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Claire Rushbrook

Actor
Claire Rushbrook is a British actress who has become a fixture in British film culture thanks to her versatile roles in cinema and television. After training at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, she began her career on stage before becoming known in film and television in the mid-1990s. In SECRET AND LIES (1996) by director Mike Leigh, she played one of the central supporting roles in the multi-award-winning family drama, which was honored with the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. Her performance contributed significantly to the emotional intensity of the film, which is considered a milestone of British realism. Rushbrook has since worked in numerous other productions, including Carine Adler's Under the Skin (1997), in which she appeared alongside Samantha Morton, and Spice World (1997), one of the most successful British films of the time. On television, she gave convincing performances in series such as “Linda Green” (2001–2002) and “My Mad Fat Diary” (2013–2015), in which she received great acclaim for her sensitive portrayal of a mother. She also appeared in prominent roles in “Doctor Who” and “Home Fires.” In recent years, she has once again attracted international attention with films such as Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and the highly acclaimed drama Ali & Ava (2021). Claire Rushbrook is considered a character actress who embodies complex characters with great naturalness and continuously moves between cinema, television, and theater.

Films

Secrets and Lies

Secrets and Lies

By Mike Leigh

1996 | 142 min | Drama

Two BAFTA Awards and six Oscar nominations: Hortense, a black woman, learns that her mother is white and wants nothing to do with her.

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Talea

Talea

2013 | 75 min | Drama

It's summer holidays, and the planned Italian holiday with Jasmin's foster family is just around the corner. Everyone is looking forward to the trip - except Jasmin. She wants to be with Eva, her mother, who is available to Jasmin for the first time after a long prison term. For weeks Jasmin has been seeking Eva's closeness, she does not give up, even if she is rejected by her. After a fight with her foster family, Jasmin runs away and persuades Eva to spend a short holiday in the countryside with ...

Ties That Bind

Ties That Bind

2017 | 102 min | Documentary

"Just when I thought I was finally at peace with my feelings for my parents and my origins, our father bequeaths his old farmhouse to me and my sister." "The inheritance of stone is meant to tie us back to that place in the Salzburg mountains where we grew up and where my parents still live. I suffer from shortness of breath. I realize: the conflict with my family has not stopped. With my return, a new look at my parents begins." (IVETTE LÖCKER) "A humorous and touching portrait of a Salzburg marriage ...

The Bitter Apple From the Tree

The Bitter Apple From the Tree

2015 | 29 min | Documentary

A summer in South Korea: a filmmaker returns to her home country, driven by her complex relationship with her mother. In a small apartment in Incheon, an intimate story unfolds about a woman whose life has been shaped by disappointment and conformity. The youngest of four sisters, born unwanted, she left home at the age of twelve. Since then, she has struggled, marked by the expectations of society and her own family. The daughter's camera captures moments of intimacy and confrontation, an interplay ...

In This Very Moment

In This Very Moment

2003 | 94 min | Drama

On her way to go shopping in nearby Poland, Sylvia abandons her two rebellious stepchildren, Lea (8) and Konstantin (7), on a country road. Upon her return, Sylvia cannot bring herself to tell her husband, the children's father, the truth about her absence. The children meet a Polish man who supplies restaurants with toiletries and promises to take them home. Meanwhile, the unsuspecting father sets off with the stepmother to search for the supposedly kidnapped children. IN THIS VERY MOMENT (original ...

Thing I Don't Get

Thing I Don't Get

2018 | 71 min | Drama

When he falls in love with his best friend Marike, he no longer knows what he wants. At school, Johannes is the bumpkin. Neglected by his father and brother, he seeks the company of his best friend Marike. As their friendship gradually turns into love, Johannes no longer knows where he belongs. This intense coming of age story was Henning Beckhoff's Master's Degree film at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. "At the center of this coming of age story is the contrast between modernity and ...

Aria le film

Aria le film

2017 | 60 min | Documentary

Using the example of her own artificially inseminated pregnancy, Emilie Jouvet presents the difficulties faced by queer people who wish to have children in France. This movie proposes a diversity of stories and reflections on motherhood, parenthood, the desire or not to have a child through a series of portraits shot on smartphones. Millions of people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, share the desire to have a child. But the path to pregnancy for queer people is often fraught with legal ...

Wild Roses

Wild Roses

2017 | 89 min | Drama

Ewa returns home after a stay in the hospital. Her two children, who lived with Ewa's mother during this time, are waiting for her. Andrzej, her husband, was on business trip for a long time and the spatial distance between the two has a negative effect on their relationship. When their youngest child disappears without a trace, Ewa and Andrzej have to face an unpleasant truth.

The Discarded Father

The Discarded Father

2008 | 82 min | Documentary

Douglas Wolfsperger explores a social phenomenon that rarely appears in public discourse: men, who after a separation from their wives, are "disposed of" not only as partners but also as fathers and who - often in vain - struggle to maintain a relationship with their children. In moving interviews, four fathers describe their suffering and efforts to keep contact with their children. A mother justifies the refusal of contact from her point of view. Despite the seriousness of the topic, the film ...

The Circle in Which She Travels

The Circle in Which She Travels

2010 | 25 min | Drama

19-year-old Luisa travels to Mexico to search for her Mexican roots, which her mother kept secret from her. She wants to find her grandfather, whom she has never met. All she knows is that he lived in a small mountain town in Mexico and that the name is “Villa”. What she doesn't know is that the famous Mexican revolutionary from 1910 has the same name and that every Mexican knows the name of the national hero. During her search, she meets a young man named Memo, who offers to help her. Torn between ...