ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
10 - 22 September 2024
‘The films of Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram are hidden British treasures, quiet and ethereal mood pieces that creep up on the viewer, as if written and filmed on the wind.’
– Jason Solomons
The ICA is delighted to present a full retrospective of the films of Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram. Irreverent and punk in their making; subtle, affecting, and highly personal in their tone, Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram’s under-seen and under-shown films, crafted with virtually no budget and outside the traditional funding circuits, are unique and fascinating objects in the contemporary history of cinema.
Without Permission presents director and co-writer Jon Sanders and producer and co-writer Anna Mottram’s five films to date, each complemented with conversations as to provide a platform for filmmakers and audiences alike to discuss alternative practices of making and showing films nowadays.
‘We are at a crossroads where the new possibilities opened up by digital production and exhibition have real potential for the rejuvenation of cinema. […] As filmmakers, we have to grasp this opportunity. At last, it is now possible, because of the huge reduction in costs, to bypass existing funding channels and make high quality films WITHOUT PERMISSION.’
– Extract of The Belgrade Manifesto (2007), Jon Sanders and Nora Hoppe
‘The films of Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram are hidden British treasures, quiet and ethereal mood pieces that creep up on the viewer, as if written and filmed on the wind.’
– Jason Solomons
The ICA is delighted to present a full retrospective of the films of Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram. Irreverent and punk in their making; subtle, affecting, and highly personal in their tone, Jon Sanders and Anna Mottram’s under-seen and under-shown films, crafted with virtually no budget and outside the traditional funding circuits, are unique and fascinating objects in the contemporary history of cinema.
Without Permission presents director and co-writer Jon Sanders and producer and co-writer Anna Mottram’s five films to date, each complemented with conversations as to provide a platform for filmmakers and audiences alike to discuss alternative practices of making and showing films nowadays.
‘We are at a crossroads where the new possibilities opened up by digital production and exhibition have real potential for the rejuvenation of cinema. […] As filmmakers, we have to grasp this opportunity. At last, it is now possible, because of the huge reduction in costs, to bypass existing funding channels and make high quality films WITHOUT PERMISSION.’
– Extract of The Belgrade Manifesto (2007), Jon Sanders and Nora Hoppe
Jon Sanders - director, co-writer
After Cambridge University, Jon Sanders studied film at the Slade School of Art under Thorold Dickinson. He has had a long and distinguished career in the film industry, working as an editor, sound recordist (From Mao to Mozart, Oscar winning film about Isaac Stern’s tour of China), documentary maker (Then When the World Changed, (co-directed with cameraman Roger Deakins) and writer/director. His collaboration with the artist Lucia Noguiera Smoke (1996) is now part of the Tate Collection. His first feature film, Painted Angels (106 mins), starring Kelly McGillis and Brenda Fricker, which was about prostitution in the Wild West, premièred at the Rotterdam Film Festival and was released in the UK in 1999 by Artificial Eye. His second feature film Low Tide (86 mins) premiered at Curzon Soho in January 2008 and in 2012 Late September was released at the ICA London. His next film Back to the Garden (2013) opened at Curzon Soho, A Change in the Weather (2017) opened at Picturehouse Shaftesbury Avenue. His most recent film A Clever Woman, starring Josie Lawrence, premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2023 and went on to screen in cinemas across the UK.
Anna Mottram - co-writer, producer
Anna has worked in theatre in Manchester, Coventry, Birmingham and Edinburgh and in London at the Kings Head, Soho Poly and Bush Theatre in works by Snoo Wilson, Howard Barker, David Edgar as well as in Heart-throb co-written with Jeremy Seabrook. Television includes: Play for Today, The Bill, The Practice, Casualty, Fingersmith, Doctors and Holby City. She co-wrote, with husband/director, Jon Sanders, and starred in Painted Angels with Brenda Fricker and Kelly McGillis. Since then, she and Jon have made five feature films together, most recently A Clever Woman. She toured in Inside out of Mind, by Tanya Myers and appeared at the Finborough Theatre in The Passing of the Third Floor Back.
After Cambridge University, Jon Sanders studied film at the Slade School of Art under Thorold Dickinson. He has had a long and distinguished career in the film industry, working as an editor, sound recordist (From Mao to Mozart, Oscar winning film about Isaac Stern’s tour of China), documentary maker (Then When the World Changed, (co-directed with cameraman Roger Deakins) and writer/director. His collaboration with the artist Lucia Noguiera Smoke (1996) is now part of the Tate Collection. His first feature film, Painted Angels (106 mins), starring Kelly McGillis and Brenda Fricker, which was about prostitution in the Wild West, premièred at the Rotterdam Film Festival and was released in the UK in 1999 by Artificial Eye. His second feature film Low Tide (86 mins) premiered at Curzon Soho in January 2008 and in 2012 Late September was released at the ICA London. His next film Back to the Garden (2013) opened at Curzon Soho, A Change in the Weather (2017) opened at Picturehouse Shaftesbury Avenue. His most recent film A Clever Woman, starring Josie Lawrence, premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2023 and went on to screen in cinemas across the UK.
Anna Mottram - co-writer, producer
Anna has worked in theatre in Manchester, Coventry, Birmingham and Edinburgh and in London at the Kings Head, Soho Poly and Bush Theatre in works by Snoo Wilson, Howard Barker, David Edgar as well as in Heart-throb co-written with Jeremy Seabrook. Television includes: Play for Today, The Bill, The Practice, Casualty, Fingersmith, Doctors and Holby City. She co-wrote, with husband/director, Jon Sanders, and starred in Painted Angels with Brenda Fricker and Kelly McGillis. Since then, she and Jon have made five feature films together, most recently A Clever Woman. She toured in Inside out of Mind, by Tanya Myers and appeared at the Finborough Theatre in The Passing of the Third Floor Back.
Programme
Tue 10 Sep, 6.30pm
Opening Night
Low Tide + Q&A
The story of the last three days of a woman's life. Kathy, who is dying of cancer, is being nursed at home.
Sat 14 Sep, 4.15pm
Late September + Q&A
Taking place over a 24-hour period, in a beautiful Kent house and garden, the film follows the course and aftermath of a birthday celebration organised by a middle-aged woman for her husband to whom she has been married for nearly 40 years.
Sun 15 Sep, 2.15pm
Back to the Garden + Q&A
A meditation on love and loss and an evocation of the joys and sadnesses of later life, explored with humour and tenderness by the improvising cast.
Sat 21 Sep, 4.30pm
A Change in the Weather + Panel
In an attempt to revisit a creative collaboration and revive his marriage, a theatre director brings together a group of performers to spend a week with him and his wife in an isolated, mountainous part of southern France.
Sun 22 Sep, 4.30pm
Closing Night
A Clever Woman + Q&A
Two sisters return to their family home on the Isle of Wight in Jon Sanders' intimate drama about grief and family secrets
Tue 10 Sep, 6.30pm
Opening Night
Low Tide + Q&A
The story of the last three days of a woman's life. Kathy, who is dying of cancer, is being nursed at home.
Sat 14 Sep, 4.15pm
Late September + Q&A
Taking place over a 24-hour period, in a beautiful Kent house and garden, the film follows the course and aftermath of a birthday celebration organised by a middle-aged woman for her husband to whom she has been married for nearly 40 years.
Sun 15 Sep, 2.15pm
Back to the Garden + Q&A
A meditation on love and loss and an evocation of the joys and sadnesses of later life, explored with humour and tenderness by the improvising cast.
Sat 21 Sep, 4.30pm
A Change in the Weather + Panel
In an attempt to revisit a creative collaboration and revive his marriage, a theatre director brings together a group of performers to spend a week with him and his wife in an isolated, mountainous part of southern France.
Sun 22 Sep, 4.30pm
Closing Night
A Clever Woman + Q&A
Two sisters return to their family home on the Isle of Wight in Jon Sanders' intimate drama about grief and family secrets
no. 236848.