Shirley Collins

Sigur Rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's album Valtari. The idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom. These 16 films are the result. Sad, funny, beautiful and, occasionally, plain bewildering, they represent just some of the available emotional responses to this most contemplative album.

70 favourite traditional songs and rhymes presented as a pop-up book which comes to life through animation, puppetry & live performances. The beautiful visual world draws on the work of such classic children's illustrators as Arthur Rackham (Peter Pan) & John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland). A delightful musical score by Tony & Grammy winning composer John Du Prez, features everything form Northumbrian pipes to Baroque orchestra, folk guitar, early instruments, military band, fairground organ & even a singing sheep (courtesy of Percy Edwards).

One of the most important English singers of 20th-century traditional song, Shirley Collins and her sister Dolly stood at the epicentre of the folk music revival from the 1950s through to the 1970s. Directors Rob Curry and Tim Plester have created a poetic response to the life and times of this totemic musical figure. Four years in the making, and co-produced by Fifth Column Films and Burning Bridges, The Ballad of Shirley Collins is the fascinating first release from Fire Films – available to you exclusively through the Lush Player. A captivating study of heritage, posterity, and the true ancestral melodies of the people, this heart-warming film revolves around Shirley's tragic loss of her voice and struggle back to the limelight. And ultimately, it suggests that in these turbulent, increasingly untethered times, we may need Shirley Collins and all she represents more than ever.

Three 1-hour films exploring British folk music from the rebirth of English romance to the latter day revival.