Work in Progress: Skeletons

Writer-director Nick Whitfield has expanded his short about a team of exorcists into a feature. Considering it only took about 30 seconds into this preview before we were feeling like British comedy has died on its arse, lord knows what the full-length will be like. Audiences can decided for themselves when it purges the SXSW Film Festival of its demons. With Andrew Buckley and Paul Dallison.

Work in Progress: The Freebie

Writer-director-actress Katie Aselton has some good mumblecore pedigree. She’s married to Mark Duplass. After screening her new film The Freebie at Sundance, she’s taking it to SXSW. Aselton and Dax Shepard play a couple who decide to spice up their love life by agreeing to let each other have a one night stand, no strings. The combination of sexual license and challenge is reminiscent of last year’s Humpday. Doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing, so we’ll have to wait to see how this one plays out.

Work in Progress: Four Lions

Chris Morris’s satire has been neatly pitched as a “jihadist comedy.” A group of English Muslims prepare a terrorist attack in a manner that makes Dad’s Army look like G.I. Joe. The funny clip puts us firmly in the gang of idiots territory that’s been mined by Stiller, Ferrell, et al. Still, there are some other interesting things going on. Take the head honcho’s spot-on Ray Winstone accent, which calls into question the curious status of the British immigrant. The use of a video camera to film their exploits implies that the eventual attack is as much about spectacle as it is about furthering al Qaeda’s cause.

Work in Progress: Grailhunter

Squally will lay odds that Damned drummer Rat Scabies doesn’t find the Holy Grail. He may have a future as a blokey TV presenter, though. He should also go in search of a good dentist.

Work in Progress: Let Each One Go Where He May

Chicago-based filmmaker Ben Russell’s new film is a journey through Surinam. Two brothers trace the route taken by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago. The film is constructed of 13 10-minute takes. This is one of them.

Work in Progress: Manuel de Ribera

Manuel retreats to an uninhabited island in southern Chile. He plans to start his own community, free of modern ills. First, though, he needs some wood. This gets him involved with some colorful characters in Pablo Carrera and Christopher Murray’s film.

Work in Progress: The Posters Came From the Walls

Depeche Mode are sort of the electronic version of Morrissey, inspiring downright zealotry among their hordes of fans. Those devotees are the subject of a new documentary by Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller and his collaborator Nicholas Abrahams. Fandom can, of course, give rise to even stranger artistic re-imaginings and re-purposings. This extract reminds us, however, that a marching band version of “Personal Jesus” is a truly tragic idea.

Work in Progress: L’epine dans le coeur (Thorn in the Heart)

In-between Be Kind Rewind and the forthcoming The Green Hornet, director Michel Gondry has produced this personal documentary. The subjects are his aunt Suzette Gondry and her son Jean-Yves. Suzette worked as a teacher in rural France. Gondry squeezes her for stories. In the process, he learns more about himself and where he came from. Considering the fraught parental relationships that turned up in The Science of Sleep, this should be more than initially meets the eye. In this extract, Jean-Yves shows off his Super 8 home movies.

Work in Progress: Rejoice and Shout

Even Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins would have to concede that while God is not great, he’s been responsible for a decent tune or two. Well, maybe not Dawkins. Don McGlynn’s documentary looks at how what we know as gospel music came to be and profiles some of its legendary performers. In this excerpt, Sister Rosetta Tharpe psyches up “Down By the Riverside.”

Work in Progress: Arias With a Twist

The forthcoming documentary Arias With a Twist tells of the collaboration between puppeteer Basil Twist and performance artist Joey Arias on their acclaimed show. As well as interviews with the participants and footage of their inspirations, director Bobby Sheehan has also commissioned some animation from Mort Todd, a former editor-in-chief of Cracked.