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About the Filmmakers
Nick Broomfield (Director)
Nick Broomfield studied Law at Cardiff , and Political Science at Essex University, he
then went onto study film at the National Film School, under Professor Colin Young.
Nick first got interested aged 15 when discovering his love for photography on a foreign exchange visit in France. " A great way to strike up conversations, and a great excuse to ask questions about the world around you."
He made his first film WHO CARES about Slum Clearance in Liverpool, while at
University, by borrowing a wind up Bolex camera, and shooting it on short ends.
Professor Colin Young at the NFS had a great influence on his work encouraging
participant observation, as well as introducing him to the lovely and most talented Joan Churchill. Together Joan and Nick made several films, JUVENILE LIAISON,
TATTOOED TEARS, SOLDIER GIRLS, LILY TOMLIN and more recently AILEEN:
LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER. They also have a son together.
Nick was originally influenced by the observational style of Fred Wiseman, Robert
Leacock and Pennebaker before moving on largely by accident to the more idiosyncratic
style for which he is better known. While making DRIVING ME CRAZY in 1988 a film
hopelessly out of control, Nick decided to place himself and the producer of the film in the story, as a way of making sense of the event.
This experiment led to a sense of greater freedom from the confines of observational
cinema, and led to a more investigative and experimental type of filmmaking, i.e. THE
LEADER, THE DRIVER, AILEEN WURNOS, KURT AND COURTNEY, BIGGIE AND TUPAC.
Nick Broomfield is the recipient of the following awards amongst others: Sundance first prize, British Academy Award, Prix Italia, Dupont Peabody Award,
Grierson Award, Hague Peace Prize, Amnesty international Doen award.
Joan Churchill (Director)
Modern documentaries would be very different without the pivotal contribution of Joan
Churchill.
As a film director - particularly with Nick Broomfield on such controversial films as
"Tattooed Tears," "Soldier Girls," "Juvenile Liaison" (1 & 2) as well as her work on the Emmy® Award-winning series "American High" & "The Residents," & her films
"Asylum," & "Jimi Plays Berkeley" -- Churchill has been a key figure in bringing a
distinctive style to observational documentary filmmaking.
As a cinematographer on numerous films including such seminal classics as "Punishment
Park," "Gimme Shelter," "Pumping Iron," and the groundbreaking verite series, "An
American Family," as well as theatrical docs "Kurt & Courtney," & "Biggie & Tupac,"
Churchill has developed an intimate, experiential style. "These films are engaged
politically & personally. I try to throw the viewer into a first hand experience with a
subjective camera style that actively participates in the story yet takes second place to the people themselves."
She has most recently finished a film co-directed with Broomfield, "Aileen: Life & Death of a Serial Killer," about Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who was on death row 15 years for killing 7 men. The film is a strong anti-capital punishment statement & a portrait of a tragic life gone terribly wrong.
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