Sophie Fiennes
Encyclopedia
Sophia Victoria Twisleton Wykeham-Fiennes (icon; born 12 February 1967), known as Sophie Fiennes, is an English film director and producer.
from 1987–1992. She managed the UK based dance company, The Michael Clark
Company from 1992–1994 and began making her own films in 1998. With Greenaway she worked on films and TV projects including Drowning by Numbers
, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
and Prospero's Books
. She was commissioned by BBC 2’s radical arts series TX to make a film about her friend and collaborator Michael Clark
. It was screened at film festivals in Monaco, Toronto and Sydney.
and Channel 4 (UK) commissioned the work. This film of Belgium choreographer Alain Platel's Artangel London event brought sixteen diverse amateur London choirs together to create a choral portrait of the capital.
, is written and presented by the philosopher and psychoanalyst, Slavoj Žižek
. It was described by Time Out London as "essential viewing for cinephiles". Žižek delves into the hidden language of cinema, exploring what movies tell us about ourselves. Fiennes latest project was a feature documentary on Grace Jones
.
Fiennes and Žižek have completed shooting on a followup, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. The format is similar, with Žižek speaking from within reconstructed scenes from films. This time around, the films include Full Metal Jacket
, Taxi Driver
, They Live
and The Sound of Music
.
and novelist/painter Jini Fiennes (Jennifer Lash
), and the sister of Ralph
, Martha
, Magnus
, Joseph
and Jacob Fiennes. Her foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist.
Career
Following a foundation course in painting at Chelsea School of Art, Fiennes worked with director Peter GreenawayPeter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
from 1987–1992. She managed the UK based dance company, The Michael Clark
Michael Clark (dancer)
Michael Clark is a Scottish dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Michael Clark was born in Aberdeen and began traditional Scottish dancing at the age of four. In 1975 he left home to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, and on his final day at the school he was presented with the Ursula...
Company from 1992–1994 and began making her own films in 1998. With Greenaway she worked on films and TV projects including Drowning by Numbers
Drowning by Numbers
Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British film directed by Peter Greenaway. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:The film's plot centers on three women — a grandmother, mother and daughter — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses each woman successively drowns her husband...
, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 romantic crime drama written and directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, and Alan Howard in the titular roles...
and Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters...
. She was commissioned by BBC 2’s radical arts series TX to make a film about her friend and collaborator Michael Clark
Michael Clark (dancer)
Michael Clark is a Scottish dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Michael Clark was born in Aberdeen and began traditional Scottish dancing at the age of four. In 1975 he left home to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, and on his final day at the school he was presented with the Ursula...
. It was screened at film festivals in Monaco, Toronto and Sydney.
Because I Sing
The London contemporary arts organisation ArtangelArtangel
Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, radio and the web...
and Channel 4 (UK) commissioned the work. This film of Belgium choreographer Alain Platel's Artangel London event brought sixteen diverse amateur London choirs together to create a choral portrait of the capital.
Hoover Street Revival
Fiennes’ feature documentary about a Pentecostal church in Los Angeles, was shot over the period of a year in South Central LA. It is an account of the charismatic ministry of Noel Jones in the Greater Bethany Church in Los Angeles. It was released theatrically in the UK June 2003 and screened in festivals Edinburgh, Adelaide, Israel, Amsterdam and London and in the USA at Egyptian Theatre, Redcat & Sundance Channel.Show and Tell
Made for ZDF/Arte is about Les Ballets C. de la B.’s dance performance VSPRS. A the dimensions of ecstasy and trauma that form the core of the performance are captured, whilst interviews with Platel and the dancers themselves are also included.The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Fiennes' documentary The Pervert's Guide to CinemaThe Pervert's Guide to Cinema
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema is a 2006 documentary directed and produced by Sophie Fiennes, scripted and presented by Slavoj Žižek. It explores a number of films from a psychoanalytic theoretical perspective....
, is written and presented by the philosopher and psychoanalyst, Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
. It was described by Time Out London as "essential viewing for cinephiles". Žižek delves into the hidden language of cinema, exploring what movies tell us about ourselves. Fiennes latest project was a feature documentary on Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
.
Fiennes and Žižek have completed shooting on a followup, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. The format is similar, with Žižek speaking from within reconstructed scenes from films. This time around, the films include Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
, Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
, They Live
They Live
They Live is a 1988 science fiction/horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Frank Armitage ....
and The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
.
Family
She is the daughter of photographer Mark FiennesMark Fiennes
Mark Fiennes was an English photographer and illustrator.Mark Wykeham-Fiennes was born at Dalton, Northumberland, the eldest of five children of industrialist Maurice Fiennes, who was later knighted by Prime Minister Harold Wilson for his services to the export of British heavy engineering...
and novelist/painter Jini Fiennes (Jennifer Lash
Jennifer Lash
Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne Lash was an English novelist and painter....
), and the sister of Ralph
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
, Martha
Martha Fiennes
Martha Fiennes is a British film director, writer and producer. An award-winning director, Fiennes is best-known for her films Onegin and Chromophobia .-Career:...
, Magnus
Magnus Fiennes
Magnus Fiennes is an English cross-genre composer, record producer and songwriter. He has worked with artists such as Shakira, Pulp, Tom Jones and Morcheeba...
, Joseph
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...
and Jacob Fiennes. Her foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist.