Mike Leigh
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Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Venice International Film Festival, three BAFTA Awards, and nominations for seven Academy Awards. He also received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, and was appointed an Order of the British Empire, Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. Leigh studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London Film School, London School of Film Technique. His short-lived acting career included the role of a mute in the 1963 ''Maigret (1960 TV series), Maigret'' episode "The Flemish Shop". He began working as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s, before tran ...
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Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom#Modern honours, knight if male or a dame (title), dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with the order, but are not members of it. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V, who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today, the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside the UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to cit ...
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Camberwell School Of Art
Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. The college offers further and higher education programmes, including postgraduate and PhD awards. The college has retained single degree options within Fine Art, offering specialist Bachelor of Arts courses in painting, sculpture, photography and drawing. It also runs graduate and postgraduate courses in fine art as well as design courses such as graphic design, illustration and 3D design. It has been ranked as the top British art school by The Times. It was established as the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1898, and adopted its present name in 1989. History The history of the College is closely linked with that of the South London Gallery, with which the College shares its site. The manager of the South London Working Men's College in 1868, William Rossiter, purchased the freehold of Portland House on which the College no ...
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Happy-Go-Lucky (2008 Film)
''Happy-Go-Lucky'' is a 2008 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. The screenplay focuses on a cheerful and optimistic primary school teacher and her relationships with those around her. The film was well received by critics and resulted in a number of awards for Mike Leigh's direction and screenplay, lead actress Sally Hawkins's performance, and Eddie Marsan's performance in a supporting role. For her performance, Hawkins won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 66th Golden Globe Awards and the Silver Bear for Best Actress. Plot Thirty years old and single, Pauline "Poppy" Cross shares a London flat with her best friend Zoe, a fellow teacher. Poppy is free-minded, high-spirited and kind-hearted. The film opens with Poppy trying to engage a shop employee in conversation in the morning after nightclubbing all night. He ignores her, yet his icy demeanour does not bother her. She maintains her good mo ...
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Topsy-Turvy
''Topsy-Turvy'' is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Mikado''. The film focuses on the creative conflict between playwright and composer, and their decision to continue their partnership, which led to their creation of several more Savoy operas. The film received very favourable reviews, film festival awards and two Academy Awards for design. While it is considered an artistic success as an in-depth illustration of British life in the theatre during the Victorian era, the film did not recover its production costs. Leigh cast actors who did their own singing in the film, and the singing performances were faulted by some critics, while others lauded Leigh's strategy. Plot On the ...
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Vera Drake
''Vera Drake'' is a 2004 British period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan. It tells the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions. The film was acclaimed, winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and three BAFTA Awards. At the Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Actress for Staunton, and Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Leigh. Plot Vera Drake is devoted to her family, looking after her husband and children, her elderly mother, and a sick neighbour. Her shy daughter, Ethel, works in a lightbulb factory, and her son, Sid, tailors men's suits. Her husband, Stanley, is a car mechanic. Although Vera and her family are poor, their strong family bonds hold them together. During her working day as a house cleaner, Vera performs constant small acts of kindness for the many people she encounters. She is a kindly person who is eag ...
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Secrets & Lies (film)
''Secrets & Lies'' is a 1996 comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it focuses on a dysfunctional family whose relations are thrown into further chaos after Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) is contacted by her adult daughter Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who was put up for adoption at birth and wishes to connect with her birth mother. Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, and Claire Rushbrook co-star as other members of the family. The film premiered on 10 May 1996 at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, where it won both the Palme d'Or and the Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival), Best Actress Award (Blethyn). Upon its release, it received critical acclaim for its performances and emotional weight, and grossed $33-50 million at the box office, against a budget of $4.5 million. At the 69th Academy Awards, ''Secrets & Lies'' was nominated in five categories: Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Pi ...
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Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the Oscars for 1957, the two categories were combined to honor only the screenplay. See also the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a similar award for screenplays that are adaptations of pre-existing material. Eligibility Screenplays are eligible if they are not based on "previously published material". The Writer's Branch of the academy determines if a screenplay is adapted or original, based on possible sources in question, interviews given about the film and the film's publicity materials, and sometimes places screenplays in a different category than the Writers Guild of America. For the 75th Academy Awards, ''Gangs of New York'' was nominated as an original screenplay despite being based on the book Th ...
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Academy Award For Best Director
The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with the award being split into "Dramatic" and "Comedy" categories; Frank Borzage and Lewis Milestone won for ''7th Heaven (1927 film), 7th Heaven'' and ''Two Arabian Knights'', respectively. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies. Nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality (voting), plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year. However, after the nomination of Michael Cu ...
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Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry. The major award categories, known as the Academy Awards of Merit, are presented during a live-televised Hollywood ceremony in February or March. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929. The second ceremony, in 1930, was the first one broadcast by radio. The 1953 ceremony was the first one televised. It is the oldest of the four major annual American entertainment awards. Its counterparts—the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music—are modeled after the Academy Aw ...
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Naked (1993 Film)
''Naked'' is a 1993 British black comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis as Johnny, a loquacious intellectual, philosopher and conspiracy theorist. The film won several awards, including Best Director and Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. ''Naked'' marked a new career high for Leigh as a director and made the then-unknown Thewlis an internationally recognised star.Jeffries, Stuart"'I got dangerously close to Johnny'".''The Guardian.'' 14 August 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2014. Plot In a Manchester alley, Johnny is having sex with a woman, who initially encourages him but then protests that he is hurting her, pushes him away, and runs off vowing that "her Bernard" will get vengeance on him for this. Johnny grabs his things from his apartment, steals a car, and flees to Dalston, a "scrawny, unpretentious area" in east London. He seeks refuge at the home of Louise, a former girlfriend from Manchester, who is not happy to see him. Lo ...
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Life Is Sweet (film)
''Life Is Sweet'' is a 1990 British comedy-drama film directed by Mike Leigh, starring Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks and Timothy Spall. Leigh's third cinematic film, it was his most commercially successful title at the time of release. A tragi-comic story, it follows the fortunes of a working-class North London family over a few weeks one summer. Plot On a hot summer weekend lunchtime, Andy (a senior chef in a large London catering facility) impulsively buys a dilapidated fast-food van touted by a disreputable acquaintance, Patsy, who has unexpectedly called at his home. Andy plans to restore the van for use on a local fast-food round. Wendy, his hard-working, good-natured and innuendo-prone wife, is sensibly sceptical about the project but understands her husband's ambitions. Their twin 22-year-old daughters (Natalie and Nicola) have profoundly different attitudes: tomboyish Natalie thinks it is a good idea if it will make her father happy ...
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Meantime (film)
''Meantime'' is a 1983 British comedy-drama television film directed by Mike Leigh and produced by Central Television for Channel 4. It stars Tim Roth, Phil Daniels and Gary Oldman. It was shown in 1983 at the London Film Festival and on Channel 4 and at the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival. According to the critic Michael Coveney, "the sapping, debilitating and demeaning state of unemployment, the futile sense of waste, has not been more poignantly, or poetically, expressed in any other film of the period." Plot The film unfolds in brief episodes, detailing the travails of the working-class Pollock family, who live in a shabby flat in a tower block in London's East End. They are struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the nagging, put-upon mother Mavis is working; the bitter, feckless father Frank and the couple's two sons Colin, an extremely shy young man, and Mark, his outspoken, headstrong older br ...
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