bardo
noun (masculine)
1. (Argentina, colloquial Spanish)
Chaotic, messy,
conflict-ridden situation;
trouble, commotion,
a total ruck.
Based proudly in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire in the UK, we are Agustina Figueras and Alexander Craig of Bardo North, an independent film production company that looks to make small films about big ideas — for us, everything is in the development of simply having something to say.
PREVIOUS WORK
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A desperate mother struggles to protect both herself and her teenage daughter from the continued harassment and attacks of local adolescents and so, repeatedly rebuffed and frustrated by the authorities, turns ultimately for support to a far greater power than can be found on her failing human plane.
A first collaboration in film for Alexander (with Oliver Goodrum) produced THIS IS VANITY, a response to the shocking news of the deaths in 2007 of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter, Francesca Hardwick. The film has provoked a profound reaction in its varying audiences, as highlighted most clearly on Omeleto YouTube, where it has been watched nearly fifteen million times since 2017. Fierce debate continues to roll constantly through the tens of thousands of comments left by viewers, acting as a continual reminder of the responsibility of this work to probe and to fight and to platform: sometimes it really can make a difference.
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Seeking to escape her past life, Julia moves into a new apartment building where everything and everyone appears to be plotting against her. An elderly neighbour, however, presents Julia with the ugly reality from which she is trying to hide: it is simply the dual pressures of motherhood and marriage – and the distinct lack thereof.
Written and directed by Agustina, BORA BORA was produced and shot on location in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and picked up several awards on its international festival circuit (including at BAFICI, Shorts Mexico, San Francisco Frozen, Spokane and Festival Internacional Hacelo Corto). The film featured in its lead role the wonderful Anita Gutiérrez, who has gone on to both star in and write on the new Disney+ show MOMFLUENCER: THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES.
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Cara is a damaged, institutionalised child, hungry for connection but unable to empathise with others. Alma is a Lithuanian teenager who’s the carer for her sickly younger sister Maija. When the two sisters visit the hospital where Cara is a long-term patient, Cara is quick to spot parentless outsiders like herself, but Alma is the one she wants – and Maija is in the way.
After studying under her on the part-time MA Screenwriting course at London College of Communication (University of the Arts London), Alexander was invited by Tessa Sheridan to collaborate on the development and writing of an original feature narrative, resulting in the first-stage short film UNMOURNED. Though the film was never released, the promise of the work was clear – its newcomer lead, Isla Johnston, was subsequently cast in the starring child role on the Netflix production, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT – and so planning for progression onto the feature-length version remains under discussion.
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Michael is on the brink of a new life with a new girlfriend and a new job in a new town where no-one knows him and his past – until his name returns to the news and his dream of anonymity fractures, leaving him scrambling to keep his past hidden and his new, precious life safe.
INIQUITY was written together with the director, Oliver Goodrum, as a follow-up to his and Alexander’s previous short, THIS IS VANITY, with the central focus of the narrative trained on how the life of the antagonist from the latter had evolved across the ten years since the events of the earlier film. Alongside its strong festival run, INIQUITY also featured in numerous media outlets on its release — including Short of the Week, Film Shortage and Directors Notes — and has continued to attract a sizeable audience on both on its original and sister release platforms, Vimeo and Omeleto YouTube.
OUR BIOGS
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Agustina is an Italian-Argentinian writer and producer with over fifteen years’ experience collaborating with notable directors on both sides of the Atlantic (Pablo Trapero, Marcelo Piñeyro, Paula Hernandez, Emmanuel Lubezki, Emir Kusturica), as well as contributing to several acclaimed Pinball London productions, including as Associate Producer on LISTEN (directed by Ana Rocha and winner of two Lions at the 2020 Venice Film Festival) and Assistant Producer on DICIANNOVE (directed by Giovanni Tortorici and currently on its international theatrical run).
Agustina was also part of Film Hub North’s Creative Producer Lab 2023 and is both on the board of and produces the Hebden Bridge Film Festival.
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Alexander is a British-Irish writer and director with three completed narrative short films to date, films which have won awards at festivals around the world (Flickers’ Rhode Island, Carmarthen Bay, Shanghai, Zinebi, Bermuda and more) and which continue to attract attention and debate across audiences online to this day.
Alexander has collaborated with a number of directors over the years (Oliver Goodrum, Tessa Sheridan, Simon Halsall, Rollo Hollins), working from the off in tight collaboration with others and seeing his role as one of offering writing allyship in the application of chaos and craft to others’ voices and stories, and where nothing is set in stone, ever, and where everything is up for grabs, always.
Alexander is a member of BAFTA and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, and graduated recently from the Post-Production cohort of Screen Yorkshire’s Screen Crafts & Digital Skills Bootcamp.