PBS Premiere: July 28, 2009
Synopsis
Variety describes it as a film "mixing ferocity with tenderness, delicacy with tenacity" — exactly like the unusual school it explores. In Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, one of Britain's leading documentary filmmakers takes a vérité look at Oxford's Mulberry Bush School for emotionally disturbed children. Mulberry's heroically forbearing staff greets extreme, sometimes violent behavior with only consolation and gentle restraint. Kim Longinotto's unblinking camera captures an arduous process and a nearly unhinged environment, but it also records the daily dramas of troubled kids trying to survive and the moments of hope they achieve with Mulberry's clear-eyed staff.
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Film Information
Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go (90 min.)
Premiere Date: July 28, 2009
Photos: Download here
Trailer: Link
Filmmaker: Kim Longinotto Bio | Interview | Statement
Press: Fact Sheet | Filmmaker Statement | Press Release
Filmmaker
To me, one of the most moving things was seeing men [the male teachers] being so loving with boys and so supportive; you got a glimpse of what fathers should be like.”
— Kim Longinotto, Filmmaker
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Film Update
July 28, 2009
Critical Acclaim
Mixing ferocity with tenderness, delicacy with tenacity ... a docu of uncompromised integrity and edge-of-the seat drama”
— John Anderson, Variety
Disturbing, deeply moving and even at times, darkly comic …a very strong piece of work”
— David Jenkins, Time Out London
Remarkable … shot with clarity and human kindness”
— Jason Solomons, The Observer
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