THE CONTESTANT tells the true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing. The film prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing.
Brought up in South and Southeast Asia, British director Clair Titley grew up watching Asia’s answer to MTV and visiting back-alley video shops to rent pirated copies of the latest western movies.
Her work taps into the quietly surreal moments of life, while often being a trojan horse for comment on the world around us. Themes of identity and self-discovery run through her films – what it means to be young, old or even just human.
Clair cut her teeth making oral history films for the BBC and quickly gained a reputation as a filmmaker with a talent for interviewing and for unearthing untold angles. As well as a BAFTA nomination, she has been nominated for the Royal Television Society award for ‘Outstanding New Director’.
Her most recent film, THE CONTESTANT (2023), was made with producers Misfits Entertainment and was one of just a dozen inaugural feature docs from leading independent studio MRC. It had its international premiere at this 2023’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), US premiere at Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) and opened Doc NYC Festival. It will air on Hulu on 2nd May 2024.
