In their seminal, intersectional first feature, directors Maureen Blackwood and Isaac Julien incisively interrogate Black British experience, fusing dramatic scenes of family life with documentary and mystical elements, to give richly imaginative witness to a ‘post-colonial’ identity that encompasses generational, class, sexual and gender differences. Vividly manipulated footage of urban unrest, police brutality, gay rights marches and the miners’ strike, alongside chopped-up sequences showing a buzzing London night life, are intertwined, creating a penetrating example of Sankofa’s disruptive critique of 1980s Britain. And it looks fantastic. The film screens in a simultaneous transatlantic premiere with the New York Film Festival.
(London Film Festival)
New York. Desperate for work, Christine takes a job selling tickets at the Variety, a sex cinema. This somewhat alienates her boyfriend Mark, who is investigating a story about union links with the Mob at the wholesale fish market. Christine finds herself drawn towards events on-screen, and also follows one of the customers, Louie, when he enters a sex shop, apparently on business. Louie, who is clearly both wealthy and powerful as a result of his shady activities, takes her to a ball game at Yankee Stadium. When he is suddenly called away, she again follows him and observes him at work.
Variety inverts the traditional narrative structure of cinema – whereby a man watches and a woman is watched – without showing, and thus flaunting, the object of female desire. Creating a counter-narrative to Hollywood, Bette Gordon asks the same question formulated by Teresa de Lauretis in “Oedipus Interruptus”: “How did Medusa feel upon seeing herself in Perseus' mirror just before being slain?”
Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Forum Archival Constellations
The older Clem gets, the more friends and family encourage her to try fruit. But when she finally decides to give fruit a go, her body won't cooperate, rejecting it again and again until she realises that not everyone can have fruit after all.
The layered structure on which BROKEN ENGLISH rests is the fictional ‘Ministry of Not Forgetting’ (led by Tilda Swinton and her trusty interviewer George MacKay), who take Marianne Faithful on a journey into a rich and event-filled past. Images, clips and interviews are interspersed with musical responses by Beth Orton, Courtney Love and Nick Cave, creating an inventive and soulful portrait of cultural icon Marianne Faithfull.
Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2025 - World premiere
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Documentary Special Presentation
