Synopsis:

Kim Longinotto burst onto the UK documentary scene thirty years ago with her NFTS graduation film, Pride of Place. Filmed under a pseudonym at the Buckinghamshire boarding school from which Longinotto had run away some years earlier, it is a damning indictment of the school and its oppressive regime. Longinotto on camera and her co-director Dorothea Gazidis follow daily life in the school, where girls are subjected to withering tongue lashes for minor infractions, and individuality is deliberately suppressed as their severe teachers try to shape them into adult members of the British upper class. The school was closed a year after the release of the film. Compelling to watch, Pride of Place has deservedly become a classic and marked the beginning of a career in which Longinotto has continued to spotlight determined women revolting against oppressive authorities and stifling conditions.
"I think this film is like a lot of people's first films - the most personal film they make. For Kim it was a very brave film because it dealt with so much of her background and upbringing that was difficult and painful. Although there is a great deal of humour in the film about the school, I know it was also a very tortured experience for Kim, the film was a way of confronting her past and moving on. Because of that it is one of my favourite of Kim's films - it is a real insight into Kim - apart from being a very entertaining and brilliant film." - Nick Broomfield