‘Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché’
Today we remember Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, AKA Poly Styrene (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011). Singer, seeker, maverick, mother and icon.
IndieGoGo crowdfunding details here
This week marks the 6th anniversary of punk icon Poly Styrene’s tragic passing, leaving behind a truly unique legacy, an inspiration to countless people across the world from all walks of life.
To coincide with this and the 40th anniversary of the seminal X-Ray Spex album ‘Germfree Adolescents’, a new film called ‘Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché’ is in the works. Fund-raising continues via IndieGoGo, with a cinema date set for November 2018. In celebration, the site will also be listing a number of rare X-Ray Spex posters and original vinyl LPs in the final week of the campaign.
"I'm hugely thankful for the fantastic show of support to get us to almost half of our crowdfunding total. There's still a long way to go, so with one week remaining of the campaign we've put together a new teaser trailer, which shows my mother at her brilliant best." Celeste Bell, Narrator and Executive Producer
Bi-racial, female, working class and possessing one of the most satirical perspectives in punk, X-Ray Spex founder Poly Styrene was, as Billboard proclaimed, "one of the least conventional front-persons in rock history".
Poly was responsible for some of the most original, intelligent and exiting music ever made, but beyond the songs, the look and that warrior-cry voice, her fascinating and sometimes frightening story, incorporating struggles with misogyny, racism and mental health issues, has remained largely untold. Until now.
"Poly Styrene remains one of the most original and dynamic voices in popular culture of the past forty years. We're aiming to make a film that reflects her effervescent and vivid life, and provide a fitting cinematic tribute to her legacy as an artist and icon." Paul Sng, Director
In this feature-length documentary, the jigsaw pieces of Poly’s life will be brought together for the first time. Original interviews, new research and previously unseen archive material are combined to present a thrilling, poetic and at times impressionistic portrait of a singer, seeker and mother. Underscored with Poly’s music from throughout her career, ‘I Am A Cliché’ celebrates one of punk’s most uncompromising icons.
"To see how far and wide the campaign to fund this film has gone is testament to Poly's importance and enduring relevance as an artist, and shows how very loved and respected she is. It is vital that we celebrate and commemorate positive figures like Poly and carry their flame into the future, so those who didn't have the benefit of having known her or seen her perform can still experience her work and be inspired. With the support of her fans, we can make a film that truly reflects what was so special about her." Zoë Howe, Writer
Narrated by Poly’s daughter Celeste Bell, the film will examine the past through the lens of the present, by revisiting pivotal moments and significant spaces in Poly’s history, while at the same time raising awareness of the issues she struggled with - and rose above - throughout her life.
"This film will be a celebration of the life and work of my mother, an artist who deserves to be recognised as one of the greatest front women of all time; a little girl with a big voice whose words are more relevant than ever.” Celeste Bell
‘I Am A Cliché’ director Paul Sng has previously won widespread acclaim for his film ‘Sleaford Mods - Invisible Britain’. The film was written by Zoë Howe, who penned the biographies ‘Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits’ and ‘Barbed Wire Kisses - The Jesus and Mary Chain Story’.
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