Nick Willing

Notoriously private and guarded, Paula Rego opens up for the first time to her son in this film about the secrets and stories in her life. Born in Portugal, trained in London, she nevertheless used her powerful pictures as a weapon against the Portuguese dictatorship – a country her father told her was no good for women – and continued to target women’s issues such as abortion. The film, graphically illustrated in pastel, charcoal and oil paint, combines a huge archive of home movies, family photographs and interviews spanning 60 years, to paint an extraordinary portrait of an artist, whose legacy will endure. Her son, filmmaker Nick Willing, talks about the challenges of confronting his mother about her past with clips from the film.  

A Lonestar film for BBC Two. Warning: film clips may contain strong language