Sally Potter

Sally Potter started making experimental short films when she was a teenager. She then trained as a dancer and choreographer at the London School of Contemporary Dance, before founding her own company, The Limited Dance Company (with Jacky Lansley). During the same period Sally made several short dance films, including ‘Combines’ for The London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

Sally went on to become an award-winning performance artist and theatre director with a reputation for work that managed to be both challenging and entertaining. For the theatre, Sally created solo shows as well as large-scale theatrical performances for outdoor locations including ‘Mounting’, ‘Death and the Maiden’ and ‘Berlin’ - all collaborations with Rose English. In addition, she worked in various improvised music bands as a lyricist and singer and collaborated with composer Lindsay Cooper on the song cycle ‘Oh Moscow’ which she performed throughout Europe, Russia and North America. She also co-composed with David Motion the soundtrack to ORLANDO, and created the score for THE TANGO LESSON.

Sally’s short film THRILLER (1979), a critical re-working of Puccini’s opera "La Bohème”, was a hit on the international festival circuit and brought her work to a wider audience. This was followed by her first feature film, THE GOLD DIGGERS (1983), starring Julie Christie; and then a short film, THE LONDON STORY (1986); a documentary series for Channel 4, TEARS, LAUGHTER, FEARS AND RAGE (1986); and her film on women in Soviet cinema, I AM AN OX, I AM A HORSE, I AM A MAN, I AM A WOMAN (1988).

The internationally acclaimed ORLANDO (1992), starred Tilda Swinton and was based on Virginia Woolf’s classic novel. In addition to two Academy Award nominations, ORLANDO won more than 25 international awards, including the "Felix” awarded by the European Film Academy for the best Young European Film of 1993. Audiences around the world delighted in its wry humour and its bold look at gender, sexuality and the English class system.

After completing ORLANDO, Sally returned to script writing (including the first draft of THE MAN WHO CRIED). In 1997 she wrote and directed THE TANGO LESSON, in which she also performed together with renowned tango dancer, Pablo Veron. Presented at the Venice Film Festival, the film received critical and audience acclaim. THE TANGO LESSON was awarded the "Ombú de Oro” for Best Film at Mar del Plata Festival, Argentina, the SADAIC Great Award from the Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música, as well as nominations from BAFTA and the US National Board of Review. (03/02)

The London Story
A film by Sally Potter, 1987, 15 min., Color
This lively, accessible spy spoof revolves around the unlikely alliance of three eccentric characters and their mission to uncover government foreign ...

Thriller
A film by Sally Potter, 1979, 34 min., BW
Since its release in 1980, Sally Potter's rewriting of Puccini's opera, La Boheme, has become a classic in feminist film theory. A model for th...

Women Filmmakers in Russia
A film by Sally Potter, 1990, 51 min., Color
Since Lenin's fervent embrace of cinema in the 1920s, more women have worked in the film industry in Russia than in the west. This fascinating docume...