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’. She has recently collaborated with producers Misfits Entertainment to develop, write and direct the feature-length documentary, THE CONTESTANT (2023). The film is one of just a dozen inaugural feature docs from leading independent studio MRC and will have its international premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).