Sisters of Disruption Season

Sky Arts presents the Sisters of Disruption season, a celebration of pioneering women artists. From rock ‘n’ roll icons to literary legends, each film offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of these extraordinary women and their contributions to their craft.

This season features captivating titles that explore the lives of Hollywood icon Greta Garbo, literary disruptors The Brontës, unapologetic rock ‘n’ roller Anita Pallenberg, legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré, art activists The Guerrilla Girls, Turner Prize-winner Lubaina Himid, tour-de-force Maggi Hambling, and controversial Irish author Edna O’Brien.

Coming up on Sky Arts:

Garbo: Where Did You Go?

TX 14 May

Garbo: Where Did You Go? Is an innovative, artistic, and haunting exploration into the extraordinary life of Greta Garbo – and the reason she quit Hollywood at the height of her career. The definitive portrait of Garbo, and an exploration of love, life, and loss. In 1941, at the age of 35, Hollywood’s biggest star, Greta Garbo, abruptly announced she was retiring. She would never act again, poignantly commenting: “If only once I could see a preview and come home feeling satisfied.” With unprecedented access to archive, including intimate letters to her closest confidante; personal testimony from those that knew her and Garbo’s voice brought to life by Noomi Rapace, we get to the real woman behind the icon.

The Brontës by Anita Rani: Sisters of Disruption

TX: 20 May

Anita Rani presents this exploration of the Brontë sisters and their enduring influence, tracking the impact Anne, Charlotte and Emily have had on millions of readers across the centuries. Partly autobiographical, this new programme traces Anita’s relationship with the Brontës as she heads back to her hometown of Bradford, recalling her first encounter with them at school and her experience of growing up with the stunning landscape of Haworth and the moors on her doorstep. Anita also meets fellow Brontë fans and literary experts to discuss how and why these sisters became ground-breaking ‘literary disruptors’ whose work still feels relevant and influential today.

Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg

TX: 20 May

This intimate portrait reveals the story of an unapologetic rock ‘n’ roller, actress, muse and mother who rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on words from her unpublished memoir, narrated by Scarlett Johansson, Anita draws us deep into her world, with the help of a supporting cast that includes her family – Marlon, Angela, and their father Keith Richards. Never-seen-before home movies and family photographs explore life with the Rolling Stones in a bittersweet tale of both triumph and heartbreak. From Barbarella to the Swiss Alps, and the Lower East Side of New York, Anita Pallenberg was a woman ahead of her time.

Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy

TX: 27 May

Introduced and narrated by grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy tells the story Jacqueline du Pré and her enigmatic genius as one of the greatest cellists of all time. Full of candid moments off-stage and in rehearsal, together with powerful concert performances, the film’s interviewees provide an incomparable insight into why our wonder at her playing remains undiminished, nearly forty years after her death in 1987.

My Week With…

TX: weekly from 27 May

Uncover the day-to-day lives of the world’s most extraordinary women artists in My Week With…  In this brand-new series, Sky Arts sends art expert Kate Bryan to spend a week with some of the most iconic and disruptive women artists. With up to half the footage captured by Kate on an iPhone, these films are intimate, candid, and refreshingly real. The series comprises:

My Week With…The Guerrilla Girls

Kate Bryan spends an extraordinary week monkeying about with the bad girls of art activism, The Guerrilla Girls, who haven’t given a film crew full access to their lives and works in over 30 years. Keeping their identities secret throughout the film, Kate joins the masked crusaders, iPhone in hand, filming as they continue to disrupt the status quo of the “billionaire boys club” of the art world, campaigning for equality of opportunity and representation in the lead-up to their major installation at the Beyond the Streets gallery in Los Angeles.

My Week With…Lubaina Himid

This film marks the first time anyone has had full access to Himid’s life and working processes, and when the crew leaves, Kate is left with her iPhone to capture candid moments and conversations. Join her as she gets under the skin of one of Britain’s first black female disruptors, discovering Lubaina’s obsession with reclaimed wood and her love for Preston – the industrial northern city she calls home. Himid works non-stop, and Kate hangs out with her from dawn till dusk in her studio and her home.

My Week With…Maggi Hambling

Kate spends long days with Maggi at home and in her studio, where the artist rises daily at 5am, and sets to work despite her recent near-fatal heart attack. In quiet moments on the iPhone, they discuss everything from her creative processes and her muses to speeding tickets, cinnamon buns and being a reluctant queer icon, this one-off film draws an intimate portrait of an artist and iconic tour de force, known as much for her acerbic wit as her artistic genius.

Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story

TX: 3 June

A portrait of one of the world’s most charismatic writers, Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died last month aged 93. In 1960, a young Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls, and became a literary sensation. This new film explores Edna’s identity as one of her generation’s most controversial women, as she undertakes her final camera interview and describes what it is to know there is little time left. Never-before-seen excerpts from her personal journals are read aloud by Oscar-nominated actress Jessie Buckley, as we bear witness to the denigration she endured as an Irish woman and artist. Additional perspectives are offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers. Blue Road is as candid, dark, and enchanting as O’Brien’s novels. In her final days, she shows us what it is to be an artist, and to refuse categorisation.

The Sisters of Disruption season starts next month on Sky Arts, Freeview and streaming service NOW.