Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Ticket buyers and pass holders to this event will have access to stream the film within the indicated window of time. Views must be completed within 24 hours of starting. Viewing of the film is restricted geographically to the US only. The Q&A with cast and crew will play following the film credits. Visit our FAQ for more info.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Film Available to Stream
Fri, Apr 9 at 12:01 am – Sun, Apr 18 at 11:59 pm PST
Description
Raucous music adorns this deep dive into the life of Poly Styrene (1957-2011), frontwoman of the pioneering English punk rock band, X-Ray Spex. A biracial woman operating in a majority-male, overwhelmingly white genre, Styrene made her biggest mark with her boisterous anthem, “Oh Bondage, Up Yours.” Co-directed by Styrene’s daughter Celeste Bell, this involving documentary offers up stirring band footage; recollections of bandmates, friends, and relatives; and most crucially, Bell’s memories of her brilliant, mercurial mother.
Closed captioning will be available for this film.
Paul Sng is a documentary filmmaker of British and Singaporean heritage whose work shines a light on the marginalized, the underrepresented, and those who live outside of the status quo. Among his works are Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain (2015), Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle (2017), and Social Housing, Social Cleansing (2018).
Celeste Bell is a singer and a writer who makes her filmmaking debut with Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché. Of why she decided to make a film about her punk-rock pioneer mother now, she says, “I believe my mother was way ahead of her time when she wrote the album, Germ-Free Adolescents, and the world she conjured up is in many ways the world we live in now, so it was time.”
Trailer
Film Details
Language English
Original Language Title English
Year 2021
Premiere California
Runtime 96
Country UK/United States
Director Paul Sng, Celeste Bell
Producer Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Matthew Silverman, Daria Nitsche
Executive Producer Nikki Parrott, Natasha Dack Ojumu, Jack Oliver, Mark Thomas, Lisa Marie Russo, Richard Coram, Bruno Waser
Editor Xanna Ward Dixon
Cinematographer Nick Ward
Music Marina Elderton
Print Source
Tyke Films
Rebecca Mark-Lawson
rebeccajmarklawson@me.com
https://tykefilms.com