. Her resourcefulness and success have been credited with influencing the organisation's decision to recruit more women as agents in Nazi-occupied countries, including faking tuberculosis to survive the Gestapo.
Something Happy
After her parents rocky divorce, nineteen-year-old Maya Adams and her seventeen-year-old sister, Anna, move from the UK back to their fathers family home in Massachusetts. After answering an ad at the local store for a job as a cleaner, when Maya turns up at her supposed employers house, she is confronted by a disgruntled middle-aged Henry Cavanar. As time goes on Maya discovers Henry has been keeping a dark secret that has been eating away at him. As the pair form an unbreakable bond, Maya has to make a difficult decision about moving to New York, but when she returns after a trial weekend away, she makes a discovery that alters her life forever and sees her having to walk a path Henry could not.
The Night of Epiphany
1505, Yorkshire, England.
Mary and Elizabeth, two medieval nuns devoted to religious life at the abbey, fall in love after Mary is placed there for the Christmas period in order to help with a mission. As their secret love affair blossoms they struggle to hide their affections as the night of Epiphany - know in Christian England as the Twelfth Night of Christmas which traditionally marked the end of the 12 days of Christmas, quickly approaches. The two women surrender to each other and whatever fait awaits them.
Sunflowers and Parsnips
Wes Anderson style feature film about a family who, after emigrating from New Zealand to Cornwall with nine children, move to a farm with their old orange van. The only thing they can afford to grow after their father chokes on a wishbone and dies, are sunflowers and parsnips. With their financial future uncertain and their arrival in the community creating tectonic shifts the children secretly make a plan to help their mother survive: they are going to grow the biggest parsnip in England and win the money from the Guinness book of world records.
Swipe Right
Bree, 33, is the most judgmental woman in London. But after an embarrassing incident, her friends hold an intervention. Bree rebels, but her girlfriends retaliate by setting her a challenge she can!t resist. If she!s not shallow, then she won!t mind going on date with every man on a dating app that likes her profile for the next month. One date per night, a different man every night. Can Bree challenge her limitations enough to see past just looks and riches— and perhaps even find the one?
In a generation that can pass by true love at the swipe of a hand, have we become so caught up in appearances, we!ve lost sight of what really matters?
The Last Train to Richmond
After the trains are cancelled on the District line, handsome surgeon Charlie and live-in nanny Poppy are left stranded in central London and both accidentally climb into the same cab. After realising they are heading to the same area they, decide (resentfully) to ride together. However, they soon discover they are due to attend the same birthday party that night. From that moment onwards, they seemingly can!t escape bumping into one another.
Set in the London area of Richmond Upon Thames, this heartfelt romantic comedy blends the sentimental with community-focused narratives, set against the most picturesque of backdrops.
Women-led True Stories:
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FEATURE FILMS
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TU You You
Tu Youyou is a groundbreaking Chinese pharmaceutical chemist who discovered artemisinin (also known as qinghaosu), a life-saving malaria treatment. Her innovative extraction method blending ancient Chinese texts with modern science has saved millions of lives across the globe and earned her the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Tu also famously and courageously volunteered to be the first human subject to consume the drug, proving it safe before it was given to patients.
Fairy or Foe
This comedy carries an important message for children about team work and the environment. When a climate change driven storm wreaks havoc on an English field, known as ‘Homefield” to two fairy courts, the two fairy communities who had previously lived at one end of the field each harmoniously have to battle it out in order to regain the territory that’s still safe, between pranks and plunders- can these two communities work together to save Homefield?
The Unimaginable for the Bonefontes
A wealthy and eccentric British family are thrown into disarray after being cursed by a local mystic who they chucked off their land. As chaos unfolds, and family secrets come to light, they must find the witch, pay their karmic debts and lift the curse before it’s too late.