Sally Potter
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A fixture of London's avant-garde dance and performance art circuit since the 1970s, this English experimental filmmaker gained international critical attention and acclaim with "Orlando" (1993), a fantastic costume drama based on Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel.
Starring Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane, this elegant and stylized satire presents a fanciful critique of gender politics as it presents 400 years in the life of a man who becomes a woman to escape the constraints of England's assigned sex roles. Film critic Amy Taubin, writing in the Village Voice observed that that though the film is "internationally financed, with a Russian cinematographer and a French editor, it remains unmistakably a work of English culture."
Potter's films tend to reflect feminist concerns in a somewhat academic manner but her roots, she claims, "are show business roots, albeit avant-garde ones." She trained as a dancer, went on to become a choreographer, and in 1974 co-founded the experimental Limited Dance Company. Potter choreographed and directed avant-garde dance, theater and film throughout the 70s; a memorable instance of the latter is her deconstructionist reworking of film musical conventions in the short "Thriller" (1979). She also worked as a musician/lyricist at various European jazz and new music festivals before writing and directing her feature debut, "The Gold Diggers" (1983). Shot by an all-female crew and starring Julie Christie, the film depicted the circulation of gold, women and money.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Dance (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Life Events
1974
Formed (with Jacky Lansley) Limited Dance Company
1979
Directed, photographed, edited, and did sound recording for experimental black-and-white short "Thriller," a deconstruction of "La bohème"
1983
Feature directing and screenwriting debut, "The Gold Diggers" starring Julie Christie; shot with all-female crew
1986
Directed British TV documentary "Tears, Laughter, Fear and Rage" a four-part series on the politics of emotions
1989
Formed (with producer Christopher Sheppard) film production company, the London-based Adventure Pictures
1993
International breakthrough, romantic drama "Orlando" with Tilda Swinton in title role
1997
Wrote, directed, and starred in semi-autobiographical "The Tango Lesson"
2000
Co-produced, wrote, and directed "The Man Who Cried"
2005
Wrote and directed "Yes," the story of a passionate love affair between an American woman (Joan Allen) and a Middle-Eastern man (Simon Abkarian), written in direct response to events of 9/11
2007
Directed Georges Bizet¿s "Carmen" for English National Opera at the London Coliseum
2009
Helmed "Rage," which also featured Simon Abkarian
2012
Wrote and directed "Ginger & Rosa," starring Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, and Annette Bening
Family
Companions
