Life for Christine

Synopsis

A documentary- drama based on a true case history researched by MIND, the National Association for Mental Health. The play starts when Colin, a social worker for MIND, discovers Christine, a 14-year-old girl, in Holloway Prison. He is shocked to see her in an empty cell with only a mattress on the floor and to read on the door that her sentence is ‘for the period of your life’. Christine recounts her story to Colin: how an apparently normal child with a troubled childhood becomes an outcast at school, is taken into care, moved from institution to institution, sedated yet rebellious, and how eventually after setting fire to some curtains she received her life sentence. The film questions the legal system which condemns children like Christine to this kind of treatment and, the bureaucracy of the welfare state.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Film; Video; Film. 16mm. sd. col. 79 min. Videocassette. VHS. col. 79 min.

Technical information

Black-and-white / Sound

Availability

Hire (video - Glenbuck only)

Subjects

Drama; Law; Social welfare

Keywords

prisons; young offenders

Credits

Producer

John Goldschmidt

Writer

Fay Weldon

Cast

Mandy York
Marjorie Yates
Nicholas Ball

Distribution Formats

Type

Film

Format

16mm

Distributor

Name

BFI Film Bookings Unit

Email

bookings.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi/help-faq/film-bookings External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7957 8938 / 8935

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

Name

Concord Media

Email

sales@concordmedia.org.uk

Web

http://www.concordmedia.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

01473 726 012

Address

Rosehill Centre
22 Hines Road
Ipswich
IP3 9BG

Notes

A long-established, not-for-profit organisation with a large collection DVDs, specialising in the sectors of general and mental health, child care, race relations, war and peace, addictions, the third world, ecology, civil rights, personal relationships, educational issues, and social work training. Concord also handles titles made for the Graves Medical Audio-visual Library. Sale on DVD. Formerly known as Concord Video and Film Council. In 2014 Concord began to offer selected films as Video on Demand, via Vimeo.