Distant Voices, Still Lives

Distant Voices, Still Lives
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTerence Davies
Written byTerence Davies
Produced byJennifer Howarth
Starring
Cinematography
  • William Diver
  • Patrick Duval
Edited byWilliam Diver
Production
companies
Distributed byBritish Film Institute
Release dates
  • 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) (Cannes)
  • 29 September 1988 (1988-09-29) (United Kingdom)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£703,000[1]
Box office$693,563

Distant Voices, Still Lives is a 1988 British period drama film written and directed by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular music, Hollywood cinema, light entertainment and the public house within this tight-knit community.

The film won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association. In 1988 the film won the Golden Leopard of the Locarno Film Festival. In 2007 the British Film Institute re-printed and distributed the film across some of Britain's most high-profile independent cinemas, prompting The Guardian newspaper to describe Distant Voices, Still Lives as "Britain's forgotten cinematic masterpiece".

In a 2011 poll carried out by Time Out of the 100 greatest British films of all time, Distant Voices, Still Lives was ranked third.

  1. ^ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s – An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 21.