George Amponsah | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Bernard Amponsah 1968 (age 56–57) Roehampton, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Notable work | The Hard Stop (2015); Gassed Up |
| Website | www |
George Bernard Amponsah (born 1968 in Roehampton) is a British film director, who is most notable for his documentaries. His 2015 feature-length documentary film The Hard Stop , about the death of Mark Duggan, won a 2017 BAFTA nomination for the Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. [1] In 2023, Amponsah completed direction of his first drama feature, Gassed Up – described by The Guardian as "A Scorsese-like thrill ride" – which had a UK nationwide cinema release in February 2024, and subsequently played on the Amazon Prime streaming platform. [2] [3]
Born and raised in London, England, Amponsah is of Ghanaian parentage. [4] He started taking photographs and working with Super 8mm film in the 1980s. In 1989, he attended the University of East London, and a post-graduate film won him a scholarship to take the directing course at the National Film and Television School (NFTS). [4] [5] Since graduating in 2000 from the NFTS, he has taught documentary filmmaking there and at the Met Film School. [4] He continued to work as a tutor with young people, while making short films for the web and developing new feature films. [5]
His 2004 BBC documentary The Importance of Being Elegant was about Congolese singer Papa Wemba. The Fighting Spirit (2007) followed three young boxers in Ghana. [6]
His 2015 feature-length documentary The Hard Stop , about the death of Mark Duggan, was nominated in 2017 for a BAFTA in the category "Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer", [7] [8] and for two British Independent Film Awards: Best Documentary and Breakthrough Producer. [9] [10]
Amponsah's debut drama feature film,l Gassed Up was announced for launch on Amazon Prime Video in 2023. [11] Gassed Up – which tells the story of a London youth who gets mixed up with a rampaging gang of moped thieves – was described in The Guardian as "A Scorsese-like thrill ride", having a UK nationwide cinema release in February 2024 and subsequently playing on Amazon Prime. [2] [3]