Author Archive
Coming soon from PACHA FILMS Executive Producer : Angus Macqueen, Ronachan Films MAX libera el primer avance de ‘Masacre de los Mormones’, serie basada en el ataque a los LeBarón
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WHOLE TEAM NAMED AND UNNAMED who made or took part in this film shot totally inside RUSSIA with all the risks that entailed. and those here: Paul Mitchell, Monica Garnsey, Guy Creasey and those at the BBC who took the risks and made it possible: in particular Marc Perkins and Mustafa Khalili.
Congratualtions on the RTS recognition to all those NAMED AND UNNAMED who took the huge risks to be involved in this film shot INSIDE Russia after the invasion of February 2022. And to the team outside: Monica and Paul, Marc and Mus, Guy, Tania and Masha….and many others. Streaming now on BBC iplayer
CONGRATULATIONS TO PACHA FILMS, LUIS DEL VALLE, THOM WALKER and the whole team of THE CHAPICO DOSSIER for the 2023 nomination. Angus Macqueen, Executive Producer.
WINNER OF THE THE 2023 DIG FESTIVAL DOCUMENTARY AWARD, MODENA, ITALY. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WHOLE TEAM – PARTICULARLY THOSE WHO TOOK THE RISK OF FILMING INSIDE RUSSIA. THIS AWARD IS FOR THEM. Feature Documentary covering the stories of normal Russians in the period since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, from all sides, those…
Here is a link to Sasha Djurkovic’s remarkable film about Domestic Abuse in Jordan. In the present climate speaks to all. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0f2td97/abused-surviving-domestic-violence-in-jordan Executive Producer: Angus Macqueen
Director: Angus Macqueen Producers: Roxana Portase and Robert Macqueen Executive Producer: Grant Best Editor: Matt Lowe Music Javier Weyler
We’re pleased to announce that Maradona ’94: The Fall is now streaming worldwide on DAZN TRAILER CLICK HERE Director: Angus Macqueen Producers: Roxana Portase and Robert Macqueen Executive Producer: Grant Best Editor: Matt Lowe Music: Javier Weyler
This collection of award-winning documentaries presents a vibrant, challenging and varied picture of Russia, spanning the optimistic days of Glasnost and the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 all the way through to Vladimir Putin’s vision of the modern world. The films were made by British, Russian and Ukrainian filmmakers working together, enabling…
Unquiet Graves is now available to watch on All 4. Shot in Lviv, Ukraine in June 1991 at the moment the Soviet Union was collapsing, Unquiet Graves provides an insight into some of the complex issues at the heart of the present catastrophe. Shot by Jacek Petrycki. Edited by Peter Lindley. Directed by Tom Roberts.
The Return: Life After Isis is available now on Sky Documentaries
The Return: Life After Isis is available now on Sky Documentaries
Ronachan Films are proud to announce “Brian Friel: Shy Man, Showman”, a co-production with Walk on Air Films, is showing Thursday 6th January at 10:15pm on RTÉ 1 and streaming on BBC IPlayer. The playwright Brian Friel stands among the giants of Irish literature. Those closest to him along with stars such as Sinéad Cusack,…
In a uniquely personal journey to mark the centenary of the partition of Ireland in 1921 award winning reporter Peter Taylor revisits the films he has made over the past 50 years, to reflect on the controversial issue of a united Ireland which runs through them like the lettering in a stick of rock. With…
Peter Taylor: Ireland After Partition is streaming now on BBC iPlayer “Delightful, human simplicity… blends authority and intimate engagement” – 4 Stars – Ben Dowell, The Times “Poignant and timely” – 4 Stars – Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian
The Return: Life After Isis is available now on Sky Documentaries “Impossible not to feel the need to talk about, that in itself marks it as a potent documentary” – 4 Stars – James Jackson, The Times “You begin simply marvelling at the access… this is a film that makes you interrogate yourself more than…
UK TV Premiere of The Return: Life After ISIS, a unique portrait of a group of Western women who pledged their lives to ISIS, but now want to return home to restart their lives. Showing on Sky Documentaries HD, Tuesday 15th June at 9pm.
RadioTimes Pick of the Week For fifty years, Peter Taylor has taken viewers to the darkest – and occasionally the lightest – corners of the troubles. For the centenary of the partition, the BAFTA winning reporter revisits the stories he told in the past, to bring fresh vision to the present state of Northern Ireland….
Huge congratulations to Teresa Griffiths for Director: Factual and Claire Guillon for Editing: Factual wins at this years Craft Awards. Big thanks to everyone at Erica Starling, Ronachan Films, Enter Yes, Kaboom, Hannah Peel and BBC.
A year in a nation in crisis. In one of his last interviews, Hisham Al Hashimi, Iraq’s foremost security expert, described the resurgence of IS as an al-Qaeda-like insurgency. Three weeks after this interview, on July 6th 2020, Al Hashimi was murdered in front of his home in Baghdad. This incident caused shockwaves – and…
now screening at Hot Docs, Seatle, Warsaw, Sheffield…… “stirring, sobering and vitally humane” – Variety
The powerful documentary provides exclusive access to a group of Western women – including Shamima Begum – who devoted their young lives to ISIS. The film is an Alba Sotorra Production in association with MetFilm and Ronachan Films, directed and produced by Alba Sotorra.
Congratulations to Teresa, Rachel and the whole LEE MILLER team.
Congratulations to Jesus Abad and the whole team from Ronachan, Pacha and Horne Productions on El Testigo being nominated for best doumentary for the 2020 Emmys. For those who have not had a chance to see this moving film about the nature of peace and forgiveness, it is now available on NETFLIX: EL TESTIGO or…
Congratulations to the whole team on winning the 22nd Media Awards for “Children’s Rights in One World”.
Martin Kelner on BBC Five Live: April 23,2020: Do watch it if you are a fan of football, a fan of Maradona or a fan of recreational drugs. Colin Murray on BBC Five Live: The best thing I have ever seen on Maradona….so good…so good.
LEE MILLER – A Life on the Frontline follows one of the most remarkable female icons of the 20th century throughout her transformation from supermodel to an internationally famous war reporter. Tune in on Sat 2nd May @ 10:30pm on BBC Two
In September 2018 the legendary Diego Maradona became Manager of the 2nd division Mexican football team, Los Dorados de Sinaloa, who were at the bottom of the table. Last seen misbehaving at the World Cup in Russia, dire predictions were made when Diego, famous for his addictions as well as his football, descended on Culiacan, home…
The real Diego Maradona comes to life before your eyes in Mexico – The Guardian, click here for the full article A Ronachan Films and Pacha Films production now available on Netflix
“A cross between Tarrant on TV and Dispatches – a real eye-opener” The Times “Deeply troubling” The Observer Produced and Directed by Dimitri Collingridge Executive Producer: Sam Collyns now on ALL 4 – click here to watch (and watch out for Boris Johnson’s ‘Dead Cat’)
On 27 August 1979, Lord Mountbatten, great uncle to Prince Charles, was blown up at sea by the IRA off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. Three others were killed on the boat that day, including two teenage boys. Later that afternoon, in a second strike, the IRA killed 18 British soldiers, across…
“Fine documentary – a timely reminder of assassination and mass murder on the Irish border 40 years ago and why managing the peace process is so vital today, on all sides.” Lionel Barber, Financial Times “Sam Collyns’s powerful commemoration of one of the darkest days of the Trouble”…“Essential viewing for our leaders.” Jasper Rees, Daily Telegraph…
Congratulations to Sam Collyns, Ramita Navai and the whole team on their achievement. Nominated for 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Documentary. Shortlisted for 2019 Grierson Awards for Best Single Documentary – International and Best Current Affairs Documentary.
“NO ONE KNOWS THE COLOMBIAN ARMED CONFLICT BETTER THAN JESUS ‘CHUCHO’ ABAD COLORADO” This June 28th Netflix premieres The Witness/ EL Testigo: Cain and Abel Produced by Pacha Films, Ronachan Films and Horne productions for Caracol Televisión.
UN SEX ABUSE SCANDAL Congratulations to Sam Collyns and Ramita Navai, Anna Davis, Guy Creasey and the amazing team behind the making of our film. The documentary has been praised as a “powerful exploration of the human toll of the UN sex abuse scandal, giving voice to the victims who so long have been voiceless.”…
Picture Enhancement: Adam Dolniak TITLE: The UN Sex Abuse Scandal PRODUCTION COMPANY: Ronachan Films BROADCASTER: Channel 4 The jury highly commended this documentary for a grade that felt cinematic and beautiful, adding immensely to the emotion and mood of the film. Astounding work. Powerful, stand out and with huge impact.
LEONORA CARRINGTON – THE LOST SURREALIST Congratulations to Teresa Griffiths and Rachel Hooper, as well to the creative team: Adam Finch, Neil Harvey, Andy Cowtone and Kris Kelly… as well as to everyone at ERICA STARLING and RONACHAN FILMS!
Screening between the 25th and 28th of October, in various Cine Colombia theatres. Click here for more details. “The Witness / El Testigo” follows in the footsteps of the Colombian photographer Jesús Abad Colorado , who has dedicated himself to capture in images, during 25 years, the conflict of the country and its protagonists .
‘careful, dignified and gruelling’ – The Guardian There have been over 1700 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against UN peacekeepers in the last 15 years. Ramita Navai reveals why it keeps happening despite UN promises to stamp it out. (Channel 4 2018) Produced and Directed by Sam Collyns Produced and Reported by Ramita Navai…
Angus Macqueen’s three-part series ‘Our Drugs War’ is now available to watch on All 4. Watch here For more information on the series click here
‘The UN Sex Abuse Scandal review – careful, dignified and gruelling’ – The Guardian Read Lucy Mangan’s full review here ‘… how child rape became endemic among armed UN peacekeepers drafted to guard the most vulnerable’ – The Sun Read George Harrison’s full review here ‘Aid organisations accused of ‘complacency verging on complicity’ over…
There have been over 1700 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against UN peacekeepers in the last 15 years. Ramita Navai reveals why it keeps happening despite UN promises to stamp it out. The UN Sex Scandal aired on Channel 4, Wednesday 1st of August and is available to watch on All4 – click…
Click here to watch Angus Macqueen’s 3 part series on Cocaine Celebrated documentary-maker Angus Macqueen spent 18 months on the cocaine trail across Latin America from the dirt-poor valleys of Peru to the shanty towns of Rio. Here he recalls the journey that revolutionised his views and explains why he believes ‘the dandruff of…
The murders of his family in rural Colombia could have inspired a young Jesus Abad Colorado to pick up a gun; instead he bought a camera. Jesus dedicated the next 25 years to documenting Colombia’s war and became an acclaimed photojournalist. A year after Colombia’s president signed peace with FARC guerrillas Jesus goes in search of…
WINNER 2018 GRIERSON AWARD FOR BEST ARTS DOCUMENTARY British surrealist Leonora Carrington was a key part of the surrealist movement during its heyday in Paris and yet, until recently, remained a virtual unknown in the country of her birth. This film explores her dramatic evolution from British debutante to artist in exile, living out her days…
BBC iPlayer are screening Angus’s film GULAG, first shown in 1999, at the Telluride Film Festival last year, and now again for the centenary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. You can also check out Peter Hitchens’ latest review here . Reviews of the first screening: “the television documentary that gives you time to think….A masterpiece”…
“Soul-shrivelling to hear about the resurgence of the far right in a country you hoped had been innoculated against it for all time by the horrors of the Holocaust” The Guardian Violent right wing extremism in Germany has surged to its highest level since the downfall of the Third Reich – with a record number of…
“Soul-shriveling to hear about the resurgence of the far right in a country you hoped had been inoculated against it for all time by the horrors of the Holocaust” The Guardian Click here for full review: As hate unfolds in Europe, big questions are asked First broadcast on BBC Tuesday the 19th of September 2017.
“Thoughtful, beautiful, poetic, genuinely original” The Guardian “Bonkers” The Times Click here for full review “When poetry meets porkers” First broadcast on Sunday the 2nd of July 2017 on BBC4.
END OF EDEN first broadcast on ARTE – Saturday 22nd July 2017 at 19:55 CEST For more details go to: FRENCH – http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/062895-000-A/les-paradis-perdus-d-amazonie GERMAN – http://www.arte.tv/de/videos/062895-000-A/das-ende-von-eden
“thoughtful, beautiful, poetic, genuinely original film” The Guardian OINK looks at man’s relationship to pigs, exploring the confused mix of violence and sentimentality, from factory farming to pigs as pets. Veering wildly from a talking baby pig to live zeno-transplantation, Ralph Steadman’s cartoons for George Orwell’s Animal Farm to wild hogs being machine-gunned from a helicopter,…
RTS AWARD 2017 SCIENCE AND NATURAL HISTORY Congratulations to Guillermo Galdos and Alexander Houghton at Pacha Films and to the whole team. Thanks to our broadcaster, Channel 4. “A real first for this genre with unforgettable, revelatory footage. The narrative never shied away from big ethical questions” 2017 RTS Programme Awards Available on Netflix outside the…
For the first time, cameras go inside a police station run by and for women, revealing a unique perspective on what’s really going on in Indian society. Following the Delhi rape case in December 2012, hundreds of these police stations were set up across India. Parmila Dalal is second-in-command at the Women Police Station in…
Yet more congratulations to Ed and the team….. for the prestigious Dupont-Columbia University Journalism Awards https://journalism.columbia.edu/dupont
***** “One tale of heartbreak makes moving television, the same tale repeated over and over becomes a national travesty…this real scandal has to be investigated” The Daily Mail “It was as if the Church and State were taking revenge for the Sixties…..expect a sequel to this awful story” The Daily Telegraph In the 30 years after…
ITV Current Affairs A Ronachan Films production for ITV In the 30 years after the Second World War, half a million women had a child adopted – most were babies born to unmarried mothers. This documentary special in the Exposure strand reveals the stories of some of the many thousands of women pressured by Church and State into…
“A remarkable tale, sensitively handled” Daily Telegraph “Haunting and moving in equal measure…almost hypnotic” Guardian In June 2014, the world was transfixed by images of men emerging from the deepest Amazonian rainforest for the first time. This tribe were among the last people living on our planet who have had no contact with the…
In August 2013 Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum were jailed for six years and eight months each for trying to smuggle 1.5 million pounds worth of cocaine from Peru to Spain. Their arrest highlighted that Peru has taken over from Colombia as the cocaine capital of the world. This remarkable documentary has secured unprecedent access…
Winner of International Emmy 2016 for Best Current Affairs / Winner of Royal Television Society Award 2016 for Best International Current Affairs Film/ Winner of Amnesty International’s 2015 Award for Best Human Rights Documentary/ Winner of Broadcast Award 2016 for Best News & Current Affairs Programme/ Nominated for a Bafta Award 2016 for Best Current Affairs…
“startling access… potent counterbalance to the sensationalism of Breaking Bad” New York Times “Extraordinary access… surreal meetings” **** Guardian “This compelling documentary blends urban myth and hard evidence to stylish effect” Daily Telegraph “perilous, quixotic quest” Daily Mail (Film of the Day) Angus Macqueen and Guillermo Galdos attempt what the combined forces of the…
How did a boy from a backward town on the Caribbean coast become a writer who won the hearts of millions and whose works changed our perception of reality? The answer is the incredible story of Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of the critically-acclaimed masterpiece “100 Years…
The Kids Who Can’t Stay Awake tells the extraordinary story of a medical mystery which started when increasing numbers of British children and teenagers began developing the mysterious and incurable sleeping disorder, narcolepsy. CHANNEL 4 (2015) Director: Nicola Comber Executive Producer: Helen Littleboy Camera: Brendan Easton, Tom Sidell, Nele Hecht, Jasleen Sethi Editor: Jake…
In a Phnom Penh karaoke bar in 2009 Australian musician Julien Poulson hears the extraordinary voice of poor village girl Srey Thy. The result is romance and the birth of the Cambodian Space Project, a thrilling musical explosion that wows audiences worldwide with sounds from the 1960s and ‘70s golden age of Cambodian rock. Filmed…
A series of three one hour films which follow in the footsteps of the most famous adventurer in European history. In 1271, at the dawn of the modern age, Marco Polo left Venice on a ground-breaking journey to China which would take him 23 years to complete. A Very Modern Journey repeats this journey with…
“a film about one of the towering leaders of the age made by one of our foremost film-makers” Times (Pick of the Day) The Choice tells Suu Kyi’s extraordinary personal and political story, how she turned from Oxford housewife into national leader and then an international icon of resistence. Filmed over a year of tumultuous…
“Angus Macqueen’s riveting film” Telegraph “atmospheric documentary” Sunday Telegraph “the week’s most powerful documentary” Daily Express When 33 Chilean miners emerged from underground before a worldwide audience of over a billion, they made a pact not to speak about what happened underground. Now six of them remember the untold story of the first seventeen…
“the programme of the week by light years” Times “a raw, absorbing account” Telegraph “compelling, extraordinary” Daily Mail Director: Angus Macqueen Producer: Kate Horne Executive Producers: Christoph Jorg (for Pumpernickel Films), Angus Macqueen Camera: Roger Chapman, Mike Eley Editor: Brand Thumim A Co-production with Pumpernickel Films Ingrid Betancourt was the world’s most…
“inspiring” Sunday Times “heartening, sometimes shocking” Daily Mail “The amazing story of Ade Adepitan, who went back to Nigeria to find out why he got polio there” Bill Gates on Twitter “Making this film has changed my life. It was always very personal territory for me. When the polio virus attacked me as…
“the war on drugs…now does more harm than the drugs themselves… after watching this grimly fascinating film… it’s hard to disagree” Telegraph “extraordinary series… eye-opening” Daily Mail This major three-part series examines the global story of our drugs policies from the streets of Edinburgh to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, from consumption to demand…
Finalist, The Rory Peck Award for Features 2012 “another fascinating film from the exemplary This World strand” The Times Early in 2011 millions of Egyptians came together to bring down President Hosni Mubarak in what became the defining moment of the ‘Arab Spring’. Children of the Revolution followed three of the young revolutionaries…
Winner of the 2009 News and Documentary Emmy award Neda Agha Soltan became the international symbol of protest after the disputed elections in Iran in June 2009 when her death was caught on a phone camera and uploaded onto the internet. This film pieces together the story of her death in the context of…
After confronting death deep below the Chilean desert, the 33 trapped miners were then thrust into the glare of the international media’s spotlight. Invitations flooded in from around the world for guest appearances on TV shows and charity events, even from Sir Bobby Charlton. This film is a vivid and moving account of how three…
“all the hopes and fears about immigration are perfectly condensed in this documentary” Sunday Times “thoughtful report” Daily Mail “well-timed documentary” Telegraph The Invasion of Lampedusa charts how a crisis on a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean is changing the face of immigration in Europe. In the wake of the ‘Arab…
“this is the one unmissable programme of the week” Times “often heartbreaking, but also uplifting” Mail on Sunday Each year in Britain, 135,000 people end up in hospital with a traumatic brain injury. Most at risk are young men and the effects, though often hidden, can be profound and life-changing for the people affected,…
“jaw-dropping” Radio Times This documentary tells the inside story of Britain’s biggest ever crash for cash insurance fraud ring. The long-running scam involved more than 60 people in rural County Durham and put up the annual cost of car insurance in the area by £100. Although some of the culprits are organised criminals, many…
“unique, darkly fascinating, well constructed and well worth a look” Time Out “an interesting ethical debate” TV Times “quirky, eye-opening quest” Daily Mail In this provocative film for the First Cut strand, journalist Storm Theunissen examines the reality of the body parts trade – by trying to sell every bit of her self that…
“compelling telling of an extraordinary tale” Guardian “intriguing” Daily Mail “slick account” Mail on Sunday When Edward Davenport was jailed for 8 years for masterminding a £4.5 million global fraud earlier this year, lurid stories emerged of a playboy lifestyle on the fringes of high society and every paper featured pictures with a host…
“a great film…possibly the funniest thing on television this week” Sunday Times Pick of the Week “a startling snapshot of Britain today” Sunday Express “jaw-dropping” Independent “funny, original and very English. Superb” Guardian Across Britain, a small and secretive band of men are donning comic book style costumes and taking to the streets to…
“bold documentary….brilliantly moving” Guardian “tender” Radio Times “fascinating, sweet and faintly excruciating” Time Out During his teens, Michael Ogden lived in a neighbourhood – home of “Shameless” and the biggest council estate in Europe – where being gay was far from accepted. So he lived a double life – to the outside world he…
“tactful and affecting documentary” Daily Telegraph This film in a series about the world’s most extreme human bodies explores the extraordinary life of Edward Hernandez who at the age of 24 was just 27 inches tall. Because of his tiny size, Edward was used to unwanted attention from strangers but in 2010 his life…
A personal exploration into the world of the Spiritualist Church. In the London town of Walthamstow, Richard Alwyn is drawn into a world where the dead continue to speak to their living relatives. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, this is a film about grief and loss and a faith in survival beyond the grave. Can its…
It’s every parent’s nightmare. They wave their grown-up children off on an overseas adventure of a lifetime and never see them again. Lost Abroad – The Parents’ Story is the story of two families whose children died abroad and the families’ quest to uncover the truth behind their deaths. Erica Duggan heard her terrified son…
19 year-old shopgirl, Leanne McCarthy was the victim of serial con-man Wayne Gouveia. In a meticulously organised deception, Wayne convinced Leanne he was an MI5 agent, luring her into a world of stake-outs, car chases, safe houses and narrow escapes. But as their relationship got darker, Leanne’s doubts about Wayne grew. As his behavior became…
This is the story of what happens to babies who are born too soon – boldly told from the point of view of the machine that keeps them alive. For the 50,000 babies who are born prematurely each year, the incubator provides a chance of survival. As they begin life inside this plastic womb surrounded…
In the autumn of 2008, Al Gentry from Albemarle, North Carolina, achieved his goal of 22 years hard work – he had Betty Neumar arrested for the murder of his brother Harold who was Betty’s husband back in 1986. Only then did it emerge that Harold Gentry was just one of Betty’s former husbands. She…
"For those who wonder, Ronachan means 'Seals Point' in Gaelic. The point looks out over the islands of the Inner Hebrides in Western Scotland."