Christine & Lift

Double-bill of two deceptively simple British films, including a rare Alan Clarke drama, chosen by Gillian Wearing.

We’re delighted to be screening Gillian Wearing’s first feature Self Made. She spent her formative years in Birmingham, and we asked her to choose a couple of films which have helped to shape her own work.

CHRISTINE is a 1987 TV drama directed by Alan Clarke (Scum, Penda’s Fen), a stripped-down portrait of a teenage heroin addict in suburban Hounslow which refuses to offer the viewer anything in the way of judgement or meaning.

It’s accompanied here by LIFT (dir: Marc Isaacs, UK 2001, 23 mins - pictured), a brilliant documentary filmed in the lift of a council block over the course of several weeks.

Lift is available on DVD from Second Run, along with two more of Marc Isaacs' films.