For the first time, June Gibbons will tell her own story, in her own words, in new BBC Sounds podcast, June: Voice of a Silent Twin.
In 1982, June and Jennifer Gibbons were the youngest women to be sent to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital after a crime spree that saw them cause hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage in arson, vandalism and theft over a period of five days. During their time in Broadmoor, they would come face-to-face with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals including the Yorkshire Ripper and Ronnie Kray. They were aged just 19.
Throughout her life, the story of June Gibbons and her twin Jennifer, has been told countless times. It’s been the subject of documentaries, films, books and musicals, but their story has always been told by someone else. The new eight-part podcast sees June setting out her own first-hand account to reveal the truth.
In 1982, June and Jennifer Gibbons were the youngest women to be sent to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital after a crime spree that saw them cause hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage in arson, vandalism and theft over a period of five days. During their time in Broadmoor, they would come face-to-face with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals including the Yorkshire Ripper and Ronnie Kray. They were aged just 19.
Throughout her life, the story of June Gibbons and her twin Jennifer, has been told countless times. It’s been the subject of documentaries, films, books and musicals, but their story has always been told by someone else. The new eight-part podcast sees June setting out her own first-hand account to reveal the truth.
- 12/25/2023
- Podnews.net
Polish helmer Agnieszka Smoczyńska fought for Tamara Lawrance to be a part of “The Silent Twins,” she said at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
“We had two options: [hire] one actress who plays both characters, but there is no chemistry, or find actual twins, which was not possible. We had Letitia Wright, who was this amazing actress and ‘Black Panther’ star, and then we found Tamara,” she said.
The story was inspired by real-life identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who only communicated with each other.
“They are not that similar, so what do you do? You make a decision. And I knew she was the one, because it was all about this tension between them.”
Smoczyńska opened up about difficult choices and her career during an exclusive masterclass for 10 young filmmakers selected for Efp’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema.
“I really wanted to make my movie. Not somebody else’s movie,...
“We had two options: [hire] one actress who plays both characters, but there is no chemistry, or find actual twins, which was not possible. We had Letitia Wright, who was this amazing actress and ‘Black Panther’ star, and then we found Tamara,” she said.
The story was inspired by real-life identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who only communicated with each other.
“They are not that similar, so what do you do? You make a decision. And I knew she was the one, because it was all about this tension between them.”
Smoczyńska opened up about difficult choices and her career during an exclusive masterclass for 10 young filmmakers selected for Efp’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema.
“I really wanted to make my movie. Not somebody else’s movie,...
- 7/7/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Besides its slate of original shows like “Daisy Jones & the Six,” “Swarm,” and “The Power,” Prime Video’s March selection has plenty of films in the rotation, including Oscar contender “Top Gun: Maverick” and two films starring Keke Palmer — “Akeelah and the Bee” and Jordan Peele’s sci-fi thriller “Nope” — that show the actress at different points in her acting career.
If you’re looking for a thriller, “Nerve” starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts promises an adrenaline-filled adventure. And those that miss the late Robin Williams can get a glimpse into one of his Oscar-winning roles alongside young Matt Damon.
Let us help narrow down your choices with our picks for the best new movies on Amazon Prime Video in March 2023.
Also Read:
The 41 Best Movies on Amazon Prime (March 2023) “Good Will Hunting” (1997) Miramax
The trifecta of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the late Robin Williams makes this...
If you’re looking for a thriller, “Nerve” starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts promises an adrenaline-filled adventure. And those that miss the late Robin Williams can get a glimpse into one of his Oscar-winning roles alongside young Matt Damon.
Let us help narrow down your choices with our picks for the best new movies on Amazon Prime Video in March 2023.
Also Read:
The 41 Best Movies on Amazon Prime (March 2023) “Good Will Hunting” (1997) Miramax
The trifecta of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the late Robin Williams makes this...
- 3/5/2023
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Paris-based Petit Film has boarded “Hot Spot” by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life.
Smoczyńska’s previous film, Cannes premiere “The Silent Twins” – based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons – earned Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance a BIFA [British Independent Film Award] for Best Joint Lead Performance.
“Agnieszka’s work does not derive from, or resemble, any existing films. That’s the first and foremost reason why I would not miss the chance to participate in one of them,” says producer Jean des Forêts, also behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s English-language debut “Earwig.”
“Last year the opportunity arose and I seized it immediately. The project brings together a nice band...
The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life.
Smoczyńska’s previous film, Cannes premiere “The Silent Twins” – based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons – earned Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance a BIFA [British Independent Film Award] for Best Joint Lead Performance.
“Agnieszka’s work does not derive from, or resemble, any existing films. That’s the first and foremost reason why I would not miss the chance to participate in one of them,” says producer Jean des Forêts, also behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s English-language debut “Earwig.”
“Last year the opportunity arose and I seized it immediately. The project brings together a nice band...
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Perfectly mirrored performances from Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance distinguish Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s stylistically bold drama based on a true story
At the recent British Independent Film awards (Bifa), the prize for best joint lead performance went to Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance for their starring roles in this stylistically adventurous account of real-life twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Other nominations in that same category included Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio for Aftersun, which proved to be this year’s big Bifa winner; Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson for the bittersweet sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; and Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear for the fable-like Men. All these nominations were for films in which a central pair brilliantly carry the drama, sometimes in multiple roles. Yet in the Poland/UK/US co-production The Silent Twins, Wright and Lawrance manage to convince us that they are two sides of a divided soul,...
At the recent British Independent Film awards (Bifa), the prize for best joint lead performance went to Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance for their starring roles in this stylistically adventurous account of real-life twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Other nominations in that same category included Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio for Aftersun, which proved to be this year’s big Bifa winner; Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson for the bittersweet sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; and Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear for the fable-like Men. All these nominations were for films in which a central pair brilliantly carry the drama, sometimes in multiple roles. Yet in the Poland/UK/US co-production The Silent Twins, Wright and Lawrance manage to convince us that they are two sides of a divided soul,...
- 12/11/2022
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
In 2020, Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance had a challenge on their hands. They’d been cast in The Silent Twins, the film adaptation of the story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins who made headlines in the Seventies for rarely communicating with anyone but each other. The daughters of Bajan immigrants who’d moved to Pembrokeshire in Wales in 1974, they dressed similarly, moved in unison and had secret laws with one another. Sometimes they’d take it in turns to eat, with only one permitted to have meals on certain days.
Their bond was tight and confounding – and Wright and Lawrance, two unrelated actors, had to become close enough to do it justice on screen. Thankfully, poring over archival footage and documents for a year ahead of filming – as well as a rigorous rehearsal period – made it possible. The actors’ lack of physical similarity is irrelevant; when watching them work together,...
Their bond was tight and confounding – and Wright and Lawrance, two unrelated actors, had to become close enough to do it justice on screen. Thankfully, poring over archival footage and documents for a year ahead of filming – as well as a rigorous rehearsal period – made it possible. The actors’ lack of physical similarity is irrelevant; when watching them work together,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Nicole Vassell
- The Independent - Film
Also out this weekend is a live brodcast of New York’s Metropolitan Opera ’The Hours’ at 133 venues.
Distributors have steered clear of major new releases this weekend ahead of the UK and Ireland December 16 opening of Avatar: The Way Of Water, however there are some notable arthouse titles debuting at the box office.
Cannes premiere The Silent Twins is this weekend’s widest new release, playing in 160 sites for Universal, following Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright’s recent British Independent Film Award (Bifa) win for best joint lead performance. The Lure’s Agnieszka Smoczynska directs this Poland-uk co-production, which is Smoczynska’s English-language debut,...
Distributors have steered clear of major new releases this weekend ahead of the UK and Ireland December 16 opening of Avatar: The Way Of Water, however there are some notable arthouse titles debuting at the box office.
Cannes premiere The Silent Twins is this weekend’s widest new release, playing in 160 sites for Universal, following Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright’s recent British Independent Film Award (Bifa) win for best joint lead performance. The Lure’s Agnieszka Smoczynska directs this Poland-uk co-production, which is Smoczynska’s English-language debut,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The story of June and Jennifer Gibbons is one of those “strange but true” curiosities. It’s pitched somewhere alongside the Enfield poltergeist and the dancing plague of 1518. The writers – twins born in 1963 – grew up in Haverfordwest, Wales, the daughters of first-generation Barbadian immigrants. From an early age, they refused to speak to anyone but themselves.
There were other ways to communicate with the world – through poems and stories, or when they were older, drugs, sex and acts of petty crime. At 19, they were found guilty of 16 counts of burglary, theft, and arson. The sisters were institutionalised with an indefinite sentence at the infamous Broadmoor psychiatric hospital where they remained for 11 years.
People tend to fixate on the reasons behind the sisters’ selective mutism. But Agnieszka SmoczyÅ.ska’s The Silent Twins, in its own impassioned and lyrical way, asks an entirely different question: is their choice really that hard to comprehend?...
There were other ways to communicate with the world – through poems and stories, or when they were older, drugs, sex and acts of petty crime. At 19, they were found guilty of 16 counts of burglary, theft, and arson. The sisters were institutionalised with an indefinite sentence at the infamous Broadmoor psychiatric hospital where they remained for 11 years.
People tend to fixate on the reasons behind the sisters’ selective mutism. But Agnieszka SmoczyÅ.ska’s The Silent Twins, in its own impassioned and lyrical way, asks an entirely different question: is their choice really that hard to comprehend?...
- 12/9/2022
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
Polish film and TV writer/director Agnieszka Smoczyńska's biographical film "The Silent Twins" is heading to Peacock. The movie is inspired by the book of the same name written by investigative journalist Marjorie Wallace. Published in 1986 under the title "The Silent Twins: A true story of love and hate, dreams and desolation, genius and destruction," Wallace's book is itself based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters who only communicated with each other, and came to be known as "the silent twins."
Smoczyńska's film is heading to Peacock after getting a very limited theatrical release from Focus Features on September 16, 2022 -- meaning, this is probably the first time most people have even heard of the movie. So, before it joins acclaimed 2022 films like Scott Derrickson's "The Black Phone" on NBCUniversal's streaming service, here's everything you need to know about the film ahead of time.
Smoczyńska's film is heading to Peacock after getting a very limited theatrical release from Focus Features on September 16, 2022 -- meaning, this is probably the first time most people have even heard of the movie. So, before it joins acclaimed 2022 films like Scott Derrickson's "The Black Phone" on NBCUniversal's streaming service, here's everything you need to know about the film ahead of time.
- 11/4/2022
- by Fatemeh Mirjalili
- Slash Film
I first took notice of Agnieszka Smoczynska when I discovered the film The Lure. It was a strange and beautiful horror tale, one that revolved around the intense relationship between sisters. And yes, they were mermaids. The film was fascinating and unforgettable. And now, the filmmaker takes on another intriguing tale, one that revolves around the true story of sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons called The Silent Twins. What made their story special is that for years, the two would only speak to each other. It’s a unique telling of their tale, and it also features two stunning performances from Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence.
We recently sat down to speak with both Ms. Wright and Ms. Lawrence. I was so completely mesmerized by their on-screen connection, I asked about how they approached recreating such an incredible sisterly bond. For Letitia, I asked about coming off of a film...
We recently sat down to speak with both Ms. Wright and Ms. Lawrence. I was so completely mesmerized by their on-screen connection, I asked about how they approached recreating such an incredible sisterly bond. For Letitia, I asked about coming off of a film...
- 9/19/2022
- by JimmyO
- JoBlo.com
The Silent Twins is a new film based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters born in 1963 to parents of Caribbean descent, and whose family lived mainly in Wales. Persecuted at school from an early age—primarily due to the color of their skin and idiosyncratic behavior—the twins gradually withdrew from the world, speaking only to each other (in a combination of sped-up English and Bajan Creole that made it difficult for others to understand), duplicating each other’s movements and behavior, and generally remaining non-communicative with others around them.
While their behavior seemed bizarre to observers, the Gibbons sisters fostered a creative life together, often in their shared bedroom, in which they made art, staged plays with handmade dolls and toys, and dreamed up stories and songs. While both of them wrote several works of fiction, only June’s full-length novel, The Pepsi-Cola Addict,...
While their behavior seemed bizarre to observers, the Gibbons sisters fostered a creative life together, often in their shared bedroom, in which they made art, staged plays with handmade dolls and toys, and dreamed up stories and songs. While both of them wrote several works of fiction, only June’s full-length novel, The Pepsi-Cola Addict,...
- 9/19/2022
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
A steady flow of specialty films starts this weekend with the return of a key player to cinemas and a broader arthouse slate that will expand steadily into awards season. This is still a weird theatrical landscape but independent distributors and theater owners have agreed for months that there’s no recovery without a brisker pace of new releases
Indie distributors also appreciate that the weekend’s big studio release, The Woman King with Viola Davis, is a classic battle epic, yes, but also a story for adults, and for women. Another wide release, A24’s XXX prequel Pearl, skews young but — it’s still indie.
“I think we are starting to get a full complement of movies to see. Adult movies that are smart and funny,” says one specialty distribution executive. It’s been a long wait. “Patience is a virtue we need to have a lot of. These may not [all] be huge movies,...
Indie distributors also appreciate that the weekend’s big studio release, The Woman King with Viola Davis, is a classic battle epic, yes, but also a story for adults, and for women. Another wide release, A24’s XXX prequel Pearl, skews young but — it’s still indie.
“I think we are starting to get a full complement of movies to see. Adult movies that are smart and funny,” says one specialty distribution executive. It’s been a long wait. “Patience is a virtue we need to have a lot of. These may not [all] be huge movies,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Sistas With(out) Voices: Smoczynska Revisits Case Study of Antisocial Twins
Poland’s Agnieszka Smoczynska makes her English language debut with third feature The Silent Twins, based on British journalist Marjorie Wallace’s 1986 expose on June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical Welsh twin girls whose dysfunctional development led to a spate of crime and eventual indefinite incarceration. In a tale where foreignness plays a key part in lack of understanding, since the Gibbons family were of West Indian descent, Smoczynska doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate as a figure removed from either culture.
Based on her previous two films, there are intersecting similarities, such as the fantastical mermaid sisters of her celebrated debut The Lure (2015) and a woman suffering from memory loss struggling to accept the family who’s reclaimed her in 2018’s Fugue (read review).…...
Poland’s Agnieszka Smoczynska makes her English language debut with third feature The Silent Twins, based on British journalist Marjorie Wallace’s 1986 expose on June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical Welsh twin girls whose dysfunctional development led to a spate of crime and eventual indefinite incarceration. In a tale where foreignness plays a key part in lack of understanding, since the Gibbons family were of West Indian descent, Smoczynska doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate as a figure removed from either culture.
Based on her previous two films, there are intersecting similarities, such as the fantastical mermaid sisters of her celebrated debut The Lure (2015) and a woman suffering from memory loss struggling to accept the family who’s reclaimed her in 2018’s Fugue (read review).…...
- 9/16/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
August theatrical releases were a bit sparse, but “Partner Track,” “Lost Ollie” and seven other book-based projects found their way onto streamers last month, including HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon.” September has more theatrical releases, but fewer book adaptations to look forward to. Those that are coming out this month have rich history though, especially “The Rings of Power” series that Amazon has based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and appendices.
There’s also “The Silent Twins” starring Letitia Wright and Jodhi May as well as Andrew Dominik’s feature film “Blonde” adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ book about the career of Marilyn Monroe.
Here are six book to screen adaptations coming out in September:
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video
J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series faces another imagining,...
There’s also “The Silent Twins” starring Letitia Wright and Jodhi May as well as Andrew Dominik’s feature film “Blonde” adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ book about the career of Marilyn Monroe.
Here are six book to screen adaptations coming out in September:
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video
J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series faces another imagining,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
After its debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Agnieszka Smoczyńska‘s English-language feature debut, “The Silent Twins,” hits theaters this Friday. But before that, check out Fenn O’Meally‘s short companion piece to the film, “Kiin,” with words by actresses Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence and June & Jennifer Gibbons.
Read More: ‘The Silent Twins’ Trailer: Letitia Wright & Tamara Lawrence Play Twins With Their Own Language In Cannes Hit This September
Based on Marjorie Wallace‘s 1986 book of the same name, “The Silent Twins” recounts the beguiling true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons.
Continue reading ‘Kiin’: Watch ‘The Silent Films’ Companion Short Film To Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s Cannes Hit at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘The Silent Twins’ Trailer: Letitia Wright & Tamara Lawrence Play Twins With Their Own Language In Cannes Hit This September
Based on Marjorie Wallace‘s 1986 book of the same name, “The Silent Twins” recounts the beguiling true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons.
Continue reading ‘Kiin’: Watch ‘The Silent Films’ Companion Short Film To Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s Cannes Hit at The Playlist.
- 9/15/2022
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
There is safety and security in make-believe, in playing pretend, where the only things that can hurt are the things let into the mind in the first place. This is where June and Jennifer Gibbons take solace from the real world — a world full of hatred, and misunderstanding, and posturing. In their fiction, and otherwise inventive make-believe, the twins live out a happy life, all under their own control.
Imagination often bucks up against the cold, hard nature of reality, and it’s in this schism that Agnieska Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” grows into something altogether original and meticulously crafted. The Polish director’s latest inventive feature is the story of the Gibbons twins: a true story, more or less, of sisters who struggled with mental health and persevered through writing and storytelling. Though the twins rarely, if ever, intended harm, they were prone to fits of impulsiveness, and in their late adolescence,...
Imagination often bucks up against the cold, hard nature of reality, and it’s in this schism that Agnieska Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” grows into something altogether original and meticulously crafted. The Polish director’s latest inventive feature is the story of the Gibbons twins: a true story, more or less, of sisters who struggled with mental health and persevered through writing and storytelling. Though the twins rarely, if ever, intended harm, they were prone to fits of impulsiveness, and in their late adolescence,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Fran Hoepfner
- The Wrap
We’re still knee deep in the current box office slump, with five weeks left until Halloween Ends carries us out of it. However, after a better than expected 42.3 million overall box office last weekend (a 24 drop) and solid buzz on this weekend’s The Woman King and next weekend’s Don't Worry Darling, it looks like we may be able to weather the storm without hitting a new low overall weekend low for the year (January 28-30’s 34.9 million gross is the number to beat). This would only be a minor consolation, and we may not see a single weekend even get over 60 million until October 14-16, but having a few doubles and triples will tide theaters over until the upcoming season of homeruns and grand slams.
The biggest release this weekend is Sony/TriStar’s The Woman King, which should open in the mid teens from 3,700 theaters (including...
The biggest release this weekend is Sony/TriStar’s The Woman King, which should open in the mid teens from 3,700 theaters (including...
- 9/15/2022
- by Sam Mendelsohn <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
A tale of two sisters and two halves, The Silent Twins, directed by celebrated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska from Andrea Seigel’s adaptation of Marjorie Wallace’s 1986 book of the same name, centers on two real-life identical twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons, their uniquely idiosyncratic, imagination-rich lives, and their life-and personality-altering experiences inside oppressive educational and psychiatric institutions that repeatedly attempted to “rehabilitate” them into fully conforming British citizens. Both a cautionary tale and, in its limited way, a celebration of perseverance against a racist-tinged bureaucratic system that treated Afro-Caribbean immigrants, like the Gibbons family, as lesser than their melanin-challenged peers, The Silent Twins falters, sometimes badly, if not...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/15/2022
- Screen Anarchy
The Viola Davis African warrior epic The Woman King —a flashback to the type of historical epics Columbia Pictures has had a long history of notching Oscars with– is looking at a 12M opening this weekend, per Sony, while rivals have it in the 13M-16M range.
While adults made their way back to the box office this summer, giving Top Gun: Maverick a 700M-plus stash and putting Elvis at 150.3M stateside, the question remains how they’ll come out a time when there’s very little on the marquee. The hope is that this Gina Prince-Bythewood feature about the Agojie — a unit of powerful female warriors in the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries — will leg out and find crossover audiences, especially as awards season kicks in. Women over 25 and African American audiences poised to buy tickets. Coming...
While adults made their way back to the box office this summer, giving Top Gun: Maverick a 700M-plus stash and putting Elvis at 150.3M stateside, the question remains how they’ll come out a time when there’s very little on the marquee. The hope is that this Gina Prince-Bythewood feature about the Agojie — a unit of powerful female warriors in the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries — will leg out and find crossover audiences, especially as awards season kicks in. Women over 25 and African American audiences poised to buy tickets. Coming...
- 9/14/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s “War Pony,” Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” are among the several female-driven anticipated feature debuts slated for the Deauville American Film Festival’s competition.
Eight titles out of 13 features set to compete at Deauville as first films. “War Pony” world premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes and won the Camera d’Or for best debut. “War Pony” is a collaborative experience portraying two young Oglala Lakota men who are torn between traditions and the consumer culture surrounding them. “The Silent Twins,” which also bowed at Un Certain Regard, is a biopic of troubled twin writers June and Jennifer Gibbons starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance.
“Aftersun,” meanwhile, world premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week where it won the French Touch Prize and was acquired by A24. The melodrama stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio as a young father...
Eight titles out of 13 features set to compete at Deauville as first films. “War Pony” world premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes and won the Camera d’Or for best debut. “War Pony” is a collaborative experience portraying two young Oglala Lakota men who are torn between traditions and the consumer culture surrounding them. “The Silent Twins,” which also bowed at Un Certain Regard, is a biopic of troubled twin writers June and Jennifer Gibbons starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance.
“Aftersun,” meanwhile, world premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week where it won the French Touch Prize and was acquired by A24. The melodrama stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio as a young father...
- 7/27/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
"The Silent Twins" tries to balance its many ideas, from mental health, to race, to creativity and sibling rivalry, without really saying anything that meaningful about any of them. Still, Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs the hell out of her third feature, which at its best is a brilliant love letter to misunderstood creativity and the ways we try to express ourselves.
The film focuses on the infamous case of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical Black twins who moved to an all-white town in Wales. As if looking different and speaking a language no one understands (Bajan Creole) wasn't enough, the isolation, ostracizing,...
The post The Silent Twins Review: A Moving, Creative Story About Individuality and Belonging [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
The film focuses on the infamous case of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical Black twins who moved to an all-white town in Wales. As if looking different and speaking a language no one understands (Bajan Creole) wasn't enough, the isolation, ostracizing,...
The post The Silent Twins Review: A Moving, Creative Story About Individuality and Belonging [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
- 5/26/2022
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
Any number of directors could have shot Andrea Seigel’s straightforwardly moving screenplay for “The Silent Twins” and turned out a straightforwardly moving film in the process. It’s hard to imagine any of those movies looking, sounding or feeling quite like the one Agnieszka Smoczyńska has made, however. Based on the desperately sad true story of two intensely connected Black twin sisters failed by Britain’s educational, legal and mental health services in the ’70s and ’80s, this brazen, tear-your-heart-out drama gets the full benefit of the Polish filmmaker’s singular imagination. Layering one wild formal flourish over another — from macabre stop-motion animation to elaborately choreographed musical fantasies — to channel the inner lives of two young women who communicated only with each other, keeping the rest of the world outside their circle, it’s a swing for the fences that sometimes, almost by design, spins out of control.
Whenever that happens,...
Whenever that happens,...
- 5/26/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska makes her English-language debut with The Silent Twins, the strange and remarkable story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters who only communicated with each other from 8 to later-teen years when drugs and drinking led to petty theft and an arson charge that landed them in the tightly secured medical ward of Broadmoor for 11 years before being released in the 1980s. Creating their own puppetry and dolls, poems and music, which they only broadcast for each other on a fake radio program, the “twinnies” as they were called by family fell into an odd void that became more pronounced, even when they were forced to go to separate schools at one point. And they carried on this way until becoming young women landing and in legal trouble until incredibly being incarcerated for over a decade, five or six times as long as the...
- 5/25/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs this well-acted, disturbing drama about June and Jennifer Gibbons, whose shared isolation ended in criminal acts
Here is a really heartfelt, absorbing new film telling the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons: the “silent twins”, young women of colour who grew up in Haverfordwest in Wales communicating with no one but each other. They were effectively abandoned by the school and care systems but wrote reams of intensely imaginative poems and stories, with June even self-publishing a novel. It gained them a reputation as authentic outsider artists when, in 1981, the twins were committed to Broadmoor hospital for arson and theft. Their case was taken by investigative journalist and mental health campaigner Marjorie Wallace.
Their story has had a number of stage and screen treatments, and now screenwriter Andrea Seigel has adapted Wallace’s book about the case and Polish film-maker Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs in this UK-Polish co-production.
Here is a really heartfelt, absorbing new film telling the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons: the “silent twins”, young women of colour who grew up in Haverfordwest in Wales communicating with no one but each other. They were effectively abandoned by the school and care systems but wrote reams of intensely imaginative poems and stories, with June even self-publishing a novel. It gained them a reputation as authentic outsider artists when, in 1981, the twins were committed to Broadmoor hospital for arson and theft. Their case was taken by investigative journalist and mental health campaigner Marjorie Wallace.
Their story has had a number of stage and screen treatments, and now screenwriter Andrea Seigel has adapted Wallace’s book about the case and Polish film-maker Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs in this UK-Polish co-production.
- 5/25/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs this well-acted, disturbing drama about June and Jennifer Gibbons, whose shared isolation ended in criminal acts
Here is a really heartfelt, absorbing new film telling the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons: the “silent twins”, young women of colour who grew up in Haverfordwest in Wales communicating with no one but each other. They were effectively abandoned by the school and care systems but wrote reams of intensely imaginative poems and stories, with June even self-publishing a novel. It gained them a reputation as authentic outsider artists when, in 1981, the twins were committed to Broadmoor hospital for arson and theft. Their case was taken by investigative journalist and mental health campaigner Marjorie Wallace.
Their story has had a number of stage and screen treatments, and now screenwriter Andrea Seigel has adapted Wallace’s book about the case and Polish film-maker Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs in this UK-Polish co-production.
Here is a really heartfelt, absorbing new film telling the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons: the “silent twins”, young women of colour who grew up in Haverfordwest in Wales communicating with no one but each other. They were effectively abandoned by the school and care systems but wrote reams of intensely imaginative poems and stories, with June even self-publishing a novel. It gained them a reputation as authentic outsider artists when, in 1981, the twins were committed to Broadmoor hospital for arson and theft. Their case was taken by investigative journalist and mental health campaigner Marjorie Wallace.
Their story has had a number of stage and screen treatments, and now screenwriter Andrea Seigel has adapted Wallace’s book about the case and Polish film-maker Agnieszka Smoczyńska directs in this UK-Polish co-production.
- 5/25/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Anita Gou’s producing career focuses on helping filmmakers and creatives bring their personal passions and visions to the screen. With Focus Features’ Cannes Un Certain Regard entry “The Silent Twins” from director Agniezska Smoczynska, her streak producing singular visions — such as Lula Wang’s “The Farewell” and “Honeyboy,” the collaboration of writer-actor Shia LeBeouf and Alma Har’el — continues.
She started in the business right out of school getting her feet wet in post-production on bigger studio films.
“I kind of quickly realized through that experience — though very fruitful and eye-opening — that my passion was really about more independently driven films, more idiosyncratic storytelling, storytellers and stories. So I quickly navigated how to find my way to towards the kind of filmmakers I want to be working with.”
“The Silent Twins” tells the story of two Black women, June and Jennifer Gibbons, who, growing up in 1970s Wales, only communicated with each other,...
She started in the business right out of school getting her feet wet in post-production on bigger studio films.
“I kind of quickly realized through that experience — though very fruitful and eye-opening — that my passion was really about more independently driven films, more idiosyncratic storytelling, storytellers and stories. So I quickly navigated how to find my way to towards the kind of filmmakers I want to be working with.”
“The Silent Twins” tells the story of two Black women, June and Jennifer Gibbons, who, growing up in 1970s Wales, only communicated with each other,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.