Kim Longinotto ( Sally Anne Longinotto-Landseer; born 8 February 1948, London) is a British documentary film maker, well-known for making films that highlight the plight of female victims of oppression or discrimination. Longinotto has made more than 20 films, usually featuring inspiring women and girls at their core. Her subjects have included female genital mutilation in Kenya (''The Day I Will Never Forget''), women standing up to rapists in India (''Pink Saris''), and the story of ''Salma'', an Indian Muslim woman who smuggled poetry out to the world while locked up by her family for decades.

Early life

Born Sally Anne Longinotto-Landseer to an Italian father and a Welsh mother on 8 February 1948; her father was a photographer who later went bankrupt. At the age of 10, she was sent to an all-girls boarding school, where she found it hard to make friends due to the mistress forbidding anyone to talk to her for a term after she became lost during a school trip. She discovered that her double-barreled "Landseer" surname was made-up so she dropped it and just kept Longinotto, adopting a new forename (Kim or Kimona). After a period of homelessness, she went to

Essex University The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

, where she studied English literature and writing. She later followed friend and future filmmaker

Nick Broomfield Nicholas Broomfield (born 1948) is an English documentary film director. His self-reflective style has been regarded as influential to many later filmmakers. In the early 21st century, he began to use non-actors in scripted works, which he cal ...

to the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...

. While studying, she made ''Pride of Place'', a documentary about her boarding school that was shown at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

Career

Longinotto is an

observational Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data (information), data via the use of scienti ...

filmmaker. Observational cinema, also known as direct cinema, free cinema or cinema verite, usually excludes certain documentary techniques such as advanced planning, scripting, staging, narration, lighting, re-enactment and interviewing. She runs a production company, Vixen Films, which she founded in 1988 with Claire Hunt under the name Twentieth Century Vixen Productions.

Filmography

* ''Pride of Place'' (1976) – Director/Camera (as Kimona Landseer) * ''Theatre Girls'' (1978) – Director/Cinematographer * ''Cross and Passion'' (1981) - Director (with Claire Pollak) * ''Underage'' (1982) – Director/Cinematographer * ''Eat the Kimono'' (1989) – Director/Cinematographer * ''Hidden Faces'' (1990) – Director/Cinematographer * ''The Good Wife of Tokyo'' (1992) – Director * ''Dream Girls'' (1994) – Director/Cinematographer/Producer * ''

Shinjuku Boys ''Shinjuku Boys'' is a 1995 film by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams. It explores the lives of three trans man, transgender men who work at the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo, Japan. Reception In 1995, ''Shinjuku Boys'' won Outstanding Documentary a ...

'' (1995) – Director/Cinematographer/Producer * ''Rock Wives'' (1996) (TV) – Director / Camera * '' Divorce Iranian Style'' (1998) – Director / Camera * ''Gaea Girls'' (2000) – Director/Cinematographer/Producer * ''Runaway'' (2001) – Director/Cinematographer * ''The Day I Will Never Forget'' (2002) – Director/Cinematographer * '' Sisters in Law'' (2005) – Co-Director (with

Florence Ayisi Florence Ayisi was born in Kumba in Cameroon on 22nd July 1962). She is an academic and filmmaker. Her film Sisters in Law won more than 27 awards (including the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and a Peabody Award) and was sh ...

)/Cinematographer/Producer * ''Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go'' (2007) – Director/Cinematographer/Producer * ''

Rough Aunties ''Rough Aunties'' is a 2008 documentary film directed by Kim Longinotto about a group of 5 women of Operation Bobbi Bear who protect and care for abused, neglected and forgotten children in Durban, South Africa. It won the Grand Jury Prize in t ...

'' (2008) – Director/ Cinematographer * ''Pink Saris'' (2010) – Director/Camera * ''Salma'' (2013) – Director / Camera * ''

Love Is All Love Is All may refer to: Bands *Love Is All (band), Swedish indie rock band Films * ''Love is All'' (2007 film), Dutch film * ''Love Is All'' (2014 film), a documentary film by Kim Longinotto Songs *"Love Is All", a song by The Action *"Love Is ...

'' (2014) – Director * ''

Dreamcatcher In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( oj, asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as ...

'' (2015) – Director/Camera * ''

Shooting the Mafia ''Shooting the Mafia'' is a documentary film directed by Kim Longinotto about Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia and her career documenting the life and crimes of Sicilian Mafia, the Mafia in and around Palermo. Battaglia offers a glimpse in ...

'' (2019) Director/Camera/Cowriter

Awards

*''Shinjuku Boys'' (1995) was judged Outstanding Documentary at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. *''Divorce Iranian Style'' (1998) won the Grand Prize for Best Documentary

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

and the Silver

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. *''Runaway'' (2001) received the Children Rights Award (Filmpreis für Kinderrechte) at the

Unabhängiges Filmfest Osnabrück The Unabhängige FilmFest Osnabrück (Osnabrück Independent Film Festival) is one of the eldest and most traditional film festivals in Lower Saxony, Germany. Every year it takes place on five days in October in Osnabrück. It is hosted by the non-p ...

*''The Day I Will Never Forget'' (2002) was awarded the

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

DOEN Award at IDFA and Best Doc UK Spotlight at

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

. *''Sisters in Law'' (2005) won the ''Prix Art et Essai'' and ''Special Mention Europa Cinemas'' at the

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 ...

in 2005. *''Rough Aunties'' (2008) won the ''World Cinema Grand Jury Prize'' at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and was in the official selection for

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film sc ...

2009. *''Pink Saris'' (2010) won the ''Special Jury Award'' at

2010, where Longinotto also won the ''Inspiration Award'', a trophy given to a figure in the documentary world who has championed the medium. *''Dreamcatchers'' (2015) received the Voice of a Woman (VOW) Award for DocumentaryBryan, Maureen A. (10 October 2015)
"Kim Longinotto"
thevoiceofawoman.com. Accessed 31 December 2022.

References

External links

Kim Longinotto
at

Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Li ...

*
Kim Longinotto
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Longinotto, Kim 1948 births Living people English people of Italian descent English people of Welsh descent English documentary filmmakers English women film directors English film directors English women cinematographers Alumni of the National Film and Television School WFTV Award winners Women documentary filmmakers