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Nicholas Broomfield (born 30 January 1948, in London) is an English documentary filmmaker. He studied Law at Cardiff, Wales, and Political Science at the University of Essex and subsequently studied film at the National Film School. His father, Maurice, is a photographer. He films with the absolute minimum of crew: just himself and one or two cameramen. This gives his documentaries a distinctive style, Broomfield himself often in shot holding the sound boom.

Style of work

Early on, Broomfield's documentary style was very conventional Cinéma vérité, the juxtaposition of observed scenes. The filmmaker would not provide much explanation by way of voice-over or text, rather letting the film talk for itself.

It was not until Driving Me Crazy (1988) that Broomfield, already very much a known character in filmmaking, would appear on-screen for the first time. After several arguments regarding the budget and nature of the film, the filmmaker decided that he would only make the documentary if he was able to conduct a sort of experiment by filming the process of making the film - that is, the arguments, the failed interviews and the dead-ends.

It is for this reflexive filmmaking style - that is to say, a film being about the making of itself as much as about its subject - that Broomfield is best known. His influence on documentary is clear - Michael Moore, Louis Theroux and Morgan Spurlock have all adopted a similar style for their recent box-office hits. Filmmakers who use this style have been referred to as Les Nouvelles Egotistes.

Broomfield is an alumnus of the National Film and Television School. He co-wrote the documentary Kurt and Courtney (1998) with American filmmaker Joan Churchill, with whom he has had a personal and professional relationship from the time they met in the 70's at film school until the late 80's. Churchill has since returned to work with Broomfield on several occasions.

Films

• Who Cares? (1971) Broomfield's first film, made as a student using a borrowed camera.
• Proud to be British (1973)
• Juvenile Liaison (1975)
• Behind the Rent Strike (1979)
• Whittingham (1980)
• Fort Augustus (1981)
• Soldier Girls (1981)
• Tatooed Tears (1982)
• Chicken Ranch (1983)
• Lily Tomlin (1986)
• Driving me Crazy (1988)
• Diamond Skulls (1989)
• The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife (1991)
• Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)
• Monster in a Box (1992)
• Tracking Down Maggie (1994)
• Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995)
• Fetishes (1996)
• Kurt and Courtney (1998)
• Biggie & Tupac (2002)
• Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)
• His Big White Self (2006)
• ghosts (2007)

Other work

In 1999, Broomfield made a series of five commercials for Volkswagen. Each of these featured Broomfield with his trademark sound boom 'investigating' rumours about the soon-to-be released Volkswagen Passat.

Awards

• British Academy Award (BAFTA)
• Prix Italia
• The Dupont Columbia Award for Outstanding Journalism
• The Peabody
• The Royal Television Society Award
• First Prize, Sundance Film Festival
• John Grierson Award
• Robert Flaherty Award
• The Hague Peace Prize
• The Chris Award
• The Blue Ribbon
• The California State Bar Award
• First Prize, Chicago Film Festival
• First Prize, US Film Festival
• First Prize, Festival of Mannheim
• First Prize, Festival di Popoli
• Special Jury Award, Melbourne Film Festival

Nick was also given a BAFTA tribute evening on March 8 2005.

References

Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, ed. Ian Aitken. London: Routledge (2005)

Current activity

Broomfield has recently completed a drama called Ghosts for Channel 4 inspired by the Morecambe Bay tragedy where 21 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tides. The film screened in London in October 2006 as part of the London Film Festival.

See also

• Documentary film
• Cinéma vérité

External links

• Official website
• Biography on BFI screenonline

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