Spanner Films is a small

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based documentary company founded by film director

Franny Armstrong Franny Armstrong (born 3 February 1972) is a British documentary film director working for her own company, Spanner Films, and a former drummer with indie pop group The Band of Holy Joy. She is best known for three films: '' The Age of Stupid' ...

in 1997.

Productions

The company's earliest production was '' McLibel'' (1997/2005), a documentary film about David Morris and Helen Steel, a postman and a gardener, who took on

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and won the case, with courtroom reconstructions by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

. '' Drowned Out'' (2002) follows an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n family who decide to stay at home and drown rather than make way for the

Narmada Dam The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River in Navagam near the town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, in the state of Gujarat, India. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to four Indian state ...

. ''

The Age of Stupid ''The Age of Stupid'' is a 2009 British documentary film directed by Franny Armstrong, with first-time producer Lizzie Gillett. The executive producer is John Battsek. The film is a drama- documentary- animation hybrid, which stars Pete Postleth ...

'', a drama-documentary-animation hybrid film about anthropogenic climate change, was released in 2009. The film was crowd funded via a bespoke website which raised £1.5m. ''Pie Net Zero'', a comedic short film about climate change and

biosequestration Biosequestration or biological sequestration is the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by continual or enhanced biological processes. This form of carbon sequestration occurs through increased rates of photosyn ...

efforts in South West England written by Armstrong and comedian Tom Walker and featuring Walker’s character

Jonathan Pie Jonathan Pie is a fictional comedic character portrayed by British comedian Tom Walker. Written by Walker and Irish comedian Andrew Doyle, Pie is a political correspondent who rants angrily about British, American, and Australian politics, gi ...

, was released in 2020.

Future productions

In March 2014 Spanner Films announced their new project ''Undercovers'', a television drama series about the undercover police officers who infiltrated the British activist scene for 50 years, and the women who unknowingly had long term relationships and children with the spies. The series is being written by

Simon Beaufoy Simon Beaufoy (; born 26 December 1966) is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's Colleg ...

, Alice Nutter, and

, and executive produced by

Tony Garnett Tony Garnett (3 April 1936 – 12 January 2020) was a British film and television producer, and actor. Best known for his thirteen-year association with director Ken Loach, his work as a producer continued into the 21st century. Early life and ...

References

External links

Website of Spanner FilmsWebsite for The Age of StupidPress release for Undercovers
Mass media companies established in 1997 Documentary film production companies {{film-studio-stub