Project Detail

Self Made

Synopsis

Artist Gillian Wearing places an ad asking, 'Would you like to be in a film? You can play yourself or a fictional character'.
 
Her film 'Self Made' documents the intense, revealing and sometimes disturbing experiences of seven people who sign up for the project. They take part in a series of workshops led by Method acting teacher Sam Rumbelow, who uses different techniques to help them access their memories and personal experiences so that each participant can create a vivid and authentic moment of performance. Gradually, we see five members of the group working towards their own individual end scenes, filmed dramatic vignettes that directly emerge from their personal histories. The scenes range from episodes of violence, to images of imagined love, via an excerpt from Shakespeare's King Lear. As the lights finally go off in the studio, the participants leave the experiment having for the first time confronted and articulated deep truths about themselves.

Details

Year
2011
Type of project
Features
Running time
84 mins
Format
4K Digital, 16mm, Tape
Director
Gillian Wearing 1st Feature
Producer
Lisa Marie Russo, Duane Hopkins
Co-Producer
Samm Haillay
Executive Producer
Marc Munden, Kate Ogborn
Editor
Daniel Goddard, Luke Dunkley
Screenwriter
Gillian Wearing, Leo Butler
Director of Photography
Roger Chapman
Production Designer
Jamie Leonard
Sound
Malcom Hirst, Tim Barker
Composer
Daniel Pemberton
Principal cast
Asheq Akhtar, Lesley Robinson, Dave Austin, James Baron, Lian Stewart, Simon Manley, Jerome Prince

Production Status

Production Company

Fly Film

63 Hornsey Lane Gardens
London
N6 5PA
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8340 3085

UK Film Council

British Film Institute
21 Stephen St
London
W1T 1LN
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7255 1444

Page updates

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