Nick Broomfield (born January 30, 1948 in London, England) is a British documentary filmmaker. 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 1988's Driving Me Crazy 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 most 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.
Films
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.
Current activity
Ghosts : Broomfield is currently working on a drama for Channel 4 inspired by the Morecambe Bay tragedy where 21 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tides.
A Follow-up to The Leader...: Broomfield has also confirmed that he plans to record a follow-up to The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife, showing the change in South Africa through the demise of Eugène Terre'Blanche. That said, when Broomfield left South Africa after the making of the first film, he received a threat from The Driver, essentially stating that if Broomfield returned to South Africa he would kill him.
See also
External links
