From Lift to The Road: The Films of Marc Isaacs

Release Order (Recommended)

#1

Lift

Released: 2001 // Runtime: 25m // Rating: 7.2

Director Marc Isaacs installs himself in the lift of a typical English tower block. People start talking to him, and we discover their lives.

2001

#2

Travellers

Released: 2003 // Runtime: 48m // Rating: 4.8

A very emotional look at the loneliness and heartache often conjured whilst travelling by train.A powerful and stunning piece with a focus on love lost, love found and regret.

2003

#3

Calais: The Last Border

Released: 2003 // Runtime: 59m // Rating: 5.8

A stark portrait of a town in decline. Brilliant juxstaposition between the scoff faced English day trippers searching for cheap booze, and the cold, snivelling asylum seekers existing on the streets. Thrown into the mix are two English ex pats, trying to make money against the odds.

2003

#4

Philip and His Seven Wives

Released: 2005 // Runtime: 70m // Rating: 6.2

Philip and His Seven Wives (2006) a film made for the BBC’s prestigious Storyville strand, tells the intriguing story of a former messianic rabbi who believes that he communicates directly with God. Isaacs’ captivating and intimate documentary is a portrait of this unconventional family whose lives revolve around faith and obedience to the head of the household.

2005

#5

Someday My Prince Will Come

Released: 2005 // Runtime: 50m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2005

#6

All White in Barking

Released: 2007 // Runtime: 73m // Rating: 5.8

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.

2007

#7

Men of the City

Released: 2009 // Runtime: 58m // Rating: 5.6

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.

2009

#8

Outside the Court

Released: 2011 // Runtime: 60m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2011

#9

The Old Man and His Bed

Released: 2011 // Runtime: 7m // Rating: 0.0

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

2011

#10

The Road: A Story of Life and Death

Released: 2012 // Runtime: 75m // Rating: 5.3

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.

2012

#11

Outsiders

Released: 2014 // Runtime: 19m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2014

#12

Touched by Murder

Released: 2016 // Runtime: 17m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2016

#13

Men Who Sleep in Trucks

Released: 2016 // Runtime: 17m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2016

#14

Sisters

Released: 2017 // Runtime: 8m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2017

#15

Moments of Silence

Released: 2017 // Runtime: 5m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2017

#16

Notes on Bangladesh

Released: 2017 // Runtime: 24m // Rating: 0.0

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.

2017

#17

Rainy Days

Released: 2017 // Runtime: 6m // Rating: 0.0

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

2017

Chronological Order

Watch in the order of the story timeline for a different perspective on the franchise.

#1

7.2

Lift

2001 // 25m

#2

4.8

Travellers

2003 // 48m

#3

5.8

Calais: The Last Border

2003 // 59m

#4

6.2

Philip and His Seven Wives

2005 // 70m

#5

0.0

Someday My Prince Will Come

2005 // 50m

#6

5.8

All White in Barking

2007 // 73m

#7

5.6

Men of the City

2009 // 58m

#8

0.0

Outside the Court

2011 // 60m

#9

0.0

The Old Man and His Bed

2011 // 7m

#10

5.3

The Road: A Story of Life and Death

2012 // 75m

#11

0.0

Outsiders

2014 // 19m

#12

0.0

Touched by Murder

2016 // 17m

#13

0.0

Men Who Sleep in Trucks

2016 // 17m

#14

0.0

Sisters

2017 // 8m

#15

0.0

Moments of Silence

2017 // 5m

#16

0.0

Notes on Bangladesh

2017 // 24m

#17

0.0

Rainy Days

2017 // 6m

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