The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

Sophia Victoria Twisleton Wykeham-Fiennes (pron.: /ˈfaɪnz/; born 12 February 1967), known as Sophie Fiennes, is an English film director and producer.

Career

Following a foundation course in painting at Chelsea School of Art, Fiennes worked with director Peter Greenaway from 1987–1992. She managed the UK based dance company, The Michael Clark Company from 1992–1994 and began making her own films in 1998. With Greenaway she worked on films and TV projects including Drowning by Numbers, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Prospero’s Books. She was commissioned by BBC 2’s radical arts series TX to make a film about her friend and collaborator Michael Clark. It was screened at film festivals in Monaco, Toronto and Sydney.

Films

Because I Sing

The London contemporary arts organisation Artangel and Channel 4 (UK) commissioned the work. This film of Belgium choreographer Alain Platel’s Artangel London event brought sixteen diverse amateur London choirs together to create a choral portrait of the capital.

Hoover Street Revival

Fiennes’ feature documentary about a Pentecostal church in Los Angeles, was shot over the period of a year in South Central LA. It is an account of the charismatic ministry of Noel Jones in the Greater Bethany Church in Los Angeles. It was released theatrically in the UK June 2003 and screened in festivals Edinburgh, Adelaide, Israel, Amsterdam and London and in the USA at Egyptian Theatre, Redcat & Sundance Channel.

Show and Tell

Made for ZDF/Arte is about Les Ballets C. de la B.’s dance performance VSPRS. A the dimensions of ecstasy and trauma that form the core of the performance are captured, whilst interviews with Platel and the dancers themselves are also included.

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema

Fiennes’ documentary The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, is written and presented by the philosopher and psychoanalyst, Slavoj Žižek. It was described by Time Out London as “essential viewing for cinephiles”. Žižek delves into the hidden language of cinema, exploring what movies tell us about ourselves. Fiennes latest project was a feature documentary on Grace Jones.

Fiennes and Žižek have completed shooting on a followup, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology. The format is similar, with Žižek speaking from within reconstructed scenes from films. This time around, the films include Full Metal Jacket, Taxi Driver, They Live and The Sound of Music.

Family

She is the daughter of photographer Mark Fiennes and novelist/painter Jini Fiennes (Jennifer Lash), and the sister of Ralph, Martha, Magnus, Joseph and Jacob Fiennes. Her foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist.

Awards

Sophie Fiennes was awarded a NESTA fellowship in 2001. —Wikipedia