Masterclass by Nick Broomfield

Please Note: In order to view our films and post comments you must first Login
If you are not yet a docscene member, you can Sign Up for FREE.

Biography:

Nick Broomfield was born in London in 1948. He made his first film, Who Cares? (1971), with funding from the British Film Institute while studying politics and law at Essex University.

Shortly after, Broomfield joined the National Film School at Beaconsfield, where he made Proud to Be British (1973), in which the town's inhabitants speak their minds on what it means to be British (or, rather, English). During his time there he also made Behind the Rent Strike (1974) which went on win a Grierson Award. His confrontational subject matter led to BFI funded Juvenile Liason (1975) to be withdrawn from distribution and banned from television release due to media pressures.

In 1988, Broomfield's style changed significantly whilst making Driving Me Crazy. When Broomfield decided to place himself and his producer in the story as a way of making sense of the event, he paved the way for a more investigative style of filmmaking and released documentary from the confines of observational cinema.

Following the success of Driving Me Crazy, Broomfield began to concentrate mainly on American subjects. In particular he began to focus on 'celebrities' and on the media circus that surrounds and indeed constructs them. This is portrayed clearly in Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), Biggie and Tupac (2002), and Kurt and Courtney (1998).

Broomfield's more recent works include a drama called Ghosts, made for Channel 4. Inspired by the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster when 23 Chinese immigrant cocle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tides, it went on to be nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and received an award from San Sebastian International Film Festival.

His latest project, Battle for Haditha, released on 1st of February 2008 is a provocative blend of drama and documentary, portraying the tragedy of a suspected massacre of Iraqi civilians at the hands of US marines. Shot in an unconventional way, using real victims of this war as actors, Broomfield began shooting this film before the trial of the implicated marines had even begun.

Debate:

Please report any comments you feel are abusive or spam

back to previous page