Directing

Clio Barnard

From Wikipedia, the free enclyopedia. Clio Barnard is a British director of documentary and feature films. She won widespread critical acclaim and multiple awards for her debut, The Arbor, an experimental documentary about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. In 2013 she was hailed as a significant new voice in British cinema for her film The Selfish Giant, which premiered in the Director's Fortnig…

Known For

Dark River

Dark River · 2017

MovieThrillerDrama

After her father dies, a young woman returns to her Yorkshire village for the first time in 15 years to claim the family farm she believes is hers.

The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant · 2013

The Selfish Giant

A hyperactive boy and his best friend, a slow-witted youth with an affinity for horses, start collecting scrap metal for a shady dealer.

Hermaphrodite Bikini

Hermaphrodite Bikini · 1995

Hermaphrodite Bikini

Director Clio Barnard, using Harry and Paintbox techniques, intercut with a Hi-8 video diary, presents a non-narrative collage addressing sexual difference and artifice, both imagined and real.

Ali & Ava

Ali & Ava · 2022

MovieDramaRomance

Sparks fly after Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for Sofia, the child of Ali’s tenants whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness while Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humour irresistible. As the pair begin to form a deep connection they have to find a way to keep their newfound passion from being overshadowed by the stresses and struggles of their separate lives and histories.

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning · 2026

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

Childhood friends Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli, and Conor played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of the lives they would have one day. Now they’re thirty, and the future they imagined is slipping quietly out of reach.

The Arbor

The Arbor · 2010

MovieDramaDocumentary

The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".

Dark Glass

Dark Glass · 2006

A psychological micro-drama that moves from the sanctuary of a domestic garden to the half-remembered shadows of a house, Clio Barnard’s Dark Glass peers back into a semi-veiled interior world of fraught, ambivalent memories. Shot on a mobile phone camera to accentuate a feeling of intimacy and immediacy, the flickering nature of the footage also emphasises the film’s uncanny, otherworldly quality.

Random Acts of Intimacy

Random Acts of Intimacy · 1999

Random Acts of Intimacy

Random Acts of Intimacy is a film about brief moments of contact and sexual intimacy. It addresses notions of erotic memory, sexual fantasy, sexual desire and romantic love. It explores the possibility that sex with strangers might be the closest we get to realising current notions of romantic love - intense, passionate, impulsive.

Filmography

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Dark River

Dark River · 2017

MovieThrillerDrama

After her father dies, a young woman returns to her Yorkshire village for the first time in 15 years to claim the family farm she believes is hers.

Director

The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant · 2013

The Selfish Giant

A hyperactive boy and his best friend, a slow-witted youth with an affinity for horses, start collecting scrap metal for a shady dealer.

Director

Hermaphrodite Bikini

Hermaphrodite Bikini · 1995

Hermaphrodite Bikini

Director Clio Barnard, using Harry and Paintbox techniques, intercut with a Hi-8 video diary, presents a non-narrative collage addressing sexual difference and artifice, both imagined and real.

Director

Ali & Ava

Ali & Ava · 2022

MovieDramaRomance

Sparks fly after Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for Sofia, the child of Ali’s tenants whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness while Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humour irresistible. As the pair begin to form a deep connection they have to find a way to keep their newfound passion from being overshadowed by the stresses and struggles of their separate lives and histories.

Director

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning · 2026

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

Childhood friends Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli, and Conor played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of the lives they would have one day. Now they’re thirty, and the future they imagined is slipping quietly out of reach.

Director

The Arbor

The Arbor · 2010

MovieDramaDocumentary

The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".

Director

Dark Glass

Dark Glass · 2006

A psychological micro-drama that moves from the sanctuary of a domestic garden to the half-remembered shadows of a house, Clio Barnard’s Dark Glass peers back into a semi-veiled interior world of fraught, ambivalent memories. Shot on a mobile phone camera to accentuate a feeling of intimacy and immediacy, the flickering nature of the footage also emphasises the film’s uncanny, otherworldly quality.

Director

Random Acts of Intimacy

Random Acts of Intimacy · 1999

Random Acts of Intimacy

Random Acts of Intimacy is a film about brief moments of contact and sexual intimacy. It addresses notions of erotic memory, sexual fantasy, sexual desire and romantic love. It explores the possibility that sex with strangers might be the closest we get to realising current notions of romantic love - intense, passionate, impulsive.

Director

Headcase

Headcase · 1997

This is a home-movie horror film. Its heroine, Stretch, adopts a severed head as her companion and hijacks her own story to investigate it for herself and for her audience.

Director

The Essex Serpent

The Essex Serpent · 2022

The Essex Serpent

London widow Cora Seaborne moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms a surprising bond of science and skepticism with the local vicar—but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

Director