Punk icon Vivienne Westwood stars alongside her son Joe Corré in new documentary, WAKE UP PUNK. Directed by Nigel Askew the documentary celebrated its World Premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival on 12th March ahead of its UK & Ireland release on 9th May.
WAKE UP PUNK comes from the heart of the Punk movement and is a unique insight into the true origins of punk.
Joe Corré, son of punk visionaries Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, burns an estimated £5M worth of punk memorabilia protesting the commodification of punk. WAKE UP PUNK takes this incendiary act of ‘cultural terrorism’ and the questions it raised to explore the lifespan and true worth of punk – the 20th century’s most volatile movement.
With a fusion of documentary and magical realism, the film captures intimate moments between Vivienne and her two sons Ben and Joe as they candidly discuss their own relationship with McLaren and stories from the punk era. Through the music, politics and fashion that drove the movement to its eventual commercial demise, Vivienne gives a fascinating, in-depth, never heard before insight as she charts the decline of punk and the subsequent rise of climate activism among the younger generations.
Addressing voter apathy, imminent climate catastrophe and the rapidly evolving social context, WAKE UP PUNK calls for a resurrection of the energy of the “no future” generation.
Speaking about the film Director Nigel Askew said “WAKE UP PUNK was ignited because of the establishment’s misappropriation of Punk, a fightback from the heart of the movement. ‘Punk was not about music it’s about an attitude to life’. I thought I knew what Punk meant, the journey of making this film revealed to me a whole new insight to the movement, more complex than I could ever have imagined.”
