Great strides and extraordinary journeys
Last year was without a doubt Aconite’s most successful and exciting year to date. We attended many international events, festivals and markets in Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany helping us further cement our position as a truly international production company with a global vision and big ambitions. Our achievements to date and our plans for the future have been recognised by Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway and South Lanarkshire Council all of whom are continuing to support Aconite as we grow. With their support we have moved into a new home which we want to turn into a hub for creativity and vision.
As we kick off the new year, 2017 promises to be another stellar year for the company. First off we are beginning our recruitment drive to find two great people with a passion for creative documentary to join the Aconite team and help us grow. If you think that could be you then please do get in touch.
At the heart of everything we do are extraordinary stories of global significance and passionate directors with unique artistic visions.
Here is an update on our projects:
AQUARELA, our flagship production directed by Victor Kossakovsky, went into production last spring and took us to some quite astounding shooting locations over the year from the calving icebergs of majestic Greenland to Angel Falls, the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall located in the heart of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park and considered among the world’s most dazzling wonders. Over the coming months our visually poetic journey with water will continue to take us across the globe as we aim to complete shooting and post-production by the autumn.
We are delighted that BRASILIA: LIFE AFTER DESIGN, a co-production with our Canadian partner Lowik Media, will have its domestic premiere at Glasgow Film Festival on Wednesday 22 February at 6.15pm. A meditation on living in one of the most planned cities on earth, the film is the directorial debut of Canadian filmmaker Bart Simpson who is widely admired for his work as a producer, particularly on the multi award-winning THE CORPORATION, Canada’s highest grossing domestic documentary of all time.
We are thrilled to announce that in the Spring we will go into pre-production on our latest project, THE HIPPIES: PUNK ROCKED MY CRADLE, a co-production between Aconite and Pinball Films, Newcastle, directed by award winning film artist Matt Hulse. The Hippies were a bizarre English punk band formed in 1979 by the Hulse children, Toby (12), Matt (11) and Polly (8). The band’s star shone bright as they performed ticketed live shows to their maverick mother’s chaotic group of friends. What truly happened back then? Exciting & experimental, THE HIPPIES: PUNK ROCKED MY CRADLE is a hybrid documentary film that promises an energetic, jarring, comical, musical ride through Matt Hulse’s fractured family history.
We are continuing to develop ELECTRIC MALADY, a poignant and moving first-hand account of the personal impact of living with Electrosensitivity by Swedish director Marie Lidén. And Managing Director Aimara Reques will be focusing on completing editing on a long term project that is dear to her heart. THE BOY FROM GEORGIA follows the extraordinary journey of a charismatic former street child from Georgia as he undertakes a life saving operation and pushes the boundaries of what is possible.
With such inspiring stories to tell and a dedicated team behind us this year promises great strides and greater achievements for Aconite. We hope you’ll join us on our journey. Please keep up-to-date with all our news via the website and on our social media pages.
Thanks to Creative Scotland for their continued support of all our projects.
Photo courtesy of Stine Hillmann