Christine Oestreicher (born 29 October 1940) is a British film producer and director who was awarded an Oscar in 1983 for the film ''

A Shocking Accident ''A Shocking Accident'' is a 1982 British short comedy film directed by James Scott and produced by Christine Oestreicher, based on Graham Greene's short story by the same name. In 1983, Oestreicher won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short ...

,'' a 1982 short film based on a story by Graham Greene.

Biography

Early life

Christine Oestreicher was born Christine Marguerite Nunes Carvalho in Somerset, England in 1940. Her mother was Scottish and her father, descended from the

Sephardic Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

forced out of Portugal by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

in the 16th century. Oestreicher grew up in London’s Chelsea, which in the forties and fifties was a rundown boho area, home to numerous artists and poets. Passionate about ballet, she wanted to audition for the Royal Ballet School but was sent instead to St Paul’s Girls’ School, her mother’s alma mater. At St Paul’s her love of music was ignited by her piano teacher, Helen Bidder and by the composer

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

who conducted the school choir of which Oestreicher was a member. In 1957 after a spell studying French and Dress Design in Paris, she returned to the UK for the London Debutante Season where she met her husband, the literary agent Andrew Best. They were married in 1958 and had two daughters. During the late fifties and early sixties, she and her husband were members of a choir run by the conductor,

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life and career Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Ga ...

, devoted to early English and Baroque music. In 1960, she played the lead in an amateur musical, Mayor’s Nest, in aid of World Refugees. In 1962, after her marriage broke down, Oestreicher and her daughters started a new life in Islington where they met life-long friends Harriet Behrens (now Frazer) and the artist Suzy Boyt and their children. In 1963 she met her second husband, Dan Oestreicher, a mathematician and computer software designer with three young children. In July 1964 their daughter, Lily, was born.

Early career

In the late sixties Oestreicher became involved with the Second Wave Feminist Movement. From 1970-1975 she was Personal Assistant to the Political Editor of

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Juliet Mitchell’s '' Psychoanalysis and Feminism'' and

Sheila Rowbotham Sheila Rowbotham (born 27 February 1943) is a British socialist feminist theorist and historian. Early life Rowbotham was born on 27 February 1943 in Leeds (in present-day West Yorkshire), the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company a ...

’s ''Woman’s Consciousness, Man’s World,'' as well as controversial books on Northern Ireland and Latin America. In 1975 she began working on a collection of interviews with men, looking at their early childhoods from a feminist perspective, exploring why boys grow up feeling automatically ‘entitled’ whereas girls do not. Deciding it was too early for a feminist project featuring men, she shelved it temporarily to work on a film.

Cinema

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Oestreicher was an avid cinema-goer, especially drawn to the films of Chantal Akerman,

Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

, Bertolucci,

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a seri ...

Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...

, Truffaut,

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

and

Lina Wertmuller Lina (pronounced "Leena") is a feminine given name. Languages of origin include: English, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Persian, Kurdish, Arabic. It is also the short form of a variety of names ending in -lina including Catali ...

. During the sixties, through filmmaker Serge Brodskis, she became involved with a group of Paris-based filmmakers including Chantal Akerman, Adolfo Arrieta,

Jacques Baratier Jacques Baratier (8 March 1918 – 27 November 2009) was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed 21 films. His film ''Goha'' won the Jury Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. His 1962 film '' La poupée'' was entered for t ...

and Charlotte Trench. In 1977 she became a founding member of The Other Cinema, one of the only UK cinemas that, as well as showing rare films from abroad, showed rarely seen films by British independent filmmakers.

Film career

Oestreicher began her film career in 1978 as Co-Producer for James Scott’s 50-minute documentary ''Chance, History, Art... '' about the after-effects of surrealism. Made for the Arts Council England and completed in 1980, the film was shown at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

, International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the Silver Boomerang prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival. In 1979, after being awarded a grant in 1978 from The National Film Development Fund for their feature film project, ''The Darkroom Window,'' Oestreicher and Scott formed their production company, Flamingo Pictures. To help facilitate Scott’s transition from independent filmmaking to mainstream features, Oestreicher set about organising retrospectives of his films at London’s

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

and Paris’s Cinematheque Nationale as well as other significant European venues. She was also developing several short film projects, including one for Scott to direct. In 1982, Oestreicher was nominated for an Oscar by the

Academy of Motion Pictures The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

for her production of

Clare Peploe Clare Peploe (20 October 1941 – 23 June 2021) was a British-Italian screenwriter, producer, and film director. Biography Peploe was born in Tanzania but grew up in the United Kingdom and Italy. William Peploe, her father, worked as a Brit ...

's short film ''Couples and Robbers'' (1981), starring Frances Lowe and

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...

. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA award at the 1982 BAFTA awards. In 1983, at the 55th Academy Awards, Oestreicher won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for her 25-minute comedy drama ''

''. written and directed by James Scott from the story by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

. Starring

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupi ...

and

Jenny Seagrove Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' ...

the film is about a bizarre incident involving a pig falling from a balcony and was also nominated at the 1983

BAFTAs The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

. In 1984 Oestreicher and Scott co-produced the short film ''Samson and Delilah'' adapted from a

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

short story by

Mark Peploe Mark Peploe (born 3 March 1943) is an English screenwriter and film director. He was the brother of Clare Peploe, and the brother-in-law of director Bernardo Bertolucci. Works As screenwriter *''The Pied Piper'' (1972) *'' The Passenger'' (1975) ...

who also directed. The film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1984 and a BAFTA award for Best Short Film in 1985. Throughout the 1980s Oestreicher was developing several feature films including ''Still Rage'' and ''High Season'' with Clare Peploe, and ''Every Picture Tells a Story'', ''Dibs in Search of Self'' and ''Loser Takes All'' with Scott. Meanwhile, she was an active member of the London based Association of Independent Producers, founded by Richard Craven to lobby for government and television finance for indigenous British cinema. During this time, Oestreicher and Scott held monthly meetings of British independent filmmakers. In 1984 Oestreicher produced Scott’s drama, ''Every Picture Tells a Story'' for Channel Four Television based on the work and early life of his father, the acclaimed painter William Scott. Starring

Phyllis Logan Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes (later Carson) in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer f ...

and

Alex Norton Alexander Hugh Norton (born 27 January 1950) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series '' Taggart'', Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom '' Two Doors Down'', DCS Wallace in '' Extremely Dangerou ...

, the screenplay was written by

Shane Connaughton Shane Connaughton (born 4 April 1941 in Kingscourt, County CavanHogan, Sinead.Shane Connaughton brings it all home to his beloved native county ''The Anglo-Celt''. 4-29-2009.) is an Irish writer and actor, probably best known as co-writer of ...

. from stories recounted to him by William Scott about his childhood in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 1985-86 Oestreicher and Richard Craven produced a four minute film, ''Campaign Film for the British Film Industry'' directed by James Scott and starring

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', '' The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performan ...

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

and

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

. In 1987 ''High Season'' written and directed by Clare Peploe went into production, starring

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus ...

and

Irene Papas Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...

. Oestreicher’s work developing the project was acknowledged with a Special Thanks credit. In 1989, Oestreicher produced the comedy ''Loser Takes All'' written and directed by James Scott, in which a penniless couple, played by Robert Lindsay and

Molly Ringwald Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an o ...

, try to pay their bills by gambling while waiting for their tycoon benefactor, played by

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

to sail into Monte Carlo harbour. Based on the 1955 novella ''Loser Takes All'' by

with a supporting cast including Michel Blanc, Margi Clake,

Richenda Carey Richenda Carey (born 9 April 1948 in Bitton, Gloucestershire) is a British actress who is mostly known for her roles in '' Monarch of the Glen'', ''Jeeves and Wooster'', Darling Buds of May, '' Crush'' and more recently, ''Separate Lies'' and ' ...

, Frances de la Tour,

Marius Goring Marius Re Goring, (23 May 191230 September 1998) was a British stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' and as Julian Cr ...

and Max Wall, the film had all the ingredients for success but was a box office flop and a critical disappointment after being rescripted, re-cut, rescored and retitled '' Strike It Rich'' at

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films includ ...

’s behest. Oestreicher found it incredibly hard to stand up to Weinstein’s bullying and protect her film. At that time such behavior was considered par for the course and a formal complaint would have been unlikely to succeed. However, in 2020, at the time of the MeToo movement, she lodged a statement with

AMPAS The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

about the bullying and coercion she underwent and its impact on the film. Her great hope is that, over time, such actions will help put an end to the culture of bullying and foster one that empowers women and other minority groups to thrive and create their best work.

Recent

In 1989, in Los Angeles, Oestreicher met the artist John Fitzmaurice who would later become her husband. They were introduced by

Sheila Benson Sheila Benson (December 4, 1930February 23, 2022) was an American journalist and film critic. She served as film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1981 to 1991. Early life and education Benson was born in New York City on December 4, 193 ...

(then film critic of the LA Times) at her Thanksgiving party. Their honeymoon in 2001 was spent in Normandy and soon afterwards they bought a house there. While continuing to develop smaller film projects, Oestreicher started working seriously at the piano again. She also spent more time with her growing family that by now included several grandchildren. In 1996 she took a Foundation Course in Fine Art at London’s Guildhall School of Art and also returned to activism and her feminist roots. In 1997 she joined ''Memorials By Artists'', a company that helps people commission bespoke, hand-carved memorials, working with MBA’s founder, Harriet Frazer to establish ''The Memorial Arts'' ''Charity'' (now ''The Lettering Arts Trust)'' and co-curating two major exhibitions: ''The Art of Remembering'' (1998) at Blickling Hall, Norfolk and ''Art & Memory'' (2009) at West Dean, Sussex. In 2001 Oestreicher produced and directed a documentaryInternational Documentary: The Newsletter of the International Documentary Association. United States, International Documentary Association, 2002. based on ''The Art of Remembering'' exhibition in which 54 contemporary British letter cutters explore themes of memory and loss. In 2010 she and Harriet Frazer curated the exhibition ''Art & Memory in the Churchyard'' at St. Mary the Virgin in North Stoke, Sussex and edited the book of the same name, designed to help people navigate the complex churchyard rules and regulations for memorials. In 2016 she and Fitzmaurice made an amateur recording of Robert Schumann’s song cycle, ''

Dichterliebe ''Dichterliebe'', "A Poet's Love" (composed 1840), is the best-known song cycle by Robert Schumann ( Op. 48). The texts for the 16 songs come from the ''Lyrisches Intermezzo'' by Heinrich Heine, written in 1822–23 and published as part of Heine' ...

''. In 2020 Oestreicher suffered a stroke that left her unable to play the piano or write by hand. In 2021 she returned to a film project she started in 1998 about first-born daughters and first time motherhood that relates to the project she started in 1975 about masculinity and entitlement. In 2019 she applied for Portuguese citizenship which was granted in 2022. Oestreicher and Fitzmaurice live and work in north London.

Filmography

* 1979: ''Chance, History, Art ...'' (documentary) * 1981: ''Couples and Robbers'' (short film)The British Film Catalogue: The Fiction Film. N.p., Taylor & Francis, 2018. * 1982: ''

'' (short film) * 1984: ''Every Picture Tells a Story'' (feature film) * 1984: ''Samson and Delilah'' (short film) * 1985/86: ''Campaign Film for the British Film Industry'' (short film) * 1987: ''High Season'' (feature film) * 1989: ''Strike it Rich'' (feature film)Screen World. United States, Crown Publishers, 1991. https://books.google.com/books?id=ftJkAAAAMAAJFalk, Quentin. Travels in Greeneland: The Complete Guide to the Cinema of Graham Greene. United Kingdom, Reynolds & Hearn, 2000. * 2001: ''The Art of Remembering'' (documentary)

Awards and nominations

* 1982: ''Couples and Robbers,'' Oscar nomination, BAFTA nomination * 1983: ''

,'' Oscar winner, BAFTA nomination * 1984: ''Samson and Delilah, BAFTA nomination''

References

External links

*
Oestreicher's acceptance speech at the 1983 Academy Awards Ceremony
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oestreicher, Christine 1940 births Living people British film producers British women film producers English film producers English film directors