Marek Kanievska

Last updated

Marek Kanievska
Born (1952-11-30) 30 November 1952 (age 69)
London, England
Other namesMarek Kaniewski
OccupationFilm director
Years active1976–present

Marek Kanievska (born 30 November 1952 [1] ) is a British film director. His films have won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Florence Film Festival. [2] His 2004 film A Different Loyalty was entered into the 26th Moscow International Film Festival. [3]

Contents

Career

Kanievska began his television directing career in Australia in the early 1970s with Crawford Productions, producing episodes of thr drama series Matlock Police (1971–1976), which details the lives of policemen working in a fictional country town in Victoria.

Returning to London, Kanievska spent the latter half of the 1970s building up a range of credits including live television and entertainment programmes like Our Show (1977–1978) and the drama serial Rooms (1974).

During this period he also helmed episodes of the ITV detective drama Hazell (1978–1979); a parody of early film-noir, Shoestring (1979–1980); another detective drama for the BBC, Thomas & Sarah (1979), a spin-off from the BAFTA Award winning series Upstairs, Downstairs ; A Light that Shines (1979) for BBC 2 Play of the Week; and various instalments of ITV Playhouse (1967–1983), a comedy drama series featuring contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp.

In the early 1980s Kanievska directed several episodes of Muck and Brass (1982) starring Mel Smith as an opportunistic property developer in the Midlands. Dealing with issues of greed, corruption and power politics in council chambers, the series had a hard-edged realism and gritty humour that was greeted with acclaim on its original transmission.

Early features

Following a short film called The First Day (1980), [4] a docu-drama starring Miranda Richardson, Kanievska's career as a feature director began in earnest with Another Country (1984), a British romantic historical drama written by Julian Mitchell and adapted from his play of the same title.

The film is loosely based on the life of the spy and double agent Guy Burgess and explores his homosexuality and exposure to Marxism while examining the hypocrisy and snobbery of the English public school system. Starring Rupert Everett and Colin Firth, the film was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Artistic Contribution. [5] [6]

It was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards in film: Editing (1984) Gerry Hambling, Most Outstanding Newcomer to Film (1984) Rupert Everett, and Adapted Screenplay (1984) Julian Mitchell. [7]

Encountering Kanievska for the first time on set, Everett recalls "Marek was an eccentric Pole, only ten years older than most of the actors and quite unlike the normal British director of those times. He was not class-obsessed and did not put himself on a pedestal." [8]

Of his visual aesthetic Everett recalls, "He was addicted to complicated tracking shots where the camera is put on a kind of railway and moves around during the action, like a silent voyeur … Marek directed it beautifully. Another Country was the best-made film of my career." [9]

Kanievska followed this with Less Than Zero (1987) an American drama very loosely based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name. The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas to spend time with his ex-girlfriend Blair (Jami Gertz) and his friend Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is struggling with drug addiction. The film presents a look at the culture of wealthy, decadent youth in 1980s Los Angeles.

Ellis, initially hostile to the film over liberties taken with the source material was interviewed in 2006 saying that he has "really warmed up to it now." Still maintaining the movie bears little resemblance to his novel, he goes on to say, "… it's a beautiful looking film … I don't know any other movies that caught that period in LA so well." [10]

Less Than Zero was voted as the 22nd best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors. [11]

Commercials

During the 1980s and 1990s Kanievska also helmed a variety of high-profile television and cinema commercials as a director with Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), a film and commercial production company founded by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Work during this period included campaigns for a broad roster of clients including Shell, Mercedes, Chrysler, Renault, Deutsche Bank, Kronenbourg 1664, Pernod, Miller and Guinness. [12]

His work with RSA earned him several Golden Lions from the British Advertising Awards. [2]

2000 – present

A return to features in 2000 saw Kanievska directing Paul Newman and Linda Fiorentino in Where the Money Is , from a script written by E. Max Frye. Newman stars as legendary bank robber Henry Manning who ends up in prison where he suffers a stroke. Transferred to a nursing home Henry meets Carol Ann McKay (his carer, played by Fiorentino), a high school prom queen whose glamour days are well behind her. Gradually Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems and they are soon working together to plan his final and greatest score.

Kanievska followed this with A Different Loyalty (2004), a drama inspired by the story of British traitor Kim Philby's love affair and marriage to Eleanor Brewer in Beirut and his eventual defection to the Soviet Union. The story takes place in the 1960s and stars Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett. A Different Loyalty was entered into the 26th Moscow International Film Festival. [13]

On the experience of reuniting with Kanievska and the logistical problems of shooting in Russia, Everett recalls "We had no permits to shoot in Red Square, and Marek particularly wanted a shot of me walking past Lenin's tomb, so early one morning five of us snuck out and hid behind an archway until there was no\body about. When the coast was clear we all jumped out and filmed for a couple of minutes while the soldiers back was turned. It was such fun to work this way and we were all thoroughly invigorated." [14]

Currently retired from film-making, Kanievska is now a full-time traveller and photographer, indulging his love of Kite surfing, Paragliding, Paramotoring and other extreme outdoor activities in various locations all over the world. [15] [16]

Filmography

Film

Television

Related Research Articles

Ridley Scott English film director and producer

Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. He has directed, among others, the science fiction films Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982) and The Martian (2015), the road crime film Thelma & Louise (1991), the historical epic drama film Gladiator (2000), and the war film Black Hawk Down (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Moffat</span> Scottish television writer and producer

Steven William Moffat is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the science fiction television series Doctor Who and the contemporary crime drama television series Sherlock, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. In the 2015 Birthday Honours, Moffat was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama.

Louis Malle French film director, screenwriter, and producer

Louis Marie Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. His film Le Monde du silence won the Palme d'Or in 1956 and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957, although he was not credited at the ceremony; the award was instead presented to the film's co-director Jacques Cousteau. Later in his career he was nominated multiple times for Academy Awards. Malle is also one of only four directors to have won the Golden Lion twice.

Rupert Everett English actor

Rupert James Hector Everett is a British actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public school in the 1930s; the role earned him his first BAFTA Award nomination. He received a second BAFTA nomination and his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), followed by a second Golden Globe nomination for An Ideal Husband (1999).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mrinal Sen</span> Indian film director

Mrinal Sen was an Indian film director of Bengali heritage and a nominated Member of the Indian parliament. Along with Satyajit Ray,he is considered to be one of the greatest Indian filmmakers of all time.Sen directed films primarily in Bengali and Hindi. Along with contemporaries Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha and Satyajit Ray, he pioneered the New Wave cinema in India. He has received multiple awards, including 18 National Film Awards. The Government of India has awarded him the Padma Bhushan, and the Government of France has awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, while Russian Government awarded him Order of Friendship. Sen was also awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He was the only Indian filmmaker along with Satyajit Ray whose films have been awarded at the big three film festivals namely the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival. Sen was a self described "private Marxist".

<i>An Ideal Husband</i> (1999 film) 1999 film by Oliver Parker

An Ideal Husband is a 1999 British film based on the 1895 play An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. The film stars Jeremy Northam, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver and Cate Blanchett. It was directed by Oliver Parker.

<i>Another Country</i> (play) Play written by Julian Mitchell

Another Country is a play written by English playwright Julian Mitchell. It premiered on 5 November 1981 at the Greenwich Theatre, London.

Hugh Hudson is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. Hudson directed the 1981 Academy Award and BAFTA Award Best Picture Chariots of Fire, a film ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's list of Top 100 British films.

Shaun Dingwall is a British actor from London. He is known for his roles as Pete Tyler in Doctor Who, as Reg Trotter in Rock & Chips and as D.C. Mark Rivers in Touching Evil.

Anne Wood, CBE is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as Teletubbies with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of Tots TV and Rosie and Jim. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.

Philip Ridley is an English storyteller working in a wide range of artistic media.

Piers Frederick Alexander Flint-Shipman was a 20th-century English actor.

James Villiers English actor (1933–1998)

James Michael Hyde Villiers was an English character actor. He was particularly known for his plummy voice and ripe articulation.

Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. Educated at Birmingham University, he worked as an actor from 1971 to 1975, and has been active as a playwright since the early 1980s.

<i>Christ Stopped at Eboli</i> (film) 1979 Italian film

Christ Stopped at Eboli, also known as Eboli in the United States, is a 1979 drama film directed by Francesco Rosi, adapted from the book of the same name by Carlo Levi. It stars Gian Maria Volonté as Levi, a political dissident under Fascism who was exiled in the Basilicata region in Southern Italy.

Stephen Walters English actor

Stephen Walters is an English actor. A regular in British television and film, he has played a wide range and variety of character roles in both drama and comedy. Walters is most commonly associated with unpredictable, complex figures. He was nominated for a Royal Television Society Best Actor award in 2013 for his role in the Sky Arts drama Ragged.

<i>Another Country</i> (1984 film) 1984 British film

Another Country is a 1984 British romantic historical drama written by Julian Mitchell, adapted from his play of the same name. Directed by Marek Kanievska, the film stars Rupert Everett and Colin Firth in his feature film debut.

Jonathan Tudor "Jonny" Owen is a British producer, actor and writer who has appeared in TV shows including Shameless, Murphy's Law and My Family. Owen won a Welsh BAFTA in 2007 for the documentary The Aberfan Disaster which he co-produced with Judith Davies.

Ian Emes British artist and film director

Ian Ronald Emes is a British artist and film director. He is known for using innovative and experimental film techniques, and for being Pink Floyd's original animator.

Callum Turner British actor (born 1990)

Callum Robilliard Turner is a British actor and model. He is known for his roles as Theseus Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Bill Rohan in Queen and Country, Eli in E4 series Glue and Shaun Emery in the BBC One television series The Capture.

References

  1. ↑ "Marek Kanievska". Nndb.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Biography for Marek Kanievska at IMDb
  3. ↑ "26th Moscow International Film Festival (2004)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  4. ↑ The First Day at IMDb
  5. ↑ "ANOTHER COUNTRY – Festival de Cannes 2014 (International Film Festival)". Festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Awards 1984 : All Awards – Festival de Cannes 2014 (International Film Festival)". Festival-cannes.fr. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Explore the Awards | BAFTA Awards". Awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  8. ↑ Everett, Rupert, 2006, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Hachette Digital, ISBN   978 07481 0978 4, Pg. 319
  9. ↑ Everett, Rupert, 2006, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Hachette Digital, ISBN   978 07481 0978 4 Pg.320
  10. ↑ Buchanan, Kyle (17 May 2010). "Bret Easton Ellis on Less Than Zero, Its Adaptation, and Its Sequel Imperial Bedrooms". Movieline. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "L.A.'s story is complicated, but they got it – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 31 August 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  12. ↑ Raw, Laurence, 2009, The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia, Scarecrow Press Inc, ISBN   978-0-8108-6951-6, Pg.184
  13. ↑ "2004 :: Moscow International Film Festival". Moscowfilmfestival.ru. 27 July 2004. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  14. ↑ Everett, Rupert, 2006, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Hachette Digital, ISBN   978 07481 0978 4, Pg. 756
  15. ↑ Everett, Rupert, 2006, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Hachette Digital, ISBN   978 07481 0978 4, Pg. 722
  16. ↑ "marek | Flickr". 3 August 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.