BEING FRANK

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey story

Plus Q&A with Director Steve Sullivan
Saturday 23 March Picture House doors 4:30pm; ​film 5pm
Directed by Steve Sullivan | 2018 |  UK | English | 100 minutes | 15

​“Back in 2014, Lenny Abrahamson memorably fictionalized the identity of the artist behind Sidebottom in the delightfully leftfield comedy-drama, Frank. While Abrahamson’s film spun flights of fancy and absurdism into the whole mythology, in Steve Sullivan’s inventive documentary Being Frank, there’s a real case to be made for the veracity of the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. Sievey’s dreams of pop-music stardom were belatedly achieved incognito once the anarchic creation that was Frank Sidebottom sprung forth from his imagination. Combining Sievey’s own self-documenting cassettes and videotapes and interviews with former bandmates Mark Radcliffe and Jon Ronson (Frank’s co-writer), Sullivan constructs an engaging portrait of a mercurial, sometimes tortured artist with a rollercoaster private life.”
Brighton Film Festival 

"Delightful … a wonderful ode to the unique mind and artistry that birthed Frank Sidebottom on to an unsuspecting populace of small town Britain. It’s a story of passion, commitment, fearless obsession, and dreams." – Glide Magazine 

DIRECTOR: STEVE SULLIVAN

​Chris Sievey was a failed pop star with his band The Freshies, but Frank was a strange success – hosting his own chaotic kid’s TV show, popping up in clubs and as a variety show guest, introducing acts at Wembley Stadium and amassing a cult following. 
 
In this tender documentary, director Steve Sullivan pieces together his split personality through a monstrous archive of personal notebooks, movies, art and music, alongside insights from his closest confidants, including actor and comedian Johnny Vegas, journalist, author and filmmaker Jon Ronson, performance poet John Cooper Clarke and comedian Ross Noble.