IMAGO: Meret Oppenheim (1996) is a 90-minute art film by Pamela Robertson-Pearce (director) and Anselm Spoerri (producer). The narration by Glenda Jackson is based on texts, letters, dreams and poems by Meret Oppenheim. It has been shown in cinemas in Europe and America, and won several awards, including the Swiss Film Board's Outstanding Quality Prize, Oakland's Golden Apple Award and Mulhouse's Grand Prix.

The fame of the Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) rests on one piece, "The Fur-lined Teacup", one of the archetypal Surrealist works. By creating it in 1936 at the age of 23, she leapt into the art-history books - but a year later she had retreated from Paris to Basle to study art in order to live up to her worldwide reputation, and plunged into a depression that lasted 17 years. "Nobody gives you freedom, you have to take it," she remarked, and eventually she was able to emerge from the shadow of that teacup and become a mature artist, her links with Dada and Surrealism still alive. Based on Meret Oppenheim's own words, this film is an inspiring tribute to a woman who transformed herself after a long crisis. This short extract from IMAGO covers Meret Oppenheim's Paris years.

Pamela Robertson-Pearce (libellebleu@yahoo.com) is available for showings of her film at festivals, exhibitions, art colleges and universities. She first met Meret Oppenheim as a child when the artist visited Stockholm for a major exhibition of her work in 1967. After graduating from St Martin's College of Art in London, she approached her about making a film based on her life and work, and had started working together on this when Meret Oppenheim died, in 1985. After a period of reassessment, Pamela Robertson-Pearce decided to continue the project, filming in the places where Meret Oppenheim had lived, and drawing on her writings. The film which emerged, IMAGO, took eight years to make.

IMAGO can be bought or hired from the Roland Collection (versions also available in French, German and Spanish). This extract has been uploaded for Pamela Robertson-Pearce.