Sound for the Future

Synopsis

The Hippies were a bizarre English punk band formed in '79 by the Hulse children, Toby (12), Matt (11) and Polly (8). Their cassette album 'A Sound for the Future' featured songs about disease, assassination and the Antarctic.
"Stop eating toast and singeing your legs by the gas fire. Get up and do something!" (Ruth Pendragon, Mother, Manager, Guru), 1979. The Hippies performed ticketed live shows for their mother’s kindly but chaotic group of Cambridge friends; the homeless, drunks, animal rights activists, junkies, cross-dressers and gay Franciscan friars.

The Hippies then and now. What truly happened back in the past and whose side of the story should be told? Especially as the film’s director was the band's 11-year-old drummer? Matt’s mum Ruth, maverick, mystic, manager, plays a pivotal role in the bigger picture, offering an insight into a time of personal and social upheaval, both for her and her family in Thatcher’s Britain.

Using music of the period, archive, animation and poetic reimaginings of key moments, Matt Hulse explores a part-remembered, kaleidoscopically fractured, family history, through an energetic, jarring, ride; part performance, part art, part process, post-punk.

Details

Year

2020

Type of film

Features

Running Time

102 min

Format

4K, 2K, Super 8mm

Director

Matt Hulse

Producer

Ashley Horner, Aimara Reques

Co-Producer

Aconite Productions

Executive Producer

Mark Thomas, Paul Ashton

Editor

Nick Currey

Screenwriter

Matt Hulse

Director of Photography

Ian Dodds

Production Designer

Victoria Brown

Sound

Cameron Mercer, Bartek Baranowski

Music

Simon Fisher Turner

Principal Cast

Jamie Haughey

Featuring Music From

XTC, Gang of Four, Sleaford Mods, The Stranglers, Ought, Generation Riot, Doug Champion, Cheap Fags, The Hippies

Genre

• Experimental
• Music / Dance
• Scottish

Production status

Complete

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Last updated 7th April 2020