Andrew Haigh (; born 7 March 1973) is a British filmmaker.

Early life

Haigh was born in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He read History at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

Career

Haigh worked as an assistant editor on films such as ''

Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'' and '' Black Hawk Down'' before debuting as a writer/director with the short film ''Oil''. In 2009 he directed his first feature-length film, ''Greek Pete'', which debuted at the

London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and ...

. The film is set in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and centers on

male prostitution Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...

, chronicling a year in the life of rent-boy Pete. ''Greek Pete'' won the Artistic Achievement Award at Outfest in 2009. Haigh's second feature, the highly acclaimed romantic drama '' Weekend'' about a 48-hour relationship between two men (played by

Tom Cullen Thomas Cullen (born 17 July 1985) is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film '' Weekend'' (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series ''Downton Abbey'', and as Sir Landry in the historical d ...

and

Chris New Chris New (born 17 August 1981) is an English film and stage actor best known for his starring role in the 2011 film '' Weekend''. New made his screen writing and directorial debut in 2013 with the short film ''Ticking''. He co-wrote the 2014 i ...

), premiered on 11 March 2011 at the

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

, where it won the Audience Award for Emerging Visions. The film played in many other festivals around the world, and went on to collect many more awards including the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Narrative Feature at

L.A. Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

and

London Film Critics' Circle The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally. The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards did not convey the full context of the ...

award for Breakthrough British Filmmaker. Haigh's next film ''

45 Years ''45 Years'' is a 2015 British Romance film, romantic drama film directed and written by Andrew Haigh. The film is based on the short story "In Another Country" by David Constantine. The film premiered in the main competition section of the 65 ...

'' premiered as part of the main competition at the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

. The film won the top acting prizes at the festival for both its leads,

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

and

Tom Courtenay Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Courtenay achieved prominence in the 1960s with a series of acclaimed film roles, including ''The Loneliness of t ...

. It was widely released in the UK on 28 August 2015, and was screened at the Telluride and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

film festivals in September 2015. The film later received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for

. Upon release, the film received positive reviews, holding a 97% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Kate Taylor of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' wrote: "45 Years exposes the paradoxical balance of the successful marriage, one that requires a sentimental suspension of disbelief on the one hand and a hard-headed ability to deal with the everyday on the other." Haigh co-created, co-produced and occasionally wrote and directed the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

drama series ''

Looking Looking is the act of intentionally focusing visual perception on someone or something, for the purpose of obtaining information, and possibly to convey interest or another sentiment. A large number of troponyms exist to describe variations o ...

'' (2014–2016), about a group of gay men in San Francisco, which struggled to attract audiences despite receiving generally positive reviews from critics. Cancelled after two seasons, the series finished with a two-hour TV movie in 2016. Haigh's next film, ''

Lean on Pete ''Lean on Pete'' is a 2017 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Andrew Haigh, based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin. It stars Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel and Steve Buscemi, and follows a 15-y ...

'', based on the

Willy Vlautin Willy Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author, musician and songwriter. He was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Portland, Oregon rock band Richmond Fontaine (1994–2016) and is currently a member of The Delines. Born and raised in ...

novel about a teenage boy in Oregon, premiered at the

74th Venice International Film Festival The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017. The jury president was announced as the actress Annette Bening on 5 July 2017. '' Downsizing'', directed by Alexander Payne, was selected to open ...

in 2017. It was released in cinemas and on VOD in April–May 2018 and received critical acclaim. In October 2016, Haigh was announced as the writer-director of '' The North Water'', a mini-series based on the novel of the same name by

Ian McGuire Ian McGuire (born 1964) is an English author and academic. In 1996 he joined the University of Manchester as a lecturer in American Literature and later lectured in Creative Writing. He was co-director of the Centre for New Writing and is current ...

. Filming was expected to start in Summer 2018. After some filming delays in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, it was release between 15 July and 12 August on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in 2021.

Personal life

Haigh is married to novelist Andy Morwood. The couple has two daughters. Haigh identifies as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

.Chatting with Andrew Haigh
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Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haigh, Andrew 1973 births Living people English film directors English screenwriters English male screenwriters English LGBT writers LGBT film directors LGBT screenwriters People from Harrogate British gay writers LGBT television directors English television directors 21st-century LGBT people English atheists English atheist writers