Screen Porty Volunteers: our 2024 film loves!
2024 had some cracking films, don’t you think? We have put our personal lists together to see what were the big hitters for us. At the top of Screen Porty volunteers lists are:
Also on our list to share are the following films. These were seen on streaming platforms, some are not from 2024 but all made an impact on us:
The Remarkable life of Ibelin (doc)
Using World of Warcraft-style animation, this documentary tells the story of Mats Steen, a boy with muscular dystrophy whose online popularity was only revealed after his death
Strike an Ancivil war (doc)
Strike: An Uncivil War is a 2024 documentary film from director Daniel Gordon about the Battle of Orgreave, which took place during the 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike.
Daughters (doc)
Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C. jail. For most of the daughters, the dance will be the only time they will be able to touch or hug their fathers during sentences, some of which are as long as 20 years. Daughters is a feature documentary co-directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton,
Monkey man
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Patel stars as a man with no name, scarred by a brutal childhood, who ekes out a meager living in underground fighting rings. But when he finds a way to rise up and infiltrate his city's corrupt elite, he kicks off an explosive campaign for retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him as a boy.
This Beautiful Fantastic
When Bella Brown, a reclusive young woman, is threatened with eviction unless she gives her garden a makeover, she sets to work, watched by her scornful and curmudgeonly next-door neighbour, Alfie.
Still: A Micheal J Fox Movie
Michael J. Fox recounts his 1980s heyday and private struggle to come to terms with his Parkinson’s diagnosis in this moving documentary. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?
Aftersun
Aftersun is a 2022 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Charlotte Wells in her feature directorial debut. The film is loosely based on Wells' childhood and follows an 11-year-old Scottish girl on holiday with her father at a Turkish resort on the eve of his 31st birthday.
Small Things Like These
Small Things Like These takes place over Christmas in 1985, when devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own. The film reveals truths about Ireland's Magdalene laundries -- horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform "fallen young women." Adapted from the Booker Prize nominated novel by Claire Keegan.
Alien: Romulus
This truly terrifying sci-fi horror-thriller takes the legendary “Alien” franchise back to its iconic roots. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
American Fiction
A novelist fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
The Wild Robot
Roz is one of a million ROZZUM units shipped daily across the world. But when the robot’s ship goes down and her container lands on an uninhabited island, she must evolve beyond her factory settings to survive. Roz isn’t wired to think, feel or become emotionally attached, but by building relationships with the native animals, Roz soon develops a new found emotion world of beauty and companionship. Animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s beloved, award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, The Wild Robot.
The Holdovers
From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker -- and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.