Josh Appignanesi (born 1975) is a British film director, producer, and screenwriter. Appignanesi is best known for the feature film '' Song of Songs'' (2006), starring

Natalie Press Natalie Press (born 15 August 1980) is an English actress. She is known for her performance in the 2004 film ''My Summer of Love'' and a number of short and feature-length Independent film, independent films, including ''Wasp (2003 film), Wasp' ...

, which he directed, co-wrote and co-produced. The film won several awards including a special commendation for Best British Film at the

Edinburgh 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 ...

. Made on a tiny budget, the film is a dark study of the intense relationship between a brother and highly religious sister in London's

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

community. The film had a small, arthouse UK release but received critical acclaim; ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' said it "reveals a distinctive and bold new voice in British cinema." He has written and directed several short films, most notably ''Ex Memoria'' (2006) which also stars

as well as

Sara Kestelman Sara Kestelman (born 12 May 1944) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Jane Grey's mother, in the 1986 film '' Lady Jane'', as well as for providing the voice of Kreia in '' Star Wars Knights of the Old ...

in a study of a woman with

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, funded by the

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; and ''Nine 1/2 Minutes'' (2003), a romantic comedy starring

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

Life and career

In 2006, Appignanesi directed his first feature film, ''Song of Songs''. In 2010, he directed and script edited the comedy feature film '' The Infidel'', written by

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has al ...

and starring

Omid Djalili Omid Djalili ( fa, امید جلیلی; born 30 September 1965) is a British actor, comedian and writer. Early life and education Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents. He attended Holland Park ...

Richard Schiff Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...

Archie Panjabi Archana Panjabi (born 31 May 1972) is a British actress. She has had various roles in both UK and US television including as Maya Roy in ''Life on Mars'' (2006–07), Nas Kamal in NBC crime drama '' Blindspot'' (2016–17, 2020), Kendra Malle ...

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

and

Yigal Naor Igal Naor ( he, יגאל נאור; born ) is an Israeli actor, sometimes credited as Yigal Naor. Naor was born in Givatayim, Israel, to Mizrahi Jewish parents from Iraq. He has appeared in the American films ''Munich'', ''Green Zone'' and '' R ...

. Produced by Arvind David at Slingshot, the film follows the adventures of a British Muslim everyman (Djalili) who discovers he was born Jewish. The film was released internationally in Spring 2010, and in the UK with distributor Revolver Entertainment. He lives in London and studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he was a contemporary and close friend of the novelist

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...

. Appignanesi is married to academic Devorah Baum. The couple have two sons together. Appignanesi co-directed 2016 documentary film ''The New Man'' with Baum about their experience as expectant parents. The film was described in ''The Observer'' as "a profoundly moving and revealing study of a life-changing event." He is the son of writers

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and

Richard Appignanesi Richard Appignanesi (born December 20, 1940) is a Canadian writer and editor. He was the originating editor of the internationally successful illustrated '' For Beginners'' book series (since 1991 called the '' Introducing...'' series), as well ...

and brother of Katrina Forrester.

References

Sources

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A9267492 *http://film.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh2005/story/0,,1557812,00.html *http://www.bbc.co.uk/newtalent/film/advice_josh.shtml *https://web.archive.org/web/20070928014243/http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=D9CD54E207b762D510gUyPBC621F 1975 births Living people Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English Jews English people of Italian descent {{UK-film-bio-stub