Sally Potter
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Sally Potter is an English
film director
and screenwriter
.
and started making experimental short films, including Jerk (1969) and Play (1970). She later trained as a dancer and choreographer at the London School of Contemporary Dance, making both film and dance pieces, including Combines (1972), before founding Limited Dance Company with Jacky Lansley.
Potter became an award-winning performance artist and theatre director, with shows including Mounting, Death and the Maiden and Berlin. In addition, she was a member of several music bands (including Feminist Improvising Group
and The Film Music Orchestra) working as a lyricist and singer. She collaborated (as a singer-songwriter) with composer Lindsay Cooper
on the song cycle Oh Moscow! which was performed throughout Europe, Russia and North America in the late 1980s and commercially released. (Potter’s music work continued later when she co-composed with David Motion the soundtrack to Orlando, and produced the score for The Tango Lesson. Her most recent music work is as producer and co-composer with Fred Frith of the original tracks for Yes and Rage.)
Potter returned to filmmaking with her short film Thriller (1979) which was a hit on the international festival circuit. This was followed by her first feature film, The Gold Diggers (1983), starring Julie Christie
; a short film, The London Story (1986); a documentary series for Channel 4, Tears, Laughter, Fear and Rage (1986); and I am an Ox, I am a Horse, I am a Man, I am a Woman (1988), a film about women in Soviet cinema.
The internationally distributed Orlando
(1992) brought Potter’s work to a wider audience. Starring Tilda Swinton
, the film was based on Virginia Woolf
’s novel
and adapted for the screen by Potter. In addition to two Academy Award nominations, Orlando won more than 25 international awards, including the Felix awarded by the European Film Academy for the best Young European Film of 1993, and first prizes at St Petersburg, Thessaloniki and other festivals.
Her next film was The Tango Lesson (1996), in which she also performed, with renowned tango dancer Pablo Veron. First presented at the Venice Film Festival
, the film was awarded the “Ombú de Oro” for Best Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina, the SADAIC Great Award from the Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música, as well as receiving Best Film nominations from BAFTA and the US National Board of Review.
The Man Who Cried (starring Johnny Depp
, Christina Ricci
, Cate Blanchett
and John Turturro
), premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 and was followed by Yes (2004), with Joan Allen
, Simon Abkarian and Sam Neill
.
In 2007 Potter directed Bizet
’s Carmen
for English National Opera
at the London Coliseum, starring Alice Coote
and designed by Es Devlin.
Rage (2009) was the first feature ever to premiere on cell-phones. The cast includes Judi Dench
, Steve Buscemi
, Lily Cole and Jude Law
. Rage was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009 and nominated for a WEBBY for Best Drama in 2010.
Sally Potter had full career retrospectives of her film and video work at the BFI Southbank, London, and Filmoteca, Madrid, in 2009, and MoMA, New York, in 2010. She has a blog and message board at www.sallypotter.com.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
Career
Having left school at sixteen to become a filmmaker, Potter joined the London Film-Makers' Co-opLondon Film-Makers' Co-op
The London Film-makers' Co-op, or LFMC, was a British film-making workshop founded in 1966. It ceased to exist in 1999 when it merged with London Video Arts to form LUX....
and started making experimental short films, including Jerk (1969) and Play (1970). She later trained as a dancer and choreographer at the London School of Contemporary Dance, making both film and dance pieces, including Combines (1972), before founding Limited Dance Company with Jacky Lansley.
Potter became an award-winning performance artist and theatre director, with shows including Mounting, Death and the Maiden and Berlin. In addition, she was a member of several music bands (including Feminist Improvising Group
Feminist Improvising Group
The Feminist Improvising Group were a five- to eight-piece English free improvising avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in London in 1977...
and The Film Music Orchestra) working as a lyricist and singer. She collaborated (as a singer-songwriter) with composer Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper is an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians...
on the song cycle Oh Moscow! which was performed throughout Europe, Russia and North America in the late 1980s and commercially released. (Potter’s music work continued later when she co-composed with David Motion the soundtrack to Orlando, and produced the score for The Tango Lesson. Her most recent music work is as producer and co-composer with Fred Frith of the original tracks for Yes and Rage.)
Potter returned to filmmaking with her short film Thriller (1979) which was a hit on the international festival circuit. This was followed by her first feature film, The Gold Diggers (1983), starring Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
; a short film, The London Story (1986); a documentary series for Channel 4, Tears, Laughter, Fear and Rage (1986); and I am an Ox, I am a Horse, I am a Man, I am a Woman (1988), a film about women in Soviet cinema.
The internationally distributed Orlando
Orlando (film)
Orlando is a 1992 film based on Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando, Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth. It was directed by Sally Potter....
(1992) brought Potter’s work to a wider audience. Starring Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton
Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...
, the film was based on Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
’s novel
Orlando: A Biography
Orlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...
and adapted for the screen by Potter. In addition to two Academy Award nominations, Orlando won more than 25 international awards, including the Felix awarded by the European Film Academy for the best Young European Film of 1993, and first prizes at St Petersburg, Thessaloniki and other festivals.
Her next film was The Tango Lesson (1996), in which she also performed, with renowned tango dancer Pablo Veron. First presented at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, the film was awarded the “Ombú de Oro” for Best Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina, the SADAIC Great Award from the Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música, as well as receiving Best Film nominations from BAFTA and the US National Board of Review.
The Man Who Cried (starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
, Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
and John Turturro
John Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
), premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 and was followed by Yes (2004), with Joan Allen
Joan Allen
Joan Allen is an American actress. She worked in theatre, television and film during her early career, and achieved recognition for her Broadway debut in Burn This, winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1989.She has received three Academy Award nominations;...
, Simon Abkarian and Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
.
In 2007 Potter directed Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
’s Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
for English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
at the London Coliseum, starring Alice Coote
Alice Coote
Alice Coote is a British lyric mezzo-soprano.The daughter of the painter Mark Coote, she was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London , the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the National Opera Studio...
and designed by Es Devlin.
Rage (2009) was the first feature ever to premiere on cell-phones. The cast includes Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
, Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, Lily Cole and Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
. Rage was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009 and nominated for a WEBBY for Best Drama in 2010.
Sally Potter had full career retrospectives of her film and video work at the BFI Southbank, London, and Filmoteca, Madrid, in 2009, and MoMA, New York, in 2010. She has a blog and message board at www.sallypotter.com.
Feature film credits
- Thriller (1979)
- London Story (1980)
- The Gold DiggersThe Gold Diggers (1983 film)The Gold Diggers is a 1983 British film directed by Sally Potter and starring Julie Christie, Kassandra Colson and Siobhan Davies....
(1983) - I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman (1988)
- OrlandoOrlando (film)Orlando is a 1992 film based on Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando, Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth. It was directed by Sally Potter....
(1992) - The Tango LessonThe Tango LessonThe Tango Lesson is a 1997 drama film by British director Sally Potter. It is a semi-autobiographical film starring Potter and Pablo Verón, about Argentinian Tango....
(1997) - The Man Who CriedThe Man Who CriedThe Man Who Cried is an 2000 Anglo-French film, written and directed by Sally Potter. The film stars Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Turturro....
(2000) - YesYes (film)Yes is an 2004 film written and directed by Sally Potter and starring Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian, Sam Neill, Shirley Henderson, Raymond Waring, Stephanie Leonidas, and Sheila Hancock...
(2004) - RageRage (2009 film)Rage is a 2009 film written and directed by Sally Potter starring Jude Law and Judi Dench. The filmmakers said that the film created a new genre in filmmaking, called naked cinema.-Press releases:...
(2009)
Further reading
- Catherine Fowler, SALLY POTTER Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, November 2008
- Sophie Mayer, THE CINEMA OF SALLY POTTER A Politics of Love, 224 pages´, Wallflower Press, Wallflower Publishing Ltd., July 2009
External links
- Official site
- Blog
- An interview with director Sally Potter, guernicamag.com, interview, October 2005, accessed 5 July 2009
- Who is Sally Potter, youtube.com, video, 17 April 2007, accessed 5 July 2009
- Carmen, English National OperaEnglish National OperaEnglish National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
(ENO) site, accessed 5 July 2009 - Official Rage Site Official Rage Website
- Literature on Sally Potter