Mike Downey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Film producer |
Michael Downey OBE is an Irish-British film producer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Film and Music Entertainment and as of 2020 [update] the Chairman of the European Film Academy.
Mike Downey | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Film producer |
Michael Downey OBE is an Irish-British film producer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Film and Music Entertainment and as of 2020 [update] the Chairman of the European Film Academy.
Downey was born in Devon, the son of Brigid Downey (née Flood) and Thomas Downey, who were economic migrants from Kildare, Ireland. The family moved to Taunton, Somerset, where he attended the St Georges Roman Catholic School and Huish's Grammar School aka Richard Huish College.
After gaining a BA in French with Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick, [1] Downey went on to continue post-graduate studies at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle (as a Boursier du Gouvernement Francais/French Government Scholar), [2] and Paris X Nanterre. While working towards his MA and then PhD, he taught at the Lycée Charlemagne and at the theatre school at the Théâtre des Amandiers, under Patrice Chereau. [2]
The eighties saw Downey working as a theatre director France, Germany, the former Yugoslavia and the U.K. in theatres as varied an eclectic as The Gate (London), Bac To Bac Theatre (Exeter), Atelje 212 (Belgrade), Studiotheater and Theater Rechts der Isar (Munich) and the UK's National Student Theatre Company. [3]
In 1986 and 1987, Downey curated a number of film programmes at the National Film Theatre. Among the most significant were the three major seasons he programmed of Yugoslav Cinema. [4] In 1986 he also published his first book, The Self Managing Screen was written by Downey to coincide with a major retrospective of television fiction at the British Film Institute he curated at the National Film Theatre on the subject of television fiction during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Jugoslavija. [5]
It was in 1990 that Downey co-founded Moving Pictures International magazine in London and it rapidly became one of the key international trade papers serving the global film industry, alongside Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Screen International. [6]
A decade later in 2000 Downey joined forces with fellow producer Sam Taylor, [7] to create the UK-based independent production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) as part of a public offering on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt. [8] As of 2020 [update] F&ME is based in Dublin, Ireland. [7]
His work as a film maker has seen projects developed with novelists James Ellroy, [9] the late Gunter Grass, [10] and Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List); [11] IDA writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz, [12] VICE Group founder and CEO Shane Smith, [13] as well as directors like Volker Schloendorff, [14] Mohsen Makhmalbaf, [15] and Julien Temple; [16] and writers of the ilk of Lee Hall, [17] Colm Toibin,[ circular reference ] and David Grossman. [18]
In his relatively short career as a film producer he has worked with a wide range of directors including Peter Greenaway, [18] Agnieszka Holland, [19] Pawel Pawlikowski,[ circular reference ] Andrzej Jakimowski, [20] Rajko Grlic, [21] Srdjan Karanovic,[ circular reference ] Juraj Jakubisko, [22] Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, [23] and Stephen Daldry, [24] as well as a multitude of other helmers the length and breadth of Europe, South America, Africa and India.
In 2002 he wrote and edited The Film Finance Handbook, published by Wallflower Press, which acts as a guide for anyone planning to set out as a producer of films. [25]
In 2004 Downey joined the European Film Academy Board [26] and was elected deputy chairman in 2014, [27] and was also elected as EFA chairman in 2020. [28]
He has served two terms as a BAFTA Council member and in 2008 he was a member of the BAFTA Film Committee. [29] [30] Downey rejoined the BAFTA Council in 2020. [31]
Downey is founder and President of the Motovun Film Festival in Croatia, [32] artistic advisor to the Zagreb Film Festival, [33] artistic director to the Antalya Film Festival [34] and former artistic board member of the Pula Film Festival. [35]
He has been a trustee of the White Ribbon Alliance since 2010, [36] and as of 2017 [update] was on the International board of trustees of The Isango Ensemble, a South African theatre company. [37]
A member of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA) since 2017, Downey was as a former APSA Cultural Diversity Award winner a jury member at the 2019 APSA's. [38] [39]
Serving on over 20 international juries at film festivals worldwide including the Sarajevo Film Festival, [40] Festival do Rio de Janeiro, [41] Cottbus International Film Festival, [42] Warsaw International Film Festival, [43] [44] Istanbul Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Motovun Film Festival, [45] Sofia International Film Festival, [46] Transylvania International Film Festival, [45] Krakow Film Festival, [45] Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI) [47] and Zagreb Film Festival. [45]
Downey is also an Alumnus of The Sundance Institute, [2] and quondam Thomas Ewing Professor of Film at Ohio University. [48]
In 2009, Downey's work as a producer was honored with a retrospective at the Croatia's largest cultural event, the Zagreb Film Festival. [49]
In 2014 he received Producer of the Decade Award from the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, presented by Stephen Daldry. [50]
In 2015, Prague's Febiofest also celebrated Downey's career as a producer with a retrospective tribute. [51]
In September 2020 it was announced that Downey would be the Honorary President of the 2020/2021 jury for the revamped LUX Prize, renamed LUX – the European Audience Film Award by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy (also known as LUX European Audience Film Award). [52]
It was also in September 2020 that Downey launched the International Coalition for Film Makers at Risk (ICFR) at the Venice Film festival. The ICFR aims to activate the film community's collective response to filmmakers who face political persecution for their work. Downey is a founder and board member, and the European Film Academy, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and IDFA are the founding partners of the ICFR, with activities that include advocacy, support, monitoring, and observation. [53] [54]
Downey was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to British cinema. [55]
Roma Downey is an actress, producer, and New York Times Best-Selling author from Derry, Northern Ireland. She recently produced the hit movie On a Wing and a Prayer starring Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham which shot to number one on Amazon prime when it premiered spring of 2023. For nine seasons she played Monica the angel in the CBS television series Touched by an Angel. She produced the mini-series The Bible for the History Channel and also appeared in it as Mary, mother of Jesus. She has performed on stage with the Abbey Theatre, The National Theatre of Ireland, and has appeared both on and off Broadway. She played the leading role of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Emmy award-winning miniseries A Woman Named Jackie for NBC.
Kat Candler is an American film writer, producer, and director. She wrote and directed the 2014 film Hellion, and has worked on television shows including 13 Reasons Why and Queen Sugar.
The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) is an artist-run film education, production, distribution, and exhibition centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, committed to promoting the art of Canadian cinema, especially independent cinema.
dream hampton is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, which she executive produced, and the 2012 An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, on which she served as co-executive producer. She co-wrote Jay-Z's 2010 memoir Decoded.
Katie Wolfe is New Zealand actor and film and stage director. She was in the New Zealand television series Marlin Bay in the 1990s, Shortland Street in the late 1990s and Mercy Peak for two years. Her screen directing work has won several awards including Redemption at the ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival and This Is Her at the Prague International Short Film Festival. Her current creative work is writing and directing a stage play called The Haka Party Incident. Programmed by festivals through New Zealand across 2020 - 2023
Scrapper is a 2011 American documentary feature film directed by Stephan Wassmann and co-directed by Olivier Hermitant. It documents the lives of persons who salvage scrap metal from a live-fire military testing range in Southern California.
Anapela Polataivao is a New Zealand actor, writer, and director of stage and screen.
Roseanne Liang is a New Zealand film director. Her first feature film, My Wedding and Other Secrets, was the first theatrically released feature film made by a Chinese New Zealander and became 2011's highest grossing local feature film. She also co-created, directed, and co-wrote the 2021 TV series Creamerie.
Mattel Films is the film production division of Mattel originally formed on October 16, 2013, as Mattel Playground Productions as part of Mattel Global Brands, a unified media structural and strategy unit.
Mat Whitecross is an English film director, editor and screenwriter. He began his career working for filmmaker Michael Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton at Revolution Films, being also known for directing The Road to Guantánamo, Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, as well as music documentaries Oasis:Supersonic and Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams. Whitecross has also directed music videos for Coldplay, Take That and The Rolling Stones, being a long-time collaborator of the former band.
RSVP Movies is an Indian film production company established by Ronnie Screwvala in 2014.
Ahilan Karunaharan is writer, director, actor and producer of Sri Lankan descent from New Zealand. He is a recipient of the New Zealand Arts Laureate Award.
John and the Hole is a 2021 American coming-of-age psychological thriller film directed by Pascual Sisto and written by Nicolás Giacobone. A feature-length adaptation of Giacobone's short story, El Pozo, the film stars Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, and Taissa Farmiga. The film revolves around a boy who discovers an unfinished bunker in the neighboring woods of his home.
Ngardy Conteh George is a Sierra Leonean-Canadian award-winning film director, film editor, film producer.
Jonathan Schwartz is an American film producer and former entertainment lawyer, known for producing independent features. Schwartz's credits include Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), Douchebag (2010), Like Crazy (2011), Smashed (2012), Nobody Walks (2012), Breathe In (2013), Imperial Dreams (2014), and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017). Through his production label, Super Crispy Entertainment, most of Schwartz's works have screened, won awards and secured distribution at the Sundance Film Festival. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with producer Andrea Sperling, director Drake Doremus and actor-producer Logan Lerman.
Pascual Sisto is a Spanish filmmaker and visual artist. His works were exhibited in international galleries and museums, such as the Pompidou Center, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and the 53rd Venice Biennale.
Gerry Fialka is an American experimental filmmaker, curator, lecturer, interviewer, and writer. He lectures and leads workshops on experimental film, avant-garde music and art, subversive social media, books by James Joyce, and Marshall McLuhan’s media theory. He was Frank Zappa’s archivist and production assistant for ten years. LA Weekly has described Fialka as a “cultural revolutionary”.
Lockdown is a 2022 global pandemic thriller film written and directed by Bizhan Tong. The film stars Xander Berkeley and Kevin Leslie, with an international cast including Anita Chui, John Savage, Alix Wilton Regan, Pamela Nomvete, and Mike Leeder in supporting roles.
Emma Freeman is an Australian director of television films and series. With her short film Lamb, in 2002 she was the first woman to win Tropfest.
Kristen Dunphy is an Australian television screenwriter and producer. She is best known as creator, co-writer and co-executive producer of Wakefield, which screened on ABC TV in 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite book}}: |last2= has generic name (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
