Michael Carson Lennox is a Northern Irish

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Biography

Born and raised in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, Northern Ireland, Lennox was inspired by cinema from an early age and began to make plans for a career as a filmmaker. In 2008, he made his first

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, called ''Rip and the Preacher''. The film was shown at the Californian

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

, the

LA Shorts Fest The LA Shorts International Film Festival (LA Shorts) founded by Robert Arentz in 1997 is one of the largest international short film festivals in the world with more than 300 films screening annually. In order to qualify for a short film award at ...

and a lot of other film festivals around the world. In 2010 Lennox made his Television debut with a 30-minute drama, called ''Eclipse'', starring

Andrew Buchan Andrew Buchan (born 19 February 1979) is an English stage and television actor known for his roles as Mark Latimer in the ITV drama ''Broadchurch'' (2013–17), as Scott Foster in the BBC political drama '' Party Animals'' (2007), as John Merc ...

. ''Eclipse'' was an episode for the 8th season of the British TV series '' Coming Up''. Lennox gained a place on the

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in ''Fiction directing''-course at 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 ...

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

. His work at the university included the short film ''The Back of Beyond''. It was screened as part of the ''BAFTA NFTS Stars of Tomorrow'' event and won the ''Royal Television Society Student Television Award'' in the ''Post Graduate Section''. The film also won the ''Pianifica Award'' and the ''Junior Jury Award'' at the

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

in 2012 and was nominated for the

European Film Award The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

. Furthermore, Lennox collaborated on the feature film ''

Hives Hives, also known as urticaria, is a kind of skin rash with red, raised, itchy bumps. Hives may burn or sting. The patches of rash may appear on different body parts, with variable duration from minutes to days, and does not leave any long-lasti ...

'', which was selected for the San Sebastian Film Festival and was the result of a co-production project between five European film academies. In 2014 Lennox returned to his home in Northern Ireland where he directed the short film ''

Boogaloo and Graham ''Boogaloo and Graham'' is a 2014 British short drama film directed by Michael Lennox and starring Martin McCann, Charlene McKenna, and Jonathan Harden. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 87th Acade ...

'', which had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. In 2015, ''Boogaloo and Graham'' won a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

for ''Best British Short Film'' and was nominated for the

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 ...

for ''Best Short Film, Live Action''. Lennox's debut feature ''

A Patch of Fog ''A Patch of Fog'' is a 2015 British thriller film directed by Michael Lennox starring Stephen Graham and Conleth Hill, set in Belfast. It was screened in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. Plot A famous auth ...

'', starring

Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film ''This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ( ...

and

Conleth Hill Conleth Seamus Eoin Croiston Hill (born 24 November 1964) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has performed on stage in productions in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards and received two Ton ...

, was released in 2015. In 2017, 2018, and 2021 Lennox directed all three series of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

television sitcom ''

Derry Girls ''Derry Girls'' is a British teen sitcom created and written by Lisa McGee that premiered on 4 January 2018 on Channel 4. The channel's most successful comedy since ''Father Ted'', the series was inspired by McGee's own experiences growing up ...

''.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

*2012: ''Pianifica Award'' for ''The Back of Beyond'' at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

*2012: ''Junior Jury Award'' for ''The Back of Beyond'' in the ''Leopards of Tomorrow - International Competition'' at the ''Locarno International Film Festival'' *2012: Nominated for the ''Golden Pardino - Leopards of Tomorrow'' for ''The Back of Beyond'' in the ''International Competition'' at the ''Locarno International Film Festival'' *2012: Nominated for the ''Best Short Film Award'' for ''The Back of Beyond'' at the

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

*2013: Best “ExYU generation Next” award for ''Hives'' at the ''Skena Up Festival'' in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

*2015: Nominated for the ''IFTA Award'' in the category ''Best Short Film''for ''Boogaloo and Graham'' at the

Irish Film and Television Awards Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

*2015: Nominated for the ''Crystal Bear'' in the category ''Generation Kplus - Best Short Film'' for ''Boogaloo and Graham'' at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

*2015:

for ''Boogaloo and Graham'' in the category ''Best British Short Film'' at the ''British Academy Film Awards'' *2015: Nominated for the ''Oscar'' in the category ''Best Short Film, Live Action'' for ''Boogaloo and Graham'' at the US-american

Academy Awards 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lennox, Michael Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from County Antrim Film directors from Northern Ireland Television directors from Northern Ireland English-language film directors Alumni of the National Film and Television School People educated at Antrim Grammar School