Christine Oestreicher

At St Paul’s her love of music was ignited by her piano teacher, Helen Bidder and by the composer Herbert Howells who conducted the school choir of which Oestreicher was a member.

In 1962, after her marriage broke down, Oestreicher started a new life in Islington with her two daughters where they met life-long friends Harriet Behrens (now Frazer) and the artist Suzy Boyt and their children.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Oestreicher was an avid cinema-goer, especially drawn to the films of Chantal Akerman, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Fellini, Hitchcock, Michael Powell, Jacques Tati, Truffaut, Luchino Visconti and Lina Wertmuller.

In 1982, Oestreicher was nominated for an Oscar by the Academy of Motion Pictures for her production of Clare Peploe's short film Couples and Robbers (1981), starring Frances Lowe and Rik Mayall.

In 1983, at the 55th Academy Awards, Oestreicher won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for the 25-minute comedy drama A Shocking Accident[1][2] written and directed by James Scott from the story by Graham Greene.

[4][5] Throughout the 1980s Oestreicher was developing several feature films including Still Rage and High Season with Clare Peploe, and Every Picture Tells a Story, Dibs in Search of Self and Loser Takes All with Scott.

Meanwhile, she was an active member of the London based Association of Independent Producers, founded by Richard Craven to lobby for government and television finance for indigenous British cinema.

During this time, Oestreicher and Scott held monthly meetings of British independent filmmakers such as Derek Jarman, Stephen Frears, Ron Peck, Clare Peploe and Chris Petit among others.

In 1987 High Season written and directed by Clare Peploe went into production, starring Jacqueline Bisset, Kenneth Branagh, James Fox and Irene Papas.

Based on the 1955 novella Loser Takes All by Graham Greene with a supporting cast including Michel Blanc, Margi Clake, Richenda Carey, Frances de la Tour, Marius Goring and Max Wall, the film had all the ingredients for success but was a box office flop and a critical disappointment after being rescripted, re-cut, rescored and retitled Strike It Rich at Harvey Weinstein’s behest.

In 2001 Oestreicher produced and directed a documentary[8] based on The Art of Remembering exhibition in which 54 contemporary British letter cutters explore themes of memory and loss.