Introduction
"I feel like I’m cheating if I say: I am a model, I am a teacher, I am a lover, I am an artist, I am a chameleon, I am a fighter… I am a person… I am a female."
– Joanne
Simon Fujiwara’s film Joanne depicts the many faces of Joanne, Simon Fujiwara’s former secondary school teacher. Joanne Salley, winner of the 1998 Miss Northern Ireland beauty pageant, artist, teacher and champion boxer had a formative influence on Fujiwara, nurturing his creative talents as a scholarship student at the prestigious Harrow School for boys.
Some years after his departure, Joanne found herself at the centre of a damaging British tabloid scandal after students discovered and circulated topless photographs of her that had been taken privately.
The media campaign that followed played on stereotypes of women to support the sensational headlines, tarnishing her reputation as a teacher and public persona. In an attempt to fight the media’s branding of her as the "Topless Teacher," Fujiwara and Joanne embarked on the production of a short film that explores issues Salley faced in the wake of the scandal as she seeks to craft a new, more authentic public image.