Girlfriend in a Kimono is a short film shot in the summer of 2005, written and directed by Dominic Thackray who describes it as an anti-romance. Named after the 1987 song Girlfriend in a Coma by the Smiths, it tells the tale of autoslacker Vincent who falls for French burlesque dancer Candice, and who finds that consensus reality is unable to help him explain her lack of engagement. With most roles played by first-time actors it also features Penny Rimbaud (of Crass) as the enigmatic Rimbaud and Shizuka Hata (of Banzai) in two roles. The film's score is by Hey Is Dee Dee (Ramone) Home producer Ronni Raygun Thomas, and there is additional music from Saint Etienne, Crass and Talulah Gosh. It was produced by former Raindance producer Oli Harbottle and former East End Film Festival producer Rachael Castell.
The film was selected by the British Council[1] in early 2006 for inclusion in their film festivals programme[2] and was shortlisted for awards at the Raindance Film Festival, the Halloween London Short Film Festival and Coney Island Film Festival. Writer-director Thackray worked a succession of low-rent jobs, the last of which as a receptionist in a zero-star hotel on the left bank in Paris in 1995, where he occasionally rented out rooms by the hour. Soon after quitting he embarked upon a degree in graphic design. Since 1999 he has worked for the Raindance Film Festival in London as designer and programmer.[3] Girlfriend in a Kimono was his first film as director.
Some reviews of the film:
'A seductive sense of chaos, anarchy and romance. An original, spirited take on the madness and unpredictability of life in our capital city' Dave Calhoun, Time Out London
'Smart script and well-paced. This is the short Zach Braff might have made before embarking on Garden State' Adam Watkins, Six Degrees Film[5]
'Penny Rimbaud crops up as a malevolent presence in the groovy mini-fable Girlfriend in a Kimono, a nicely shot and perfectly formed short' Chris Anderson, Plan B magazine
Yes Sir, I Will was the fifth and penultimate album released in March 1983 by anarcho-punk band Crass. The album is a virulent attack on then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War and was set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the group's musicians.
Steve Ignorant is a singer and artist.
Penny Lapsang Rimbaud is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Festival, together with Phil Russell aka Wally Hope. In 1977 with Steve Ignorant, he co-founded the seminal anarchist punk band Crass and served as its drummer. Crass disbanded in 1984. Until 2000 Rimbaud devoted himself almost entirely to writing, returning to the public platform in 2001 as a performance poet working with Australian saxophonist Louise Elliott and a wide variety of jazz musicians under the umbrella of Last Amendment.
Christine Tobin is an Irish vocalist and composer from Dublin who has been part of the London jazz and improvising scene since the second half of the 1980s. She has been influenced by a diverse range of singers and writers including Betty Carter, Bessie Smith, Leonard Cohen, Olivier Messiaen, Miles Davis and poets William Butler Yeats, Paul Muldoon and Eva Salzman.
Wapping Autonomy Centre was a self-managed social centre in the London Docklands from late 1981 to 1982. The project was initially funded by money raised by the benefit single Persons Unknown/Bloody Revolutions, as well as benefit gigs by Crass and The Poison Girls.
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove to be the voice of British filmmaking, and it showcases features and shorts by filmmakers from around the world to an audience of film executives and buyers, journalists, film fans and filmmakers.
Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism, and environmentalism. The band used and advocated a DIY ethic approach to its albums, sound collages, leaflets, and films.
Omega Tribe are an English anarcho-punk band, formed in Barnet, London in 1981. With the roles of Hugh Vivian on guitar and vocals, Daryl Hardcastle on bass, Pete Fender on guitar and Pete Shepherd on drums, their first EP, Angry Songs, was produced by Penny Rimbaud and Pete Fender for Crass Records in 1982.
There is No Authority But Yourself is a Dutch film directed by Alexander Oey documenting the history of anarchist punk band Crass. The film features archive footage of the band and interviews with former members Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher. As well as reflecting on the band's past the film focusses on their current activities, and includes footage of Rimbaud performing with Last Amendment at the Vortex jazz club in Hackney, a compost toilet building workshop and a permaculture course held at Dial House in the spring of 2006.
João Costa Menezes is a London-based Portuguese film actor, film producer and film director.
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The McHenry Brothers are Edward Alexander McHenry and Rory Patrick McHenry, known professionally as the McHenry Brothers, are British film directors and screenwriters.
Ben Hibon is a Swiss animation director. Hibon was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where he completed studies in Fine Art. He moved to London in 1996 to study Graphic Design at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, followed by a master's degree at the same school.
Amelia and Michael is a 2007 British drama short film directed by Daniel Cormack, starring Anthony Head and Natasha Powell and executive produced by Richard Johns.
Stephan Chase was a British actor of Cornish and Scots descent. He was educated in Ireland and England. Before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company, he won a scholarship and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) later becoming an Associate of RADA.
Ray Panthaki is a British actor, producer, screenwriter and director.
Ruben Amar is a French screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known for the independent feature film Swim Little Fish Swim and his two last short films Checkpoint and A Girl Like You With a Boy Like Me.
Taking Stock is a 2015 popular, independent caper film written and directed by Maeve Murphy and starring Kelly Brook. It was shot on location in Kings Cross, London in homage to The Ladykillers. Some interior scenes were shot in Crystal Palace, London. The film tackles the issue of redundancy and unemployment in a lighthearted way as Kate fantasises about robbing the shop that has just made her redundant.
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