Duane Hopkins (born 22 July 1973) is an English film director and artist, best known for directing the independent film
''Better Things'' (2008).
Career
Hopkins' first short film, ''Field'', made in 2001, premiered at
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
as part of
International Critics' Week
The International Critics' Week (french: Semaine de la Critique) was founded in 1962 and is organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created following the showing of '' The Connection'' directed by Shirley Clarke which had been ...
. A dark, unblinking tale of rural adolescence, ''Field'' went on to win a host of prizes at festivals internationally. Hopkins followed ''Field'' in 2003 with his second short film ''Love Me Or Leave Me Alone'', made as part of
Film 4
Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, it ...
and
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...
's
Cinema Extreme
Cinema Extreme was a major UK short film funding awards scheme, created in 2002. The scheme was funded by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund and Film4 and managed by The Bureau with the aim "to seek out and develop filmmakers with a distinc ...
scheme for new British filmmaking talent. ''Love Me Or Leave Me Alone'', 'a study in the articulations and limitations of first love', premiered at
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...
where it won Best British Short Film. Like ''Field'' it was highly successful; together the two films gathered over 30 international awards.
Hopkins then wrote and directed his debut feature film ''
Better Things''. Shot on location in the West Midlands of England, ''Better Things'' premiered at
International Critics' Week
The International Critics' Week (french: Semaine de la Critique) was founded in 1962 and is organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created following the showing of '' The Connection'' directed by Shirley Clarke which had been ...
in
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
2008, where it was nominated for the Camera D'Or. A
multi-narrative Multiperspectivity (sometimes polyperspectivity) is a characteristic of narration or representation, where more than one perspective is represented to the audience.
Most frequently the term is applied to fiction which employs multiple narrators, ...
tale of love, yearning and loss amongst the young and old of a small town in rural England, ''Better Things'' was widely praised by critics as a film that was both radical and nuanced. It was often noted for its use of cinematic technique and narrative approach to connect themes such as romantic need, the roots of drug addiction, and
existential
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
notions of
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
, purposefully against a contemporary, epic rural backdrop. ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' stated: "Duane Hopkins follows his prize-winning shorts with visually distinctive first feature ''Better Things''. Beautifully shot with cast of eye-catching non-pros… gives a special twist to UK tradition of
social realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
by juxtaposing the natural and the constructed."
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
wrote that ''Better Things'' "has a bold and brilliant insight at its heart" while
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
argued that "Hopkins is a director with an introspective subtlety uncommon in UK filmmaking", and in choosing Better Things'' as its Film of the Month,
Sight and Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
wrote "Hopkins' film depicts, or rather creates, a piece of British social landscape that we have never quite seen before".
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
made ''Better Things'' its film of the week, comparing Hopkins' work to "the abstract violence of
Alan Clarke
Alan John Clarke (28 October 1935 – 24 July 1990) was an English television and film director, producer and writer.
Life and career
Clarke was born in Wallasey, Wirral, England.
Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, ...
, and the lyrical harshness of
Bill Douglas
William Gerald Douglas (17 April 1934 – 18 June 1991) was a Scottish film director best known for the trilogy of films about his early life.
Biography
Born in Newcraighall on the outskirts of Edinburgh, he was brought up initially by his m ...
...Hopkins clearly has a lot in common with such directors: he uses a harsh metaphysical darkness and an acute sense of formal composition.".
Hopkins has been described as being at the centre of an emergent 'British New Wave' alongside directors like
Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
, with ''Better Things'' distinguished "by its technical and stylistic approaches to typical problems of British realism". His film work has been noted for its precise compositions and technical rigour, and for its poetic cinematic rendering of realist subject matter, characters and environments.
Hopkins also works in the fields of photography and moving image art. His first solo gallery exhibition ''Sunday'', a collection of single and multi-channel moving image installations, opened at the
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...
in March 2009. ''Sunday'' deals with contemporary British youth and the relationships between identity, psychology and environment. The format of the individual pieces within the Sunday collection is that of multiple images knitted together to form multi-screen scenes, each working in different ways with atmosphere and narrative. The impression formed is suggestive of a
social-realist fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
– the subtle interaction of
realist,
surreal
Surreal may refer to:
*Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art
* "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki
* ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze
*Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor
...
and
romantic tropes. With ''Sunday'' Hopkins was said to have "created an experience that is entirely separate from the conventions of sitting in a cinema. He generates a portrait of youth that has a matter of fact, harsh reality to it and a psychological intensity that is unnerving." ''Sunday'' was also exhibited at galleries in Liverpool and Yokohama in 2009.
Hopkins produces the work of other filmmakers through Third, a company co-founded with producer Samm Haillay. With Third Hopkins has produced Daniel Elliott's Venice-winning short film ''The Making of Parts'' and Berlinale-winning ''Jade''. In 2010 he co-produced the feature film debut of the artist
Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing CBE, RA (born 10 December 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the 1997 Turner Prize. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He ...
, titled ''Self Made''.
Filmography
* ''Field'' (2001)
* ''Love Me Or Leave Me Alone'' (2003)
* ''
Better Things'' (2008)
* ''Bypass'' (2014)
Moving Image Art
* ''Sunday'' (2009) (Installation Series)
References
External links
Duane Hopkins Website''Better Things'' Official SiteDuane Hopkins' Sunday Official Site*
Baltic Interview With Duane Hopkins about ''Sunday''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Duane
English film directors
British experimental filmmakers
Photographers from Gloucestershire
1973 births
Living people
People from Cheltenham