Who we areUnique in the world of film - Spirit Level's a completely independent 'boutique' studio with just one criteria for the films it distributes, produces and acquires... we have to love them. So if you love any one of them, we hope you'll love them all.
Spirit Level was founded in 2001 to produce the film that came to be known as The Snake and the Stallion for the BBC, documenting the feud between Carroll Shelby and Enzo Ferrari. In 2002, we acquired and re-mastered the 1976 Claude Lelouch classic C'etait un Rendezvous.
Other projects have included the ambient label Panoramica, created in association with US partner and Ryko founder Don Rose, and Spirit Level's second production, The Ministry of Truth, which addressed the right of members of Parliament to lie to their constituents with impunity. It became the BBC’s highest rated political documentary of the year and introduced the company to the world of political campaigns and lobbying. The Ministry of Truth's "Elected Representatives (Prohibition of Deception) Bill" – which would have allowed voters to recall deceptive MPs – made it as far as a second reading in Parliament.
2009 saw the distribution side of the company grow to include classic films, including our Six of the Best series, and the production of The Fear Factory – an exposé of the ways in which media and political manipulation have led to a crisis in the UK’s criminal justice system. The Fear Factory's Empire Leicester Square screening led the formation of a coalition of 58 stake-holders and NGOs that now seeks to disseminate its findings to the government, the media and the public. Spirit Level was asked to develop and run the communications platform.
The Fear Factory has been requested for numerous governmental, civil service and stake-holder screenings – including Parliament, The Home Office, The Ministry of Justice, The Welsh Assembly, and The Police Federation – where it is starting to show signs of a significant impact.
Spirit Level's current and most ambitious project to date is The Price of Kings, a landmark series of documentaries each focusing on a world leader and their nation. Each episode examines the human cost of serving and leading a nation by focusing on it's former or current president, prime minister or king and revealing the price they have paid and the sacrifices they have made – be they professional, of conscience or family, moral or political – whilst shaping their country's history.
Spirit Level Film now produces, acquires, distributes and markets films, as well as managing and strategising communications for 'socially and politically relevant content' where a governmental voice is needed.
