Peter Strickland (born 1973) is a British film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his films ''

Berberian Sound Studio ''Berberian Sound Studio'' is a 2012 British psychological horror film. It is the second feature film by British director and screenwriter Peter Strickland. The film, which stars Toby Jones, is set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio. Plot B ...

'' (2012), ''

The Duke of Burgundy ''The Duke of Burgundy'' is a 2014 British erotic romance drama film written and directed by Peter Strickland, and starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia and Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn. The film was screened at various film festivals, includin ...

'' (2014) and ''

In Fabric ''In Fabric'' is a 2018 British horror comedy film, written and directed by Peter Strickland. The film follows a haunted red dress as it torments various owners. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, and Gwendoline Christie. ...

'' (2018).

Life and career

Strickland was born in 1973 to a Greek mother and British father, both teachers, and grew up in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, where he was a member of

Progress Theatre Progress Theatre is a local theatre company at Reading in England. It is a registered charity and it is a member of the Little Theatre Guild (LTG) and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA). History Progress Theatre was estab ...

, directing his own adaptation of ''

The Metamorphosis ''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...

'' by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

. In 1997, his short film ''Bubblegum'' was entered in the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. He made a short version of what would become ''Berberian Sound Studio'' in 2005. For most of the 2000s, he lived in Slovakia and Hungary. His first feature, the low-budget rural revenge drama ''

Katalin Varga Katalin Varga ( hu, Varga Katalin ; August 22, 1802 - aft. 1852) was the leader of the Transylvanian Miners' Movement in the 1840s. Life Family and early life Varga was born into a family of impoverished nobility on August 22, 1802, in Halmág ...

'', was financed by an inheritance from an uncle and filmed in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

over a period of 17 days in 2006. It won the

European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year European Film Award - Prix Eurimages or European Discovery has been awarded annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy. Originally it was called Young European Film of the Year. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s ...

in 2009. His second, ''

'', is a psychological thriller set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio and starring

Toby Jones Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama ''Orlando'' in 1992. He ...

. It was previewed at

London FrightFest Film Festival FrightFest, also known as Arrow Video FrightFest is an annual film festival held in London and Glasgow. The festival holds three major events each year: a festival running five days over the UK late August Bank Holiday weekend, a Halloween event ...

in August 2012 and at the 2012

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 ...

, where

Robbie Collin Robbie Collin is a British film critic. Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''. Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' described it as the "stand-out movie". In 2013, the film obtained the Best International Film Award at

BAFICI The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of ...

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described Berberian Sound Studio as marking Strickland's emergence as "a key British film-maker of his generation". His third feature, the chamber drama ''

'', was an homage to

Jess Franco Jess is a unisex given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Jessica, Jesse, Jessie, etc., and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Jess Atkinson (born 1961), American football player * Jess Cain (1926–2008), American radio host * J ...

starring

Sidse Babett Knudsen Sidse Babett Knudsen (; born 22 November 1968) is a Danish actress who works in theatre, television, and film. Knudsen made her screen debut in the 1997 improvisational comedy '' Let's Get Lost'', for which she received both the Robert and Bodi ...

and

Chiara D'Anna Chiara D'Anna is an Italian actress, director, writer and academic notable for working with the writer and director Peter Strickland in Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy. While studying Geology at the University of Turin she join ...

. It received overwhelming praise from critics, and appeared on ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' and ''

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'' best film lists for 2015. In 2018, Strickland released ''

'', a psychological horror film about a haunted dress purchased in a London department store. Like his previous film, it received universal critical acclaim. It appeared in multiple best of the year critics' polls, including those of ''The Playlist'' and ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

''.

Filmography

* ''Bubblegum'' (short) (1996) * ''A Metaphysical Education'' (short) (2004) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

'' (2012) * '' Björk: Biophilia Live'' (2014) * ''

'' (2014) * ''

The Field Guide To Evil ''The Field Guide To Evil'' is a 2018 anthology horror film produced by Legion M. Eight film makers from different countries bring stories or folk tales from their country to the anthology. Plot The film comprises treatises on forbidden love ...

'' (2018) (segment "The Cobblers' Lot") * ''

'' (2018) * ''Blank Narcissus'' (short) (2022) * ''

Flux Gourmet ''Flux Gourmet'' is a 2022 black comedy film written and directed by Peter Strickland and starring Fatma Mohamed, Gwendoline Christie, Makis Papadimitriou, and Asa Butterfield. Synopsis A trio of experimental performance artists, known for thei ...

'' (2022)

Radio credits

* ''The Len Continuum'' (2015) (BBC Radio 4) * ''The Stone Tape'' (2016) (BBC Radio 4) * ''The Len Dimension'' (2017) (BBC Radio 4)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Peter Living people British film directors British male screenwriters People from Reading, Berkshire English people of Greek descent 1973 births European Film Awards winners (people) People educated at Reading Blue Coat School