"Internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is one of the pre-eminent documentary filmmakers working today, renowned for creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion. Longinotto's films have won international acclaim and dozens of premiere awards at festivals worldwide. Highlights include the Amnesty International DOEN Award at IDFA and Best Doc UK Spotlight at Hot Docs for THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET; the Grand Prize for Best Documentary San Francisco Int'l Film Festival and Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival for DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE; Best Documentary at Films de Femmes, Creteil for DREAM GIRLS; and Outstanding Documentary at the SF Gay and Lesbian Film Festival for SHINJUKU BOYS.
Longinotto studied camera and directing at England's National Film School, where she made PRIDE OF PLACE, a critical look at her boarding school, and THEATRE GIRLS, documenting a hostel for homeless women. After the NFS she worked as the cameraperson on a variety of documentaries for TV including CROSS AND PASSION, an account of Catholic women in Belfast, and UNDERAGE, a chronicle of unemployed adolescents in Coventry.
In 1986, Longinotto formed the production company Twentieth Century Vixen with Claire Hunt. Together they made FIRERAISER, a look at Sir Arthur Bomber Harris and the bombing of Dresden during WWII; EAT THE KIMONO, about the controversial Japanese feminist performer Hanayagi Genshu; HIDDEN FACES, the internationally acclaimed, collaborative documentary with/about Egyptian women; and THE GOOD WIFE OF TOKYO about women, love and marriage in Japanese society. Throughout this time, she made a series of ten broadcast and non-broadcast videos on special needs issues, including TRAGIC BUT BRAVE for Channel 4. With Jano Williams, Longinotto directed the audience pleaser DREAM GIRLS, a BBC-produced documentary of the spectacular Japanese musical theatre company; and SHINJUKU BOYS, about three Tokyo women who live as men. Next, she made ROCK WIVES for Channel 4 about the wives and girlfriends of rock stars, followed by DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE with Ziba Mir-Hosseini, about women and divorce in Iran. She then made two short films for the BEST FRIENDS series on Channel 4: STEVE & DAVE - about two friends who work as a drag act and ROB & CHRIS about two homeless young men. Her next film, GAEA GIRLS made with Jano Williams is about women wrestlers in Japan. RUNAWAY was also made with Ziba Mir-Hosseini and is set in a refuge for girls in Tehran. Her film THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET, about young girls in Kenya challenging the tradition of female circumcision premiered domestically at Sundance in 2003. Her last film, SISTERS IN LAW, set in Kumba, Cameroon, premiered and won two prizes at Cannes."
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