Film: Half Street by Sophie Fiennes

14 October 2013

To coincide with the first UK exhibition of Chinese painter Liu Xiaodong at Lisson Gallery, the renowned film director Sophie Fiennes has created a 40-minute documentary about the artist, exploring his fluid approach to painting directly from life. Her film is screening throughout the exhibition and follows Liu as take his canvases out on to the streets of London and into local pubs and restaurants.

Sophie Fiennes began making films in 1998. She is widely acclaimed for her unique observational eye and strong sense of cinematic form. Fiennes often employs a collaborative approach to filmmaking. Her films therefore also act as powerful portraits of some of today's most iconic individuals. Fiennes' films have screened theatrically, on television and in festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance, Telluride, Locarno, Toronto, Rotterdam, Edinburgh, Sydney and London. Her films include her portrait of Anselm Kiefer, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (2010) and The Late Michael Clark (2000). Most recently Sophie finished a second collaboration with Slavoj Žižek, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012) which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and is being released theatrically in the US by Zeitgeist Films later this year, and in the UK by Picturehouse.