Teenland: In Teenagers' Bedrooms

Recent Press

"Amusing and affecting this fine documentary takes us places film-makers don't often reach" Radio Times

"Personal and touching" ..."an alternative view to the tabloid image of teenagers as knife-wielding hoodies." - The Times

"Jeanie Finlay's film reminded you how weird the teenager is, or – shudder of self-recognition – was." The Times

"Insightful" - The Observer

"an almost-fairytale atmosphere as we push the doors into the forbidden kingdom of teenage minds." Four Docs

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four Docs
Jeanie Finlay is a young director from Nottingham, who just made a brilliant 60 minute doc about teenager's bedrooms. Called Teenland, it relies on an almost-fairytale atmosphere as we push the doors into the forbidden kingdom of teenage minds.

Watch it - it's a really good intimate piece of filmmaking from a relatively-new British docmaker. Not showy and not patronising, it lets the kids speak for themselves and takes us on an anthropological journey through their habitats. We interviewed her and you can see her fascinating answers here.

The Telegraph
31 May 2007
Digital Review
Gerard O'Donovan
In a recent interview film-maker Jeanie Finlay described the typical teenagers' bedroom as a kind of chrysalis, a rare space of their own to control and make a mark upon, somewhere to gestate before emerging into adulthood. It's a nice if somewhat rose-tinted image which perfectly sums up her approach to In Teenagers' bedrooms: Teenland (BBC4) in which she filmed four youngsters sitting in their bedrooms and talking about really important things - ie themselves.
Like her, 16 year old Immy's room conformed to the half-formed rebel stereotype, plastered in pseudo-nasty Marilyn Manson posters yet retaining little grottos of girlhood devoted to Barbie.
Lizzie's room also had the Marilyn Manson touch, though more alarming was the screaming red paint. Red for anger, she later admitted (after therapy and a calming decor change). Scott, 17 and the only boy, had a room devoid of character (and colour if you excluded the cabbage green walls and ceiling rendered "browny" by splattered spiders) as he spent most of his time playing computer games.
Then there was Vikki who, though hardly a teenager at 20, had been confined to bed with ME for five years. Filmed over 12 months or so, Finlay drew them out nicely, accentuating their very different backgrounds, problems, hopes and dreams, yet underlining their essential sameness, too.
The air of self-absorption, self-importance and even self delusion was, at times, a little suffocating. But then, if memory serves, so is the air in most teenagers' bedrooms.

The Times
31 May 2007
Last nights TV
Weird world of teenagers - Tim Teeman
Teenland (BBC Four) took us inside four teenage bedrooms: Immy, stuck between the worlds of Barbie and Marilyn Manson; Lizzie, and her ever-changing hair colours; 17-year-old Scott, teased for being fat but oddly centred and happy; and Vikki, the oldest at 20, who took to her bed on September 11, 2001, from which she has never since emerged. She has incapacitating ME, but operates a business from her laptop. The other girls wanted to be famous; Immy for hanging out with rock stars, though at least Lizzie wanted to be known for her poetry. Jeanie Finlay's film reminded you how weird the teenager is, or – shudder of self-recognition – was.

The Times
30 May 2007
The Knowledge and daily paper - choice
Teenland is a film by the artist Jeanie Finlay, made up of interviews with four British teenagers. It is ostensibly about their bedrooms, but their revelations become more personal and touching as the film goes on. The quartet – two punky girls, a fat Xbox addict and an ME sufferer who took to her bed in 2001 – are not representative of British youth, but provide an alternative view to the tabloid image of teenagers as knife-wielding hoodies.

Guardian Guide
26 May 2007
Pick of the day
Ah, the continuing attempt to understand those difficult creatures, teenagers. Artist Jeanie Finlay has managed to get access to that teen sanctuary, the bedroom. In one she finds Vikki, who has been in there for five odd years (she's actually an adult now) and who isn't sure when she might be coming out. The colours of Lizzie's walls are an expression of her personality, and Immy ambitiously wants to be famous for being famous - careers advice not being what it used to be. Martin Skegg.

The Daily Mail ****
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Pick of the Day
This documentary ventures behind four different doors to explore the domain of the teenager, a place more forbidden to many parents than deepest, darkest Timbuktu. Lizzie for instance, used to have red walls - red for anger - but she is now content in a new home and the walls are white, while scott lives out his ruined childhood dreams of professional football on his games console.

Radio Times
26 May 2007
Today's Choice
Immy is immersed in the world of her own room but, like the three other teens in this revealing film, she talks about life, her passions and ambitions.
Amusing and affecting this fine documentary takes us places film-makers don't often reach. GE

Observer
27 May 2007
OTV Choice
Documentary in which the British artist Jeanie Finlay gives an insight into teenagers' lives. Lizzie's new bedroom, decorated in white has made her feel like a different person.

The Independent
Must See TV
30 May 2007
An Insightful documentary about the dreams and aspirations to be found in a teenagers' bedroom.