‘DOG ALTOGETHER ’ ( Dir: Paddy Considine ) meets ‘ WASP ’ ( Dir: Andrea Arnold ) Alan, 10, lives with his troubled, abusive, alcoholic, mother Maggie. Whilst spending his summer holiday on the naughty step outside the front door of the North London council flat he shares with his mum, an unforeseen friendship changes everything. Alan spends his days trying to avoid Maggie’s outbursts, but with the summer holidays upon them, this has become increasingly difficult. Alan watches the daily going-ons of the estate. Jean, mid 50’s, lives in a ground floor flat in Alan’s block and spends her days hoarding rubbish. Her flat is overrun with old newspapers, flyers and assorted junk, a maze like burrow she has built around herself for years. She has recently acquired a young dog which she regularly brings out onto the front of the estate allowing him to run around the forecourt. After a confrotnation with the council, the two outcasts strike up a friendship. Alan helps Jean collect rubbish from the surrounding estates whilst his mother is out drinking with the other drunks at the bus stop at the bottom of the hill on which their flats are situated. As...

‘SMALL TIME’ ( Dir: Shane Meadows ) meets ‘THE BIG LEBOWSKI’ ( Dir: The Coen Brothers ) Set against the backdrop of Tory cuts and Cameron’s ‘ my father; work hard for your children ’ speech. We meet Tommy (25), unemployed, struggling to support his young family on a London council estate. He supports his baby daughter selling weed, although unfortunately for Tommy, his place in the criminal chain is so low he barely makes minimum wage. He wants a mainstream job and has no aspirations to be another ‘two bit gangster’. When his girlfriend Tanya, a mobile hairdresser, takes out a loan for a new sofa set, Tommy finds himself with only a week to find a grand to pay off local loan shark Kai. Kai was once the skinny, bullied kid at school, but the last ten years have transformed him into a heavyset, thug bouncer and loan shark. His school days provide him with a motivation to punish Tommy. With threats against himself and his family, Tommy and politically minded, side kick, Mark, plot a way to make some quick money. The pair become aware of a high demand for discounted sliced ham through conversations with...