Kevin Macdonald (born 28 October 1967) is a Scottish director. His films include ''
One Day in September
''One Day in September'' is a 1999 documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Michael Douglas provides the sparse narration through ...
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...
, the climbing documentary '' Touching the Void'' (2003), the drama ''
The Last King of Scotland
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden,
published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction an ...
'' (2006), the political thriller '' State of Play'' (2009), the
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
documentary '' Marley'' (2012), the post-apocalyptic drama ''
How I Live Now
''How I Live Now'' is a novel by Meg Rosoff, first published in 2004. It received generally positive reviews and won the British Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the American Printz Award for young-adult literature.
Plot
Fifteen-year-o ...
'' (2013), the thriller ''
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
'' (2014), the
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...
documentary ''
Whitney Whitney may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta
* ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston
* ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...
'' (2018), and the legal drama film ''
The Mauritanian
''The Mauritanian'' is a 2021 legal drama film based on the memoir of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held for fourteen years (from 2002 to 2016) without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a United States military pri ...
'' (2021).
Personal life
Macdonald was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland. His maternal grandparents were the Hungarian-born British
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
filmmaker
Emeric Pressburger
Emeric Pressburger (born Imre József Pressburger; 5 December 19025 February 1988) was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a collaborat ...
and English screenwriter and actress Wendy Orme. He was brought up in
Gartocharn
Gartocharn (; gd, Gart a’ Chàirn ) is a village in West Dunbartonshire in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is the only village in the parish of Kilmaronock (not to be confused with the town of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire). The parish has a popu ...
, Dunbartonshire and attended the local primary school for the first five years of his education, He was educated at
Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
.
Career
Macdonald began his career with a biography of his grandfather, ''The Life and Death of a Screenwriter'' (1994), which he turned into the documentary ''The Making of an Englishman'' (1995).
After making a series of biographical documentaries, Macdonald directed ''
One Day in September
''One Day in September'' is a 1999 documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Michael Douglas provides the sparse narration through ...
1972 Munich Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
. Possibly the most striking feature of this film was the lengthy interview with
Jamal Al-Gashey
Jamal Al-Gashey ( ar, جمال الجاشي; born 1953) is a Palestinian terrorist who was a member of the Black September offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization and one of eight terrorists who carried out the massacre of eleven Is ...
, the last known survivor of the Munich terrorists (it has been suggested recently in Aaron Klein's book ''Striking Back'' that another, Mohammed Safady, might also still be alive). Macdonald found Al-Gashey through intermediaries, and was able to convince him that the film would only be truly authentic if Al-Gashey gave his side of the story. Since the former terrorist was convinced that Israeli authorities were still hunting him (he had been in hiding ever since being ransomed for a hijacked aeroplane less than two months after the
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two member ...
), Al-Gashey agreed to the interview only on condition that he would be disguised, his face would be shown only in shadow or blurred out, and that the interview would be conducted by a person and in a place of Al-Gashey's choosing (which turned out to be Amman,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
), although Al-Gashey agreed that Macdonald could be present. Since the interview was conducted entirely in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
(even though Al-Gashey was known to be fluent in English, having been interviewed in the language in 1972), and Al-Gashey (through paranoia or annoyance) frequently stormed out of the interview room, Macdonald did not know if he had anything usable until he returned to London and hired an Arabic translator. The film won an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
Siula Grande
Siula Grande is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, high.
__NOTOC__
''Touching the Void'' ascent
In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. A ...
, a major peak in the Peruvian
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
, in 1985 and the subsequent dramatic series of events during their descent after one of the climbers broke his leg whilst high on the peak. The film won the
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)2003–04 BAFTA Awards – coincidentally, it was Korda who had given Macdonald's grandfather his first job when he had arrived in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
in 1935.
Next was ''
The Last King of Scotland
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden,
published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction an ...
'', for which
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
After making his f ...
received widespread acclaim and won multiple acting awards including Academy Award for Best Actor.
He has also directed a number of television commercials with
Rogue Films
Rogue is a commercial, TV, music video and documentary production company, originally organised under the name of Drum Films in 1974, as part of The Moving Picture Company. In 1983 Michael Green purchased both companies, making them part of ...
The Eagle
The eagle is a large bird of prey.
Eagle or The Eagle may also refer to:
Places England
* Eagle, Lincolnshire, a village
United States
* Eagle, Alaska, a city
* Eagle Village, Alaska, a census-designated place
* Eagle, Colorado, a statut ...
'', an adaptation of the book ''
The Eagle of the Ninth
''The Eagle of the Ninth'' is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. The story is set in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall.
Plot
Discharged because ...
'', about a Roman Legion in 2nd century A.D. in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. ''Bobby Fischer Goes to War'', his next project, is a film about the
1972 World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in ...
in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, in which
Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...
took on the entire Soviet chess establishment.
Macdonald made the film '' Life in a Day'' with producer Ridley Scott. The footage was filmed by thousands of people all around the world about their life in one day and posted on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival to a global live audience, on 27 January 2011.
Macdonald worked with the film production team
Altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
, who created the commercially and critically acclaimed
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
Whitney Whitney may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta
* ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston
* ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...
'', a 2018 documentary based on
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...
's life and death. This was the first Whitney Houston documentary to be officially authorized by the estate, and includes never-before-seen footage of Houston, exclusive demo recordings, rare performances and interviews with luminaries like Clive Davis. Macdonald stated, "The story that is never told about Whitney is just how brilliant she was as an artist; by many measures she had the greatest voice of the last 50 years. She changed the way pop music was sung - bringing it back full circle to its blues and gospel roots. She was also completely unique in being a black pop star who transcended her race globally with her work sold in countries where black artists don't sell."
In 2021, Macdonald released ''
The Mauritanian
''The Mauritanian'' is a 2021 legal drama film based on the memoir of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held for fourteen years (from 2002 to 2016) without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a United States military pri ...
'', a
legal drama
A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...
based on the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held for fourteen years (from 2002 to 2016) without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a United States military prison. The film received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising Macdonald's direction, its cinematography and performances of the cast but criticised its screenplay. At the
78th Golden Globe Awards
The 78th Golden Globe Awards honored the best in American television of 2020, as well as film in 2020 and early 2021, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The ceremony took place on February 28, 2021, nearly two month ...
74th British Academy Film Awards
The 74th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFAs (or BAFTAs), were held on 10 and 11 April 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2020 and early 2021. Presented by the British Aca ...
the film received five nominations, including
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
Filmography
As director:
* ''The Making of an Englishman'' (1995), about the filmmaker Emeric Pressburger
* ''Chaplin's Goliath'' (1996), about the actor Eric Campbell
* ''The Moving World of George Rickey'' (1997)
* ''Howard Hawks: American Artist'' (1997)
* ''Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance'' (1998, also producer), about the film director
Donald Cammell
Donald Seton Cammell (17 January 1934 – 24 April 1996) was a Scottish painter, screenwriter, and film director. He has a cult reputation largely due to his debut film '' Performance'', which he wrote the screenplay for and co-directed ...
* ''
One Day in September
''One Day in September'' is a 1999 documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Michael Douglas provides the sparse narration through ...
'' (1999) (won 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 ...
)
* ''Humphrey Jennings'' (2000)
* ''A Brief History of Errol Morris'' (2000), interview with
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...
* ''
Being Mick
''Being Mick'' is a 2001 documentary television film which chronicles the life of Mick Jagger for one year. Much of the film was shot by Jagger himself using a handheld camera. The film documents his recording of the ''Goddess in the Doorway'' ...
'' (2001), a fly-on-the-wall documentary following
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
The Last King of Scotland
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden,
published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction an ...
'' (2006)
* ''
My Enemy's Enemy
''My Enemy's Enemy'' (''Mon Meilleur Ennemi'', My best enemy in french) is a documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald in 2007.
Synopsis
The story of Klaus Barbie through World War II and post-war hiding journey in Bolivia including his i ...
The Eagle
The eagle is a large bird of prey.
Eagle or The Eagle may also refer to:
Places England
* Eagle, Lincolnshire, a village
United States
* Eagle, Alaska, a city
* Eagle Village, Alaska, a census-designated place
* Eagle, Colorado, a statut ...
How I Live Now
''How I Live Now'' is a novel by Meg Rosoff, first published in 2004. It received generally positive reviews and won the British Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the American Printz Award for young-adult literature.
Plot
Fifteen-year-o ...
'' (2013)
* ''
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
'' (2014)
* ''
11.22.63
''11.22.63'' is an American science fiction thriller miniseries based on the 2011 novel '' 11/22/63'' by Stephen King, and consisting of eight episodes, in which a time traveler attempts to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The series i ...
'' (2016) (episode 1, "The Rabbit Hole")
* ''Sky Ladder - The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang'' (2016)
* '' Oasis'' (2017) (originally intended as a TV series pilot)
* ''
Whitney Whitney may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta
* ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston
* ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...
'' (2018)
* ''
Life in a Day 2020
''Life in a Day 2020'' is a 2021 American crowd-sourced documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald. The sequel to the 2011 film ''Life in a Day'', it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021, and on YouTube February 6, to ...
'' (2021)
* ''
The Mauritanian
''The Mauritanian'' is a 2021 legal drama film based on the memoir of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held for fourteen years (from 2002 to 2016) without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a United States military pri ...
'' (2021)
* ''It Takes A Flood…'' (2021)
Bibliography
* ''Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter'' by Kevin Macdonald. London: Faber and Faber, 1994. ISBN (Paperback ).
* ''Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of the Documentary'' by Kevin Macdonald and Mark Cousins. London: Faber and Faber, 1996. .
* ''Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of the Documentary: Second Edition'' by Kevin Macdonald and Mark Cousins. London: Faber and Faber, 1996. .
References
Further reading
*Ian Aitken (ed) ''Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film'', Routledge, 2005
External links
*
*
* A interview with Macdonald on the making of ''Touching the Void''
* A on making ''The Last King of Scotland''
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