Met Film Production has a policy of producing short films with new talent as part of the process of development of a feature film. It allows us and the team to develop a working relationship and to test out ideas. This policy comes out of the APT Films tradition, where many such films were made. 

September

In an in-between world of flyovers, grass verges and dead-ends, where the motorway hum serves as a constant reminder of the speed of other lives, Marvin is not going anywhere. Into this forgotten corner of English countryside and motorway services arrives an extraordinary adolescent, changing his world forever.

Written and directed by Esther May Campbell and produced by Stewart le Maréchal, September is funded by the UKFC and Whirlwind Media.

Director: Esther May Campbell

Producer: Stewart le Marechal, Met Film Production

Status: On festival circuit, the film has been awarded the following:

Best of British at Encounters Film Festival

BAFTA winner for Best Short Film

London Short Film Festival,  Best Film

Festival International de Films de Femmes,  Best European Film

Wood Green Film Festival,  Best British Short

Nice International Film Festival, Short Film Award

East End Film Festival,  Best Short Film

Buxton Film Festival,  Best Film

A Corto Di Donne,  Best Short Film

For more information see Ether May Campbell's website

To get your hands on the limited edition September  DVD, CD (with bonus material) and September foraged recipe book, head to the Invada Records website

The Battle of Cable Street

Blurring the line between live action and animation, this is a remarkable re-telling of a seminal event in Anglo-Jewish history.

A young boy is taken inside the magical world of his own sketchbook by his grandfather, and shown what it was like when Oswald Mosley’s ‘blackshirt fascists’ attempted to march through the East End. 

Writer/Director: Yoav Segal

Producers: Kirsten McFie & David Balfour

Exec Producers: Jonny Persey & Yoav Segal

Real Life Stories

Commissioned by BBC ID&E, APT Films created three short films (On Ice, In the Dark and For Mum) for the BBC teen website

The three films, written and directed by Esther May Campbell and produced by Stewart le Maréchal, were based on experiences from the website users about bullying, cancer and relationships.  The films have received strong and positive reactions from the website users.  If you would like to see On Ice please click here and to watch In the Dark please click here.
 

My Friend, Soweto

Written by Biyi Bandele, the acclaimed playwright (Oronooko) and novelist (The Street) and directed by Jann Turner. Financed by British Screen with APT Films producing.

Story of two old friends who meet after many years apart, only to discover how much they have each changed. And yet the more things change, the more they stay the same…. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor  who went on to star in Dirty Pretty Things.

Swindles and Slim

Swindles and Slim is a brutal, haunting portrait of two seventy-year-old ex-gangsters who regain their youth, only to lose it again - and each other, when bequeathed a stolen painting which is cursed.

Directed by Suzy Evans and produced by Stewart le Maréchal this short screened in many international festivals including Cinema Jove and the LA film festival and stars Neil Maskell, most recently seen in The Football Factory.

Skin Deep

Romo is 15 and mixed race, but he can pass as white. Haunted by the abuse of his childhood he joins a gang of white racist youths in an act of self denial. Written and directed by Yousaf Ali Khan and produced by Andy Porter, the film was financed by The Film Council, ELFF and Newham Council.

The film won the Bafta-Kodak Short Film Showcase and a top prize in the Turner Classic Shorts competition and was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Short Film.

Nominated for BAFTA for Best Short Film, 2002
Prize Winner: Turner Classic Shorts 2001
Winner: Kodak BAFTA Showcase 2001
Best Short Film: Siena, 2001
Best Short Film: Brest, 2001

“Impressive, very personal début film about a teenager who's all mixed up” Rotterdam Film Festival Review

"like the short punch, the short jab you don't see coming" Ewan McGregor, on the Turner Classic Movies Panel

Auto Da Fe

This is the story of Tom and Penny - their love for each other; Penny’s rapidly advancing cancer, and the pledge Tom has made to help Penny die. Penny has reached a point of no return. Tom, who has been a rock throughout, now finds himself unwilling to honor his pledge.

Written and directed by Tim Mercier with Hugh Costello co-writing.

Produced by Camilla Bray and exec produced by Jonny Persey and Stewart le Maréchal.

The film was fully financed by the BBC and will be transmitted on BBC2.

The Girl in the Lay-by

This is an APT Films production with Lazennec for the BBC 10x10 strand in association with The Scottish Arts Council, the BFI and Atom Films. Written by Denise Whittaker, directed by Sarah Gavron, and produced by Jonny Persey with Marilyn Milgrom and Bertrand Faivre co-producing. The film was transmitted on BBC2 in July 2000, and won this accolade in Time Out: "this beautiful short outshines most contemporary British feature films."

Best Short Film: Las Palmas Film Festival, 2001

“This beautiful short outshines most contemporary British feature films.” Time Out

“Two lives and a welter of imagination encapsulated in a gentle 10 minutes.” The Daily Telegraph

          

Circles

Written and directed by Sonia Castang, Circles tells the story of Lorna who lives with her depressed mother, who she looks after. She has buried her emotions and is only helped out of her isolated world when Earl, a builder, comes to fix a wall.

The short was produced by Stewart le Maréchal and was funded by Screen East. It screened on Anglia Television and won Best Short Film at the Kino Film Festival. 

The Last Client

Trina is a mortician, and has the job of making the dead look good for their funeral. Her daily routine is turned on its head when she discovers her next client, lying on the slab, is her father, who disappeared when she was young. Sometimes it's difficult to really connect with your parents. Words don't come easy, and at times they don't come at all. For Trina, it’s now or never.

The film was funded by b3 Media and the UK Film Council.

Directed by Diene Petterle

Produced by Stewart le Maréchal.

Meeting Helen

Half-hour film about an extraordinary transforming conversation between two women, an intense and deep exchange which takes both women by surprise about sex, anger, and marriage. Intimate and unusual.

Directed by Emily Woof.

Shot on S16 with two cameras by Christopher Doyle.