- Company
Braidmade Films Ltd - Occupation
Producer - Country
United Kingdom
Braid Monika
Mind the Gap
The Mankoos, a Sikh family, who originate from Kenya, lived in London and recently emigrated to Australia, take you on a journey to India in search of their identity and a place of belonging. Dari, the father, ex pop star and London Underground driver, Tina, his wife and an IT expert, and their daughter Kiran, a fractious teenager venture on the trip which they hope will change their life. Dari’s drive and enthusiasm to show India is tested when the family is forced to stay in places that lack the basics of hygiene and the demanding Himalaya trek puts mollycoddled Kiran’s life at risk. There is a struggle to find affinity to the place. The film ends with Dari’s family life in Australia, where Dari reaches his conclusion: I have no home. Life is a journey! I’m totally free.
Dad Went Fishing
One day Juan, an ex-soldier from Cape Town and a bon vivant, had a vision of Jesus Christ while watching the soft porn Emmanuelle. This experience influenced him so deeply that he sold all his belongings and went to Pomfret, an ex-military base for Angolan soldiers in north South Africa. There he set up an orphanage for black children. Through this ambivalent character and his story, we learn about the state of the South African nation. We use Pomfret as a model of society in the aftermath of a political transformation and show people who are lost and seek help in religion as the collapse of the old regime left open a void that the new ideology has not yet filled. Pomfret is a village of outcasts who have lost the revolution.
A Sikh's Journey Home
The film features three years of life of a Sikh family, who originate from Kenya, lived for 30 years in London and immigrated to Australia. It is about their mutual dream to venture on the life changing journey to India. But the change in life comes itself and unexpectedly. Dari is a London Underground driver. Tina is a teacher and a successful IT specialist. Prabhjot studies nursing in Birmingham. Kiran finishes her college and cannot make up her mind if she should become a lawyer or a doctor. Dari wants to show his daughters India – the country of his roots. He wants to take his wife and children to places which are important to every Sikh. This is meant to be a lesson for his daughters, who enter their adulthood. So they can learn about the country of their ancestors and see what poverty is. So a tube driver’s daughters can appreciate their place in life. The fate is different. An offer of a good job for Tina in Australia make them decide to emigrate. The life journey is replaced by the life.
The Mankoos, a Sikh family, who originate from Kenya, lived in London and recently emigrated to Australia, take you on a journey to India in search of their identity and a place of belonging. Dari, the father, ex pop star and London Underground driver, Tina, his wife and an IT expert, and their daughter Kiran, a fractious teenager venture on the trip which they hope will change their life. Dari’s drive and enthusiasm to show India is tested when the family is forced to stay in places that lack the basics of hygiene and the demanding Himalaya trek puts mollycoddled Kiran’s life at risk. There is a struggle to find affinity to the place. The film ends with Dari’s family life in Australia, where Dari reaches his conclusion: I have no home. Life is a journey! I’m totally free.
Dad Went Fishing
One day Juan, an ex-soldier from Cape Town and a bon vivant, had a vision of Jesus Christ while watching the soft porn Emmanuelle. This experience influenced him so deeply that he sold all his belongings and went to Pomfret, an ex-military base for Angolan soldiers in north South Africa. There he set up an orphanage for black children. Through this ambivalent character and his story, we learn about the state of the South African nation. We use Pomfret as a model of society in the aftermath of a political transformation and show people who are lost and seek help in religion as the collapse of the old regime left open a void that the new ideology has not yet filled. Pomfret is a village of outcasts who have lost the revolution.
A Sikh's Journey Home
The film features three years of life of a Sikh family, who originate from Kenya, lived for 30 years in London and immigrated to Australia. It is about their mutual dream to venture on the life changing journey to India. But the change in life comes itself and unexpectedly. Dari is a London Underground driver. Tina is a teacher and a successful IT specialist. Prabhjot studies nursing in Birmingham. Kiran finishes her college and cannot make up her mind if she should become a lawyer or a doctor. Dari wants to show his daughters India – the country of his roots. He wants to take his wife and children to places which are important to every Sikh. This is meant to be a lesson for his daughters, who enter their adulthood. So they can learn about the country of their ancestors and see what poverty is. So a tube driver’s daughters can appreciate their place in life. The fate is different. An offer of a good job for Tina in Australia make them decide to emigrate. The life journey is replaced by the life.
Dust Dream
Charismatic coach Jagdish Singh and his boxing protégées have garnered success and awards, including the first Olympic medal for India, placing the dusty Indian city of Bhiwani firmly on the international sporting map. Yet controversial training methods remain under scrutiny by suspicious sports authorities with Coach Jagdish excluded from key champion fights. Dust Dream charts Jagdish’s fight for official recognition alongside the personal journey of three of his students – including one of the first female Indian recruits – as they dedicate their lives to the demanding regime of the Bhiwani Boxing Club and the promise of a better future. As Jagdish Singh prepares his boxers to compete at London 2012, he is simultaneously fighting for the recognition of his own name and that of his boxing club.
Baltoro Passage
Baltoro Passage is an intimate story set against the breathtaking views of Karakoram. It is also a multilayered portrait of children who are trying to understand the choices of their parents. But most of all it’s a story about love, passion and forgiveness. This emotional journey is led by Eliza Kubarska. Being a woman and an experienced alpinist, she often asks herself if her passion is worth the risk she takes? And – more importantly – can she be a mother and a mountaineer? To find the answer, along with an international group of grown-up children of acclaimed climbers, she sets out on an expedition along the Baltoro Passage on the Karakoram Highway. Our heroes will walk the same road that took their parents away. None of them is a professional climber. They will challenge themselves to face the past and to understand the force that once seduced their parents. The expedition will last one month and its main goal is to reach K2 base camp where parents of our protagonists are buried.
Ewa
The film tells the story of Ewa Jasiewicz, born in 1978, a British journalist and human rights activist of Polish origin. She graduated from Goldsmith College in anthropology, presently she concentrates on social work and free-lance journalism. She was one of the few western journalists present in Gaza during Israeli attacks in 2008 and 2009. Her reports from Iraq and Palestine were published in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Le Monde Diplomatique. She took part in a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza that was attacked in May 2010 by an Israeli commando, killing nine activists and injuring twenty others. The film follows Ewa's life for one year, accompanying her on her trips to Gaza, at left-wing rallies, etc., and examines why she became an activist. Is it a blemish in her CV or does she have a special sensitivity and awareness about what is happening in the world today?
On the Sea with Badjao
Badjao, the Borneo sea nomads, are pushed to extinction by modern civilization. This year, the Badjao will be forced to move from their native sea to the city suburbs. Their culture will vanish. We will witness their struggle for survival and the clash of two cultures. Alexan is the last compressor diver. His world is being rapidly swallowed by the world of tourist resorts and he is desperate to pass his ancient knowledge onto his son Sari. Will Sari become a compressor diver or will he submit to new opportunities that Westeners bring to his little island?
Charismatic coach Jagdish Singh and his boxing protégées have garnered success and awards, including the first Olympic medal for India, placing the dusty Indian city of Bhiwani firmly on the international sporting map. Yet controversial training methods remain under scrutiny by suspicious sports authorities with Coach Jagdish excluded from key champion fights. Dust Dream charts Jagdish’s fight for official recognition alongside the personal journey of three of his students – including one of the first female Indian recruits – as they dedicate their lives to the demanding regime of the Bhiwani Boxing Club and the promise of a better future. As Jagdish Singh prepares his boxers to compete at London 2012, he is simultaneously fighting for the recognition of his own name and that of his boxing club.
Baltoro Passage
Baltoro Passage is an intimate story set against the breathtaking views of Karakoram. It is also a multilayered portrait of children who are trying to understand the choices of their parents. But most of all it’s a story about love, passion and forgiveness. This emotional journey is led by Eliza Kubarska. Being a woman and an experienced alpinist, she often asks herself if her passion is worth the risk she takes? And – more importantly – can she be a mother and a mountaineer? To find the answer, along with an international group of grown-up children of acclaimed climbers, she sets out on an expedition along the Baltoro Passage on the Karakoram Highway. Our heroes will walk the same road that took their parents away. None of them is a professional climber. They will challenge themselves to face the past and to understand the force that once seduced their parents. The expedition will last one month and its main goal is to reach K2 base camp where parents of our protagonists are buried.
Ewa
The film tells the story of Ewa Jasiewicz, born in 1978, a British journalist and human rights activist of Polish origin. She graduated from Goldsmith College in anthropology, presently she concentrates on social work and free-lance journalism. She was one of the few western journalists present in Gaza during Israeli attacks in 2008 and 2009. Her reports from Iraq and Palestine were published in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Le Monde Diplomatique. She took part in a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza that was attacked in May 2010 by an Israeli commando, killing nine activists and injuring twenty others. The film follows Ewa's life for one year, accompanying her on her trips to Gaza, at left-wing rallies, etc., and examines why she became an activist. Is it a blemish in her CV or does she have a special sensitivity and awareness about what is happening in the world today?
On the Sea with Badjao
Badjao, the Borneo sea nomads, are pushed to extinction by modern civilization. This year, the Badjao will be forced to move from their native sea to the city suburbs. Their culture will vanish. We will witness their struggle for survival and the clash of two cultures. Alexan is the last compressor diver. His world is being rapidly swallowed by the world of tourist resorts and he is desperate to pass his ancient knowledge onto his son Sari. Will Sari become a compressor diver or will he submit to new opportunities that Westeners bring to his little island?
EAVE graduate Monika Braid is an independent film producer, who works on fiction and documentary films with international production companies and broadcasters. She curated and organised numerous film festivals and film events in the UK and whilst working with the Polish Cultural Institute/London initiated, developed and programmed the Polish Film Festival, which is now an annual event in London. In 2006 she set up her own company Braidmade Films. Her recent credits include BBC documentary productions: A Sikh’s Journey Home, 2008, Mind the Gap, 2010, (a PL/UK co-production with Screen West Midlands, Polish Film Institute, Media Programme and WorldView; distributed by DR International Sales), Wojtek – the Bear that Went to War, (with Polish Film Institute, TVP and MDR 2011) and Dad Went Fishing ( Polish Film Institute and TVP, 2011).
Braidmade Films Ltd
183 Anerley Road
SE20 8EF London Braidmade Films was set up by Monika Braid in 2006 in order to develop and produce independent films. Since 2009 it has been run jointly by Monika Braid and Kasia Skibinska. Based in London we are keen to work with international talent to produce films of high quality: fiction, documentaries, and experimental; films that relate to a universal human experience and appeal to viewers from various cultural backgrounds. Since 2012 Braidmade Films opened its outlet in Krakow Braidmade Films PL. Braidmade Films Acts as advisory body to Polish and British filmmakers wishing to form co-productions.
183 Anerley Road
SE20 8EF London Braidmade Films was set up by Monika Braid in 2006 in order to develop and produce independent films. Since 2009 it has been run jointly by Monika Braid and Kasia Skibinska. Based in London we are keen to work with international talent to produce films of high quality: fiction, documentaries, and experimental; films that relate to a universal human experience and appeal to viewers from various cultural backgrounds. Since 2012 Braidmade Films opened its outlet in Krakow Braidmade Films PL. Braidmade Films Acts as advisory body to Polish and British filmmakers wishing to form co-productions.
East European Forum - 2012
Project Market - 2013
