From Lift to The Road: The Films of Marc Isaacs

Part 5 · Nov 20, 2005

Someday My Prince Will Come

An exposed Cumbrian village by the sea surrounded by windmills, fields and factories provides a striking setting for this fairy tale of young love and the loss of childhood innocence. Over one year, the film follows the 9 year-old Laura Anne and her 11 year-old cousin, Steven as they move towards the end of their childhoods. The narrative is told in rhyme by the young female protagonist. As time passes and the seasons change, feelings and memories from all our childhoods are evoked and we wonder what time will make of Laura Anne and Steven.

Part 6 · Mar 14, 2007

All White in Barking

All White in Barking is a compassionate and illuminating documentary probing the attitudes of Barking's white residents toward their new immigrant neighbours. Isaacs is an unseen, but prominent, presence, questioning prejudices and prying at preconceptions with remarkable results to produce a vivid picture of the attitudes and perceptions at the heart of an increasingly multicultural Britain.

Part 7 · Oct 24, 2009

Men of the City

In Men of the City, Isaacs takes a more stylised approach to the lives of workers in the City of London during the recent financial meltdown, balancing sensitive portraits of diverse individuals striving to retain their dignity and humanity in the midst of the crisis. Strong human characters are at the heart of all of Isaacs' work, and with these films he continues to create a unique vision of modern Britain.

Part 8 · Jan 31, 2011

Outside the Court

They arrive, they smoke, they wait - armed robbers seeking redemption, life-long thieves, addicts and anxious fathers of wayward children. Hard exteriors hide soft centres, old lives exist in young bodies - ordinary people awaiting judgement on an unlovely stretch of pavement outside a London magistrates' court. Whilst waiting for their cases to be heard they reveal their lives, and the complexities of the human soul are laid bare. Tense and intimate conversations with the filmmaker illuminate stories that the magistrates hear daily. Director Marc Isaacs spent three months outside Highbury Magistrates Court and, in doing so, demonstrates how the eye of the camera has the ability to delve much deeper into character and motivation than the eye of the law. Consequently, the more we get to know the characters in this film, the harder it is to make easy judgements. Whilst the court must judge, the filmmaker need not.

Part 9 · Apr 22, 2011

The Old Man and His Bed

Over a single night, the filmmaker invites the viewer to experience the life of an elderly man tied to his bed.

Part 10 · Oct 16, 2012

The Road: A Story of Life and Death

On the oldest Roman road in the capital, filmmaker Marc Isaacs weaves together numerous poignant stories of loss and the search for belonging into a tapestry of the human experience. Keelta a young Irish woman leaves home to build a new life for herself on the road where Billy, the old Irish labourer is struggling to find a meaning to his life. Peggy, a 95 year old Jewish refugee from Vienna and Brigitte, a German born former air hostess, have both suffered bad husbands, whilst Iqbal, an unassuming Indian hotel concierge, awaits the arrival of his wife from Kashmir. A film that forces you to recognise the struggles and preoccupations of its characters as our own.

Part 11 · Dec 17, 2014

Outsiders

Our host Ben Ferguson and director Marc Isaacs travel to the Lincolnshire town of Boston to reveal a local story about communal fears about change and immigration.

Part 12 · Jan 7, 2016

Touched by Murder

The body of a young Polish woman is found in a suitcase on a London canal adjacent to a block of flats. The filmmakers invite the residents to reflect on how the murder has affected them. Through their stories we are provoked to think about our own relationship to the strangers living in our midst.

Part 13 · Jul 19, 2016

Men Who Sleep in Trucks

Award winning filmmaker Marc Isaacs explores the secret life of Britain's truckers, discovering an uncharted world of isolation, loneliness and the open road. Finding many of these men sleeping in their own trucks in lay-by car parks and service stations, this film is an intimate and poignant portrayal of modern masculinity on Britain's motorways.

Part 14 · Sep 7, 2017

Sisters

Two ageing siblings sit next to each other in a pub, waiting for instructions from the filmmaker which never come. They watch the time go passing by.

Part 15 · Sep 7, 2017

Moments of Silence

Built from the ground up from a series of introspective shots throughout Marc Isaacs's significant body of non-fiction work, Moments of Silence captures people feeling overwhelmed by difficult thoughts, pause and fall silent, seemingly dwelling on their past, contemplating their current ordeals, or worrying about their future.

Part 16 · Sep 7, 2017

Notes on Bangladesh

The residents of a Bangladeshi village anxiously wait for the heavy monsoon rains to clear. However, the rain continues and catastrophic flooding submerges their crops and houses.

Part 17 · Sep 7, 2017

Rainy Days

Splices together images from Isaacs's documentaries to create an experimental montage set to a soundtrack.