Onwards and Outwards: Random Acts of Intimacy & The Arbor

There will be a Q&A with BAFTA nominated producer of The Arbor Tracy O'Riordan following the screenings.

Random Acts of Intimacy

Her first time employing the verbatim technique that would become central to The Arbor, Clio Barnard’s Random Acts of Intimacy tackles its challenging subject with an honest and intelligent form that allows consideration into the brief sexual encounters that may occur between strangers. Surveying the impulsive and intense, often deeply romantic, relationships that exist during a fleeting moment, Barnard approaches the topic through a series of interviews. Placing an advert in a newspaper, recording real life experiences and setting this soundtrack to evocative imagery, Barnard constructs a crucial exploration into the most personal of subjects.

Random Acts of Intimacy, dir. Clio Barnard, 1998, 15 mins. Cast: Isla Fisher, Sibyl Buck, Sara Stockbridge

The Arbor

"You could say that The Arbor is the first British film of the Cameron era." Jonathan Romney, The Independent

Barnard’s second feature is a powerful documentary about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, whose talent emerged at the age of 15 when she wrote her first play, The Arbor, based on life on the tough Bradford estate where she lived.

It was performed at the Royal Court and she was commissioned to write Rita, Sue and Bob Too, which was made into the film of the same name in 1986, directed by Alan Clarke. In The Arbor, Barnard continues her use of the verbatim technique by having local actors lip-synch to interviews with Dunbar’s family and friends, and this is intercut with archive footage and a live restaging of Dunbar’s first play.

Clio Barnard's The Arbor is part of The Artangel Collection, an initiative to bring outstanding film and video works, commissioned and produced by Artangel, to galleries and museums across the UK. The Artangel Collection has been developed in partnership with Tate and is generously supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and using public funding by Arts Council England. 

The Arbor, dir. Clio Barnard, UK, 2010, 94 mins

Season Multi-Buy Offer: 
Attend 2-4 events for £8 per screening
Attend 5 or more events for £7 per screening

Onwards and Outwards is a nationwide programme of screenings, talks, and events, which aims to establish a dialogue around the conditions of production that women face when attempting to use the moving image as a means of expression.

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Onwards and Outwards is made possible with support from the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery.