Julien Temple is the festival’s Guest Director, discussing his films and the stories behind them at a Wellington Arts Centre talk before a screening of his iconic David Bowie movie Absolute Beginners at the Wellesley cinema. A legendary British documentary and music video director Julien Temple is, in his own way, cinema’s rock royalty.

A lifelong chronicler of music’s most fascinating and transgressive figures, as well as often being credited with “inventing” the music video as an art form, Temple has directed two Sex Pistols films – 1980’s The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and 2000’s The Filth And The Fury – as well as the cult Bowie film Absolute Beginners (set in Notting Hill, 1958, way before it became fashionable) and 2007’s Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.

Bowie’s presence looms large over Absolute Beginners. “Sadly,” Temple says, “the film gains more interest because of his death, that’s not what anyone would have wanted.”

Temple was close to Bowie, and pays tribute to his involvement. “I’m still finding it hard to believe he’s not around. That was an amazing moment, when he said I’ve got a song to play for you, and he played the theme song pretty much as he recorded it. He put a lot into it.”

This event is part of Wellington Film Festival.
Adults £3