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Further and Particular

An old man remembers the troubled relationship he had with his mother, the erotic games, and the phantasms in which she managed to attract him. The main line gives but a small idea of the film, of its erotic style, its choreographic dimension, its strange fragmentation. The film drifts along an ever-renewed invention, intertwining lavish dances, mask games, musical comedy, parodies, permanent repression of the body offering itself as an object of desire to the viewer who is literally seduced.’

Further and Particular

7.0 1988
The Trial of Richard III

A modern trial by jury at the Old Bailey of one of the most famous events in English history. Conducted on the afternoon and evening of 21st February, 1984, it was held almost 500 years after the death of the last of the Plantagenet Kings, King Richard III, on Bosworth Field, the last of the English monarchs to die in battle. The charges are that King Richard III did, in or about the month of August, 1483, in the Tower of London, murder Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince Richard, Duke of York. Presiding over the case is Lord Elwyn-Jones, the former Lord Chancellor, and he is ably supported by two of Britain’s leading criminal Queen’s Counsels. A fascinating trial which presents evidence which offers the viewer the opportunity to join the jury in weighing the evidence and reaching his or her own verdict before discovering that of the television jury.

The Trial of Richard III

NR 1984
The Happy Medium

Doris Stokes was a Spiritualist superstar who publicly demonstrated - to the satisfaction of many thousands - that there is Life After Death, and we can contact those who have 'passed over'. At private sittings, in Spiritualist churches and in theatres and cinemas, the homely 65-year-old medium would chat away to 'the dead' as if they were next-door neighbours. Doris Stokes was not clairvoyant - she didn't see things or go into a trance. Doris was clairaudient - someone who works like a radio receiver tuning in to the other side, and picking up the voices of 'the dead' and passing their messages on to the living. Sceptics will undoubtedly accuse her of fraud, but to most of her audience, who are shattered by grief and who have failed to come to terms with bereavement by more conventional forms of religion or philosophy, Doris Stokes brings good tidings of comfort and joy, and a more solid contentment than can be found in a conventional church or through a bottle of tranquillisers.

The Happy Medium

NR 1984
The World of Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George are renowned for presenting themselves as ‘living sculptures,’ fusing their art and identity with the external world. Their exploration of the bleak urban surrounds of 1980’s London, powerfully evoke the desires and tensions of its disillusioned youth alongside their own eccentricities. Poetic narration combines with vivid imagery that moves between the startlingly beautiful, the humorous, and the absurd. Church spires and city streets, youth and drunks, dancing and tea-drinking all take on an affecting symbolism when viewed from the unique perspective of Gilbert & George.

The World of Gilbert & George

1.0 1981
Taxi Driver Two

This revolves around Tim West, an advertising executive who is developing a Channel 4 programme on cooking for terrorists. Disillusioned by the hyper-reality of the media world, he joins Robert de Niro evening classes, but also falls under the pastoral influence of Johnny Morris. From the opening images of night-time, car-ridden streets accompanied by languorous sax on the soundtrack, through to the sub-Chandleresque voice-over narration, Taxi Driver II strikes you with its clever knowingness. But it's more than just a clever nod in the direction of contemporary film noir, just as it's more than an incestuous joke at the expense of the London based media world: it's a telling comment on the contemporary media culture of postmodernism.

Taxi Driver Two

NR 1987
Breaking the Silence

In a society, which labels lesbians as masculine, man-hating and less than female, how are lesbians who choose to have children treated? This excellent film gives a voice to a variety of women from varying ages, races and class backgrounds. Some of the women were lesbians when they decided to have children; others became lesbians after being involved in heterosexual relationships. As lesbian mothers they all have to learn to cope with living in a hostile society, with the ever-present possibility of losing their children - if they still have them - their lovers, or their work. Breaking the Silence offers an engaging and compelling picture of an area of female existence which, for many, has had to remain hidden for fear of losing their children. From those who have been brave enough to speak out in this film what emerges is a voice of strength and courage in the face of outrageous bigotry.

Breaking the Silence

NR 1985
Days

'When I was your age I wanted to go to Italy more than anything in the world ... old buildings .. , sunlight. Blue skies ... the air full of the sound of bells in the morning and at dusk.' A mother, waiting for a visit through a hospital day, looks back on her life. Dreams haunt her, fantasies seduce her, memories crowd in on her, distorting the drab reality of her day to day existence. Must her daughter follow in her footsteps? How can she find a way to guide her towards a brighter future?

Days

NR 1981
Towards Intuition: An American Landscape

Having created a set of works on analogue video between 1976 and 1980 we (Vida) decided to go to America to drive across the dream of America in search of the source of intuition. The US had provided not only Americans but people around the world - such as we three British people - with a promise of improvement, not only of our circumstance, but of ourselves. As a sometimes musician, poet, writer and painter I’d become familiar with the use of improvisation to create various artefacts and moments and recognised that element when constructing moving images on a timeline into an act of durational statement.

Towards Intuition: An American Landscape

NR 1981
Our Darren

Darren Lillywhite was 17, mischievous and high-spirited. He and his mates were a lively lot, always getting into scrapes around the village of Cranleigh, where they grew up. Darren had owned his prized Vauxhall Astra for just a few weeks. One August evening in 1987 he drove it into a roundabout and was thrown from the car. Now he is paralysed from the neck down and can do nothing for himself. Darren has been at Stoke Mandeville Hospital for ten months, but his family is determined to get him back home. Terry and Marilyn Lillywhite have built a special extension to their house. If Darren makes it, his family, neighbours and friends will all be joining in the celebration. No one can help liking Darren. 'I don't feel bitter about it at all,' he says. 'It's like being born again, really....'

Our Darren

NR 1989
Destination D-Day

On a cold February night in 1944, two British frogmen crawled on to a Normandy beach from the freezing sea to take samples of sand for scientific analysis from under the noses of German sentries. It was one of the most audacious of all the incredible operations that went into the planning of the Allied invasion of Europe. Throughout Britain during the 12 months before June 1944, men had been searching for the weak points in the vast German defences - all to ensure that D-Day, when it came, would be successful. The late Sir Huw Wheldon, then a major in the 6th Airborne Division, landed with his unit on 6 June to help defend the left flank of the invasion force against counter-attack. In this programme he tells the story of the Allied plans and preparations which helped ensure the success of Operation Overlord.

Destination D-Day

NR 1984