Barney Platts-Mills
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Barney Platts-Mills | |
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Born | Colchester, England, U.K. | 15 October 1944
Died | 5 October 2021 | (aged 76)
Occupation | Film director |
Barney Platts-Mills (15 October 1944 – 5 October 2021) was a British film director, best known for his award-winning films, Bronco Bullfrog and Private Road.
Biography
Platts-Mills was born in 1944 in Colchester, England, a son of barrister John Platts-Mills (who was briefly a Labour MP),[1] and was educated at University College School, London, and at Bryanston School, Blandford, Dorset.
He entered the film industry in 1960, as 3rd assistant editor at Shepperton Studios and worked on
In 1966, he established Maya Films with
In 1969, he wrote and directed Bronco Bullfrog with young people from the East End (83 minutes, 35 mm B&W) Selectione a l'Unanimite pour Semain de la Critique, Festival de Cannes. The film won a Screenwriters' Guild award for Best Original Screenplay.
In 1971, he wrote and directed Private Road (86 minutes, 35 mm Eastmancolor), starring Bruce Robinson, Susan Penhaligon and Michael Feast. It was awarded the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival for Best Film.[3]
In 1972, Platts-Mills was made a Governor and Honorary Life Member of the British Film Institute and Director of the Prodigal Trust, Inner London School's video project. He took piano lessons with Trevor Fisher.
Platts-Mills' screenplay Double Trouble was published as a novel by
In 1983, Platts-Mills wrote the screenplay for Ebb Tide by Robert Louis Stevenson, to be filmed for Film Four in Sri Lanka starring Harry Dean Stanton and Christopher Lee. The project abandoned when war broke out in that country. Between 1984 and 1988, he was resident in Sussex with his two young children, Roland and Ruby.
In 1989, Platts-Mills wrote and directed Blasphemy for
In 1990, he worked in The Special Unit at
Platts-Mills was advisor to the development of Wornington Green Residents' Association Video Project for disadvantaged youth in 1993, and in 1994 he set up and supervised the first year of the North Kensington Video Drama Project (NKVDP), including work for the Metropolitan Police Scam scheme and the Youth Enterprise Scheme.
In 1995, together with students from the NKVDP he established Massive Videos at North Kensington Community Centre and worked on the development of Courttia Newland's The Scholar. Between 1996 and 1999, Massive Videos made many short films by and about disadvantaged young people and founded the Film and Video Festival. In Liverpool they established the Workhaus project in a five-storey building in the city centre and the North X Northwest Film Festival.
In 1999, Platts-Mills met Tunde Olayinka and acted as adviser to The Alpha Male, Olayinka's first film.
Platts-Mills went to Morocco in 2000 and lived for a year on a farm near Larache, writing the screenplay for Lovesways.
He built a house in Mejlaou near Assilah in 2004 and wrote the screenplay for Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale.
Bronco Bullfrog and Private Road were re-released in 2010 by the BFI and the National Film Theater. Platts-Mills' films were screened in retrospectives at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Gijion Film Festival, BAFICI, Copenhagen Film Festival and the opening night Premiere at the East End Film Festival.
Platts-Mills joined the film production company Miraj Films in 2010 as a producer and completed the production of Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale, his love poem to Morocco and his comeback after 30 years, which had its world premiere at the 40th International Rotterdam Film Festival.
Platts-Mills is credited with founding the independent production company, Peabody Productions.
He died on 5 October 2021, at the age of 76.[1]
References
- ^ a b Gilbey, Ryan (15 October 2021). "Barney Platts-Mills obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Winners of the Golden Leopard". Locarno. Archived from the original on 19 July 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
External links
- Barney Platts-Mills at IMDb