Contemporary British Cinema: a sense of direction

Three young, up-and-coming British directors were invited to speak at LCC.  Each has a very different style and their work is aimed at very different audiences.

Noel Clarke is an actor turned writer/director.  His work is commercial and speaks to a youth audience.  Sarah Gavron comes from a documentary background and her first feature is an adaptation of a best-selling novel. Duane Hopkins is a writer/director from a fine art background with a very specific style and vision. His work is concerned with social issues and makes no apology for not being mainstream. 

 

Being a few years ahead of the students, the experiences of these young directors have an immediate relevance to the students.

Noel Clarke

NOEL CLARKE

Noel Clarke is an actor, writer and director. He is best known for his acting roles in ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Kidulthood’ (which he also wrote) and ‘Adulthood’ (which he both wrote and directed).

For his stage work, he won an Olivier for ‘Most Promising Actor’ in 2003. This year he won the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award.

Noel Clarke’s website: noelclarke.co.uk

Duane Hopkins

DUANE HOPKINS

Writer/director Duane Hopkins initially studied Fine Art, working mainly in painting and photography, before studying Film.

His graduation short, ‘Routine’ won several awards including the Mike Figgis Visual Innovation Award. He has since made two more award-winning shorts, ‘Field’ and ‘Love me or leave me alone’.
In 2008, his first feature, ‘Better Things’ was nominated for the Camera d’Or at Cannes and won the FIPRESCI in Stockholm.

Sarah Gavron

SARAH GAVRON

Sarah Gavron began her career in documentaries and award-winning short films.

In 2003, Gavron directed her first full-length drama for BBC TV and won two BAFTA’s for it – best single drama and best new director.

Named as one of the ten directors to watch by Variety at the Sundance Film Festival, she was nominated last year for the Carl Foreman BAFTA for her first feature film ‘Brick Lane’.