Nick Broomfield

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Nicholas Broomfield (born 30 January 1948, in London) is an English documentary filmmaker. He studied Law at Cardiff, Wales, and Political Science at the University of Essex; subsequently, he studied film at the National Film and Television School. Broomfield films with a minimum of crew, just himself and one or two camera operators, which gives his documentaries a distinctive style. Broomfield himself is often in shot holding the sound boom.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Broomfield's early style was very conventional Cinéma vérité: the juxtaposition of observed scenes. He would not provide much explanation by way of voice-over or text, rather letting the film talk for itself.

It was not until Driving Me Crazy (1988) that Broomfield, already very much a known character in filmmaking, appeared on-screen for the first time. After several arguments regarding the budget and nature of the film, he decided that he would only make the documentary if he was able to conduct a sort of experiment by filming the process of making the film - that is, the arguments, the failed interviews and the dead-ends.

This shift in filmmaking style was also heavily influenced by Broomfield's experience in attempting to release his earlier film Lily Tomlin, which chronicled the star's one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Once completed, Tomlin claimed the film was a spoiler for the actual show and she filed suit for $7 million against Broomfield. The documentary was shown on public television but not widely released. Eventually the footage of the stage show shot by Broomfield was used in the video release of the one-woman show.

It is for this reflexive filmmaking style - that is to say, a film being about the making of itself as much as about its subject - that Broomfield is best known. His influence on documentary is clear: Michael Moore, Louis Theroux and Morgan Spurlock have all adopted a similar style for their recent box-office hits. Filmmakers who use this style have been referred to as Les Nouvelles Egotistes; others have likened his work to the gonzo reporting of Hunter S Thompson.

Broomfield is an alumnus of the National Film and Television School; he co-wrote the documentary Kurt and Courtney (1998) with American filmmaker Joan Churchill.

He has recently completed a drama called Ghosts for Channel 4 inspired by the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster when 23 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tides.

His current project on the Haditha killings, Battle For Haditha, is being shot in an unconventional way: instead of a detailed script, there is only an outline of each scene and where the story is going. The outline is reportedly based on rumours, as the trial had not even begun when they started filming, with the assumption that the Marines on trial are guilty and the Victims family and neighbours were telling the truth.[1] [2] [3]

[edit] Films

[edit] Other work

In 1999, Broomfield made a series of five commercials for Volkswagen. Each of these featured Broomfield with his trademark sound boom 'investigating' rumours about the soon-to-be released Volkswagen Passat.

[edit] Awards

  • British Academy Award (BAFTA)
  • Prix Italia
  • The Dupont Columbia Award for Outstanding Journalism
  • The Peabody
  • The Royal Television Society Award
  • First Prize, Sundance Film Festival
  • John Grierson Award
  • Robert Flaherty Award
  • The Hague Peace Prize
  • The Chris Award
  • The Blue Ribbon
  • The California State Bar Award
  • First Prize, Chicago Film Festival
  • First Prize, US Film Festival
  • First Prize, Festival of Mannheim
  • First Prize, Festival di Popoli
  • Special Jury Award, Melbourne Film Festival

Nick was also given a BAFTA tribute evening on March 8, 2005.

[edit] References

Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, ed. Ian Aitken. London: Routledge (2005)

  1. ^ [1] Dreamachine snap up Nick Broomfield Iraq war pic
  2. ^ [2] Iraq war spreads to Hollywood
  3. ^ [3] Director Nick Broomfield on Haditha

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Nick Broomfield

Who Cares? (1971) • Proud to be British (1973) • Juvenile Liaison (1975) • Behind the Rent Strike (1979) • Wittingham (1980) • Fort Augustus (1981) • Soldier Girls (1981) • Tatooed Tears (1982) • Chicken Ranch (1983) • Lily Tomlin (1986) • Driving Me Crazy (1988) • Diamond Skulls (1989) • The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife (1991) • Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) • Monster in a Box (1992) • Tracking Down Maggie (1994) • Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995) • Fetishes (1996) • Kurt and Courtney (1998) • Biggie & Tupac (2002) • Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) • His Big White Self (2006) • Ghosts (2006) • Battle for Haditha (2007)
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