Films, Talks & Events
Britain’s Brightest
The films of Andrea Arnold & Lynne Ramsay
1 December 2023 — 3 January 2024
still uit American Honey (Andrea Arnold, GB/US 2016)
In their screenplays, which they write themselves, both reveal without judging the often merciless reality of life.
Idiosyncratic British filmmakers Andrea Arnold (1961) and Lynne Ramsay (1969) make films like their lives depend on it. Perhaps not in terms of quantity, but certainly in terms of urgency.
still from Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, GB 2002)
“Lynne Ramsay is one of those rare directors who creates the kind of films that just would not be there if she didn't make them.”
Tilda Swinton
still uit Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, GB/NL 2009)
Their films are characterised by a fascination for women, young adults and children, and feature recurring themes such as poverty, upbringing, being female, sorrow, guilt and death.
Rather than leaning on dialogue and explicit exegesis, their fiction films – both feature-length and shorts – make use instead of imagery, music and sound design to build their worlds. At times harsh and cruel, they also frequently depict silent sorrow and are always inescapable.
still from Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay, GB 1999)
still from Gasman (Lynne Ramsay, GB 1997)
still from Dog (Andrea Arnold, GB 2001)
Films, talks & events
Biographies
Lynne Ramsay (1969) is a Scottish film director, writer, producer and D.O.P., who has won awards at dozens of festivals including Cannes and Locarno for her four features Ratcatcher (1999), Morvern Callar (2002), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and You Were Never Really Here (2017), as well as five shorts. Her most recent short documentary Brigitte (2019) is a candid conversation between Ramsay and photographer Brigitte Lacombe, in which they discuss their processes and fascination with images.
Andrea Arnold (1961) is an English filmmaker and former actress. She grew up in poverty in a village outside London. Her single mother had her at the age of sixteen, and had four children by the age of twenty-two. Arnold began her career as a dancer on Top of the Pops and a presenter of children’s television programmes, following which she studied film in Los Angeles and went on to write and direct the short films Milk (1998), Dog (2001) and Wasp (2003), the last winning an Oscar.
Her five fiction features Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), Wuthering Heights (2011), American Honey (2016) and Cow (2021) also picked up awards at many film festivals. For example, three of Arnold’s five features have won the jury award in Cannes. Arnold also directed all seven episodes of the second season of HBO series Big Little Lies.
still uit Red Road (Andrea Arnold, GB/DK 2006)
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