Poly Styrene - I Am a Cliche / Film School Radio interviews with Co-directors Celeste Bell and Paul Sng

Born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said in July of 1957, Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship. Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother. Co-directors Celeste Bell (Poly’s daughter) and Paul Sng have fashioned a clear-eyed, and utterly moving documentary about the turbulent live of X-Ray Spex’s Anglo-Somali punk musician / front woman, who went on to be a key inspiration for the 1980’s riot grrrl and Afropunk movements and who’s personal story of determination continues to inspire. For news and updates go to: polystyrenefilm.net