British director Terence Davies to play the lead in the third retrospective at this year’s 56th San Sebastian Festival

06/20/2008

San Sebastian Festival will dedicate a retrospective to the British director Terence Davies, one of the most exceptional and innovating moviemakers of today’s European cinema, author of a highly personal and evocative work, pioneer in the search for new languages between fiction, autobiography and the documentary, placing particular emphasis on music. Some of his major prize-winning works are Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), The Long Day Closes (1992) and The House of Mirth (2000).

Following a cinematographic silence of almost eight years, Terence Davies presented his new film in the Special Screenings section of the Official Selection at the recent Cannes Festival, entitled Of Time and the City, received by international critics as one of the most inspired and emotional proposals to come out of recent cinema: “A small milestone in the emergence of British cinema to full maturity” (Derek Malcolm, The Evening Standard). “The best British film in years and maybe the best autobiographical film ever” (Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times).  “If Terence Davies were to make no other films, this one alone would assure him a secure place in the history of English art alongside Lowry or Lawrence.” (David Robinson, The Times). "A glorious triumph: a rich, funny, sad, angry and passionate personal essay about the postwar Liverpool of his childhood. This is a must-see" (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian Unlimited).

Of Time and the City, a documentary on everyday life in the Liverpool of the 50s and 60s, put together with Terence Davies’ unmistakable emotional and personal hallmark, an ironical, analytical look at the evolution of society, offers the chance to review a brief work proving itself to have a powerful influence on today’s most groundbreaking filmmakers.

Six features made between 1984 and 2008, the first of which consisted of three earlier shorts, give an idea of the detail and dedication with which Terence Davies makes each of his works. The frames, the camera movements, the extremely carefully chosen, eloquent music and unusual manner of working with the actors starring in his stories, all portray the memory of society from the angle of personal emotions, taking a new look at history from a point of view far removed from the major official events, with a discourse as lyrical as it is forceful. The passing of time, religion, homosexuality and family relations are other recurring subjects in Terence Davies’ work.

Music extracted from the collective memory plays an essential part in his films. From classical themes to songs by Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee or Doris Day, Terence Davies achieves a connection between image and sound only rarely achieved, surpassing the subsequent feats in this area of filmmakers as widely differing as Quentin Tarantino or Wong Kar Wai.

The director and writer of all of his films, occasional novelist and actor, Terence Davies was born in the Liverpool of 1945. He comes from a working-class Catholic family and is the youngest of ten children. Contemporary with directors like Derek Jarman, Peter Greenaway and Sally Potter, he began his career under the auspices of the British Film Institute with a first short already showing autobiographical traits, Children (1976). At the National Film School he made Madonna and Child (1980), continued in his third short, Death and Transfiguration (1983). These three works were brought together in what was to constitute his first feature, Trilogy (1984). 

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), a masterpiece on post-war Britain, was his international revelation, winning among others the Fipresci Award at Cannes Festival, the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival and the Golden Spike at Valladolid, not to mention the Critics’ Awards at both Los Angeles and Toronto. Honing his personal style, he produced yet another extraordinary movie, The Long Day Closes (1992), the tale of a lonely 11-year old boy who seeks refuge in the cinema, which yet again participated at the Cannes Festival and bagged the Golden Spike at Valladolid. 

With The Neon Bible (1995), Davies gave his career something of a new direction on adapting a novel by a North American writer, the popular author of A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, and shooting the movie in the USA, with actors like Gena Rowlands, Denis Leary and Diana Scarwid. Another literary adaptation, this time by the classic New York author Edith Wharton, gave rise to the exquisite romantic drama The House of Mirth (2000), starring Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Anthony LaPaglia and Laura Linney.   

Following Of Time and the City (2008), revealing a masterly use of archive material in constructing an emotional and critical discourse on urban evolution over the last 50 years, based on his native city, Terence Davies is already working on a new project scheduled for shooting this year.

Terence Davies is also the author of the novel Hallelujah Now (1984) and has produced radio adaptations of works by Virginia Woolf.

The San Sebastian Festival, at which Terence Davies will be present, will publish a complete study of his work, coordinated by Quim Casas, with the participation of various experts. 

Terence Davies completes the three retrospectives brought by the 56th San Sebastian Festival, alongside those dedicated to the Italian director Mario Monicelli and Japan in Black, an overview of Japanese film noir since the 20s until today. 

San Sebastian, 20 June 2008