Zoe Guilford

The story of how Dr. George Daniels rose from Dickensian poverty to become the finest watchmaker of the modern era – and how Roger Smith embarked on an obsessive, seven-year quest to become his apprentice and equal.

A short verbatim documentary that tells the story of how the Isle of Man came to decriminalise homosexual acts in 1992. The film follows the parliamentary debates around changing the law, the febrile atmosphere on the island as activists protested at Tynwald Day, the 1991 general election campaign where gay sex seemed to be on the ballot, and the police raids of public toilets where gay men would meet. The film specially explores ideas around social shame and the media as an extra-judicial mechanism for social control in small communities.