Roehampton lecturer releases new feature film in cinemas
- Thursday, October 4, 2018
A new feature film, directed by new Roehampton lecturer Josh Appignanesi and starring a host of cultural figures is released this week.
Female Human Animal is a darkly romantic psychothriller about a creative woman disenchanted with what modern life has to offer her, shot in the real-life contemporary art world.
The film focuses on the writer Chloe Aridjis as she guest curates the Tate retrospective of her acquaintance, the iconic surrealist Leonora Carrington. Set between the real-life curation of the Tate show and something more fantasised, Female Human Animal sees Chloe increasingly disappointed by her milieu — and increasingly haunted by Carrington’s strange artworks.
Shot on a rare '80s video camera with a unique look, and deftly weaving fact and fiction, Female Human Animal is a darkly romantic fantasia of a woman who goes beyond societal norms, putting on screen the lurid unconscious of our new sexual politics.
Female Human Animal, which is directed by Josh Appignanesi, who is a lecturer in film production at Roehampton and teaches on the BA FilmIt has been described as “near-uncategorisable. It punctures the pretentiousness of the art world-- and it's a triumph” by Charlie Phillips in The Observer whilst Little White Lies called it “Unnerving, riveting and mesmerising.”
Josh Appignanesi, who has recently joined Roehampton says ‘It’s so great to be able to join Roehampton’s excellent film department – there’s no other that combines practical filmmaking and theory in such a rigorous way. Making Female Human Animal was a headlong ride into guerrilla film but it was also very much informed by scholarship on surrealism in film and influences going back to the origin of cinema. I’m really looking forward to continuing this kind of filmmaking and bringing those insights to students.’
Lourdes Melcion, Head of Department says ‘we are delighted that our students are being taught by creative innovators whose experience both enriches learning, and equips students with cutting edge skills and knowledge’.
The film tours cinemas throughout the UK until December, and streams on MUBI in November. All dates are on www.femalehumananimal.com and on twitter @FemHumanAnimal
Find out more about studying Film at Roehampton