Christopher Petit
Christopher PETIT (1949, United Kingdom) is an internationally renowned English filmmaker and author whose prolific film career ranges from 35mm feature films, mainstream television, fiction and documentary to avant-garde and sustained digital experiments. Christopher’s work has received international retrospectives (Locarno, Sundance, Buenos Aires) and his most known feature fiction films include Radio On (1979) and Chinese Boxes (1984). He is the author of eleven novels, including Robinson and The Psalm Killer, reissued in 2016 as a Picador Modern Classic. He is regarded as a leading exponent of the film essay, a status confirmed by Le Monde that described him as the Robespierre of English cinema.
Filmography
Radio On (1979), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1981), Flying Fish Over Hollywood (1981, TV), Flight to Berlin (1983), Chinese Boxes (1984), Miss Marple: A Carribean Mystery (1989, TV), Moving Pictures: J.G. Ballard (1990, TV doc), Suburbs in the Sky (1991, TV), Weather (1992, TV), London Labyrinth (1992, TV), The Cardinal and the Corpse (1993, TV), Surveillance (1993, TV), Thriller (1994, TV), Rudy Wurlitzer (1994, TV), Death of a Bank Manager (1995, TV), The Falconer (1998, TV), Dead TV (1998, TV), Radio On (remix) (1998, TV), negative space (1999, TV), Asylum (2000, TV), The Carfax Fragment (2001, TV), London Orbital (2002), Unrequited Love (2006), Content (2010), D is for Distance (2025)
Christopher Petit op IFFR
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D is for Distance
Christopher Petit, Emma Matthews | 88' | Finland | World premiere
A heartbreaking, far-reaching essay on the epilepsy of Louis Petit as documented by his parents. -
Unrequited Love
Christopher Petit | 77' | Canada | World première
A film essay about stalking and being stalked, based on the memoirs of a British academic, but also own meditation by the film maker about… -
Asylum
Christopher Petit, Iain Sinclair | 56' | United Kingdom | -
This layered, intelligent ‘film about memory, exile, madness’ uses a lot of visual and sound material to comment on the present from the near future. -
The Carfax Fragment
Christopher Petit | 15' | Netherlands | World premiere
Diary of an essayist with historical and literary interests. About the shipping out of criminals and the arrival of Count Dracula. -
London Orbital
Christopher Petit, Iain Sinclair | 76' | United Kingdom | -
Complex essay, in which driving around the M25 around London leads to stimulating quotes from vampire literature. For reading drivers. -
Radio On (remix)
Christopher Petit | 24' | United Kingdom | International premiere
Film-maker returns to his old film and its landscapes and looks at the passing of time. -
Negative Space
Christopher Petit | 39' | United Kingdom | World premiere
Video essay about cultural memory and television. -
The Falconer
Christopher Petit, Iain Sinclair | 56' | United Kingdom | -
One experimental film-maker, enfant terrible Peter Whitehead, approaches another, Chris Petit, with a request that the latter make a film about the li -
dead tv
Christopher Petit | 11' | United Kingdom | International premiere
Radical journey through the memory of television. -
The Falconer
Christopher Petit, Iain Sinclair | 56' | United Kingdom | World premiere
One experimental film-maker, enfant terrible Peter Whitehead, approaches another, Chris Petit, with a request that the latter make a film about the li