Persol Presents: Joanna Hogg at Frieze London 2019

In partnership with Italian eyewear brand Persol, Frieze hosted an intimate conversation with celebrated director Joanna Hogg at Frieze London 2019. The director – known for her films Unrelated (2007), Archipelago (2010) and Exhibition (2013) – took the opportunity to discuss her most recent film, The Souvenir (2019) which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival this year. The film follows Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), a young film student living in 1980s Kensington, as she embarks upon an affair with a mysterious older man, Anthony (Tom Burke), who encourages her burgeoning cinematic talent, though conceals secrets of his own, as their time spent in Venice and the English countryside gradually reveals. Frieze has hosted filmmakers including Asif Kapadia, Joshua Oppenheimer, Agnes Varda and John Waters in talks programmes since its inception, as well as supporting artist filmmaking through Frieze film and the Frieze Artist Award. This partnership with Persol builds on the brand’s decades-long relationship with cinema, which started in the 1960’s, when Marcello Mastroianni wore the 649 model in Divorce, Italian Style and Steve McQueen donned a pair of folding 714s in The Thomas Crown Affair. Since then, Persol has been the eyewear brand of choice for actors from Daniel Craig, who wore it in his first outing as James Bond, to Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born. In September 2019, Persol’s two newest flagship stores opened in Milan’s Brera district and New York’s Nolita. The Souvenir is on general release. The Souvenir Part II is due for release in 2020.