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An image of Christ crucified struck the teenage Vivienne Westwood with the force of a revelation. As the fashion designer and activist recalls in a new documentary about her life: “It made me aware of suffering and that I’d been lied to, it wasn’t all nice. I needed to find my own way and trust myself.”

This awareness has continued through Westwood’s life. She became a forceful advocate for Greenpeace, speaking at rallies and protesting against fracking. For Westwood, 76, the environment is a critical issue. She transformed the catwalk into a protest with her spring-summer 2016 show for London Fashion Week and drove a tank to then prime minister David Cameron’s house to nail home the point.

“She wants to talk about her activism, not about herself,” says Lorna Tucker, director of Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, one of the centrepieces of this year’s Sydney Film Festival. “If Viv was to edit a film about herself it would be very different and I wanted to take a step back and make a film about her that really inspired people to understand Viv and where her activism comes from.”

After making a fashion film for Vivienne Westwood’s Climate Revolution in 2013 (Red Shoes, starring Lily Cole) and collaborating on a series of short films, Tucker suggested the idea of a feature documentary.

“The biggest compliment I had was from her colleagues and close friends who said this was the most authentic portrait they’ve ever seen,” Tucker says.

“Viv will probably hate it because that’s the way she is, a perfectionist about everything, always striving to make things better. She’s an amazing icon and she gives a shit. On the outside, people just see her talking about stuff and probably think, ‘Oh there’s another celebrity actress on the bandwagon.’ I wanted to show she is really fighting hard to make it happen. She finds out about something and she asks, ‘How can I fix it?’”

Tucker was speaking backstage at the Marc Theatre in Park City, Utah, earlier this year, after her film’s premiere before a responsive, sometimes emotional, audience at the Sundance Film Festival. As we talked, theatre staff approached Tucker to thank her for her “inspiring” film.

As well as Westwood’s activism, the film gives insights about a fascinating figure in the fashion world. She began making garments from age 11 and, in her teens, left her native Cheshire for London. She met Malcolm McLaren, who found shop space in which to sell records while Westwood made and sold her clothes. The shop’s ever-changing punk themes, culminating in the World’s End store, were a precursor to Westwood creating for seasonal fashion shows.

On screen the designer is palpably bored with talking about the Sex Pistols. She also grew bored of their manager McLaren. “He kept on doing the same thing,” she says. “He should have changed to do something else by now.”

Meanwhile, Westwood found that punk anarchy could only go so far, saying, “We weren’t attacking the system at all, we were part of the distraction.”

The success of her collections, notably the pirate-inspired designs and the colour, pattern and energy that Westwood injected as a riposte to punk, brought her wide attention.

She set her sights on an international market.

In Italy she came close to securing a major partnership but, in a spectacular display of sour grapes, McLaren sabotaged the deal. Back in Britain, and on social security, Westwood got out her old sewing machine and renewed a lease on the World’s End store.

“She doesn’t even complain about it, which is why I bring in her family and friends at that point in the film to explain what happened and how bad it was,” Tucker says.

“She doesn’t dwell on it but it could have destroyed her. The audience needs to see that, because what she did can inspire people.”

A major figure in Westwood’s life is her husband and design collaborator Andreas Kronthaler, who she met in Austria and with whom she has collaborated since. A former Olympic sports shooter and 10 years Westwood’s junior, Kronthaler says he is “besotted” and that his wife embodies everything he loves. There is a wonderful photo montage where we see the pair wearing matching dresses and outrageous designs.

There is a comment in the film that they work on the body like old-style couturiers. “I was incredibly lucky to observe them working together,” Tucker says.

“What I really admire is just how much they care about women’s bodies and how they accentuate, make women powerful whatever their figures. It was like watching magic happen.”

Despite Westwood’s talent, it took a long time for her to be acknowledged by her peers. Commentators in the film say she was initially considered a joke but eventually, because of pressure from critics, she could no longer be ignored and was awarded designer of the year in 1990 and 1991.

In March 2016, Westwood changed the name of her Gold Label collection to Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, while she continues to design the Vivienne Westwood men’s and women’s collections. Many fashion houses are owned by corporations, but Westwood still owns and controls the company she founded.

Dressed in vivid coats, scarfs, boots and fishnets, cycling through London streets to her design studio or riding a tank to confront the prime minister about the environment, Westwood embodies her own fashion talk. “You’ve got to cut a figure,” she says of her clothes. “You’ve got to be prepared for action and engagement.”

To quote former Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, who appears in the film, “She’s a punk rocker. She’s the only punk rocker.”

“Vivienne really inspired me because she came from nothing really,” Tucker explains. “She says, ‘Just don’t give up. Come on, Lorna, this is what you want to do, it’s going to be tough, but just do it and stop moaning.’ Before this project I’d worked with her briefly when I was coming out of a divorce and with a child. I wasn’t very aware of what was going on in the world, the environment, human rights, I just didn’t have any knowledge of that. Viv literally gave me a crash course that blew my mind.

“It made me want to do something, so I praise her as that turning point in my life.”

Asked if anything surprised her while she was making the documentary, Tucker says: “I was surprised at how much she works and where she gets her energy from. At her age she is looking incredible, she doesn’t believe in plastic surgery. She suffers no fools, and she really is driven to make a difference in the world and dedicated to making change.”Read more at:sydney formal dress shops | blue bridesmaid dresses