IN US THEATRES AND ON MUBI US Feb 2019
ALSO ON BFIPLAYER IN UK Feb 2019
Shot in the real-life contemporary art world, FEMALE HUMAN ANIMAL is a darkly romantic psychothriller about a creative woman disenchanted with what modern life has to offer her.
When writer Chloe Aridjis curates the Tate retrospective of the surrealist Leonora Carrington, an elusive, brooding man appears, seeming to offer more. But as she descends into a world of obsession, is she hunter or hunted?
With the Volksbuhne’s Marc Hosemann, Patrick O’Kane (Game of Thrones) and Angus Wright (Peepshow), appearances from cultural figures like Juliet Jacques, Marina Warner, Adam Thirlwell, Stewart Home and Tom McCarthy, scored by Andy Cooke with new music from Tearist and the iconic O.M.D., Female Human Animal also pays homage to its guiding feminist spirit, the striking artist and writer Leonora Carrington.
Director: Josh Appignanesi. Starring and co-devised with: Chloe Aridjis. Exec Prod: Jacqui Davies. Prod: Sam Dobbyn. 73 Mins / UK 2018
JOSH APPIGNANESI – DIRECTOR
The writer/director behind award-winning fiction features like religious psychodrama Song of Songs (Rotterdam, Edinburgh, London) and ethnic satire The Infidel (Tribeca), Female Human Animal follows on from his widely acclaimed creative documentary feature The New Man (2016).
‘Powerful and confident… Appignanesi is seriously committed to cultivating a real cinematic language.’ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
‘A cinematic milestone… a distinctive and bold new voice in British cinema.’ Jason Solomons, The Observer
CHLOE ARIDJIS – SUBJECT AND CO-DEVISOR
A London-based Mexican novelist and recent recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, her debut Book of Clouds won the French Prix du Premier Roman Etranger. Her acclaimed novel Asunder (Chatto), told the story of a museum guard in a national gallery. Her new novel Sea Monsters is out in 2019. She knew Leonora Carrington and curated the Tate retrospective.
‘Chloe Aridjis is crafting a poetics of the strange… Deft and shimmering fiction.’TLS
‘Exceptional… a beautifully turned piece of writing of extraordinary assurance…’ Independent on Sunday
SAM DOBBYN – PRODUCER
Dobbyn, only 23 when work on Female Human Animal began, has a background in docs and commercials production in the North West producing with Hurricane Films and BBC Creative among others. This is his debut feature.
JACQUI DAVIES – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Jacqui Davies works with internationally acclaimed artists and filmmakers. Recently awarded a BFI Vision Award. She produced Richard Billingham’s debut feature Ray & Liz (2018) which received a Special Mention in Locarno’s Concorso internazionale at its World Premiere this August. She produced Ben Rivers’ feature The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015). She was Associate Producer on Phillip Warnell’s feature, Ming of Harlem, winner of George Beauregard Prize at FID Marseille 2014. Davies has produced and curated moving image works and exhibitions for galleries and site-specific for over 20 years. Broadcast projects include: 25 artists’ films C4’s Random Acts, including by Marina Abramovic, James Franco,Martha Rosler, Mark Leckey, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. She co-founded Animate Projects, her commissioned projects include: A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Phantoms of Nabua, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2009), and Unfolding the Aryan Papers, Jane & Louise Wilson (2009). In 2018 she launched new production company: PRIMITIVE FILM.
“Unnerving, riveting, and mesmerising…. The unity of Appignanesi’s brilliant cinematic vision and Aridjis’ compelling and vulnerable performance makes Female Human Animal resonate.” Hannah Clugston, LITTLE WHITE LIES
“Near-uncategorisable. It punctures the pretentiousness of the art world– and it’s a triumph.” Charlie Phillips, THE OBSERVER
“Appignanesi’s extraordinary hybrid documentary fuses surrealism and reality.. A remarkable & surprising portrait.” Kaleem Aftab, CINEUROPA
“The most original film of 2018… and possibly the creepiest.” Jason Solomons, BBC LONDON RADIO
“Deliriously experimental.. Strange and illuminating.” Dave Calhoun, TIME OUT
“A feminist odyssey.” Erik Morse, ARTFORUM
“Boldy defies categorisation… Darkly fascinating and surprisingly funny.” Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, METRO
“Like a micro-budget Don’t Look Now crossed with a rogue episode of The South Bank Show, and all the better for that.” Ed Potton, THE TIMES
“Sui Generis… You’ve got admire Appignanesi’s total disregard for marketability” THE GUARDIAN
“Understands its place in cinema history… The aesthetic of uncertainty perfectly underscores the suspense of the film’s action” Kate Webb, The TLS
“An unearthly adventure… Female Human Animal breaks open a genre and emerges as something entirely new.” Sabina Stent, THE F-WORD
“Social Surrealism. Moves between quiet profundity and sincerity into a kind of schlock horror.” Jennifer Higgie, FRIEZE
“Dazzling… A living work of art.” DIRTY MOVIES
“A gloriously intense, thrillingly abstract oddity.” THE MOVIE WAFFLER
“What a truly remarkable film.” Mike Pinnington, DOUBLE NEGATIVE
