Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché

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Sharon Vanorny/courtesy MMoCA

A Rooftop Cinema screening at MMoCA.

A past Rooftop Cinema screening (of "Desolation Center").

Enjoy a quartet of independent documentary films on the MMoCA rooftop on upcoming Thursdays. Rooftop Cinema kicks off Aug. 4 with The American Sector, exploring what artifacts from the Cold War can tell us about politics today. It's followed on Aug. 11 by Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché, in which director/screenwriter Celeste Bell (daughter of the X-Ray Spex frontwoman) pieces together her mother's past; on Aug. 25 by The Village Detective: A Song Cycle, which builds a story around reels of film from 1969 found in the ocean by Icelandic fishing nets in 2016; and on Sept. 1 by North By Current, a personal documentary from filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax about truths discovered on returning to his hometown following the death of his niece. Ticket sales begin at 7:30 p.m. in the lobby.

press release: Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of independent films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns to the Museum’s Rooftop Sculpture Garden each Thursday this August for its seventeenth season. Films begin at sundown, approximately 8 PM.

About POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ

Celeste Bell, Paul Sng | UK | 2021 | 96 minutes

Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in England to front a successful rock band, X-Ray Spex. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, scarring her relationship with her daughter Celeste, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy. Celeste examines her mother’s diaries and a previously unopened artistic archive to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.

“More than a journeyman rockumentary, Poly Styrene is a thoughtfully finessed filial reckoning: a daughter’s journey toward understanding her mother as a young artist and as a young woman of color.” –Lisa Kennedy, New York Times

Watch the official trailer.

Ticket Information

• Rooftop Cinema is $7 per screening, or free for MMoCA members and anyone age 18 and younger.
• Ticket sales begin at 7:30 PM in the Museum Lobby.
• Screenings relocate to the lecture hall if rain is predicted.