DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES

UK, 1988, COLOR, DCP, 85', ENGLISH

With semi autobiographical elements, Terence Davis captured in dazzling tableaux vivants episodes from the life of a working-class family in ‘40s - ‘50s Liverpool, in the shadow of an oppressive father. Filmed in tones of discolored sepia and interspersed with popular songs of the era, often performed by the characters and exquisitely integrated into the narrative, the British filmmaker's feature debut introduced a rare talent who combined popular melodramas of post-war British cinema with personal experience. With echoes of Technicolor musicals, idiosyncratically realistic, Davis crafted a portrait of a time and place, and at the same time a masterful study in memory - like a faded family album still rekindling ghosts of the past, along with those fleeting moments of pain and joy they inevitably carry.

DIRECTOR: Terence Davies
SCREENWRITER: Terence Davies
DoP: Willam Diver, Patrick Duval
EDITOR: Willam Diver
PRINCIPAL CAST: Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams, Lorraine Ashbourne

TERENCE DAVIES (1945-2023)
English screenwriter, director and author. An important figure of queer cinema – not only in Britain. Due to his uncompromising character, his films are rare: Only 9 in 47 active years. Still, one of the most important British directors of the last 50 years.

FILMOGRAPHY
2021 Benediction 
2016 A Quiet Passion 
2015 Sunset Song 
2011 The Deep Blue Sea 
2000 The House of Mirth 
1995 The Neon Blue 
1992 The Long Day Closes 
1988 Distant Voices, Still Lives