Kim Longinotto
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. She has managed to penetrate some of the most secretive subcultures in the world and her “stars” are seemingly ordinary women or girls seen in extraordinary circumstances.
Longinotto's films have won international acclaim and dozens of premiere awards at festivals worldwide. Highlights include the Cannes Film Festival’s CICAE Award for her 2005 film, Sisters in Law; the Amnesty International DOEN Award at IDFA for The Day I Will Never Forget, about young girls in Kenya challenging the tradition of female circumcision; the Grand Prize for Best Documentary San Francisco 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 the NFTS, where she made Pride Of Place, a critical look at her boarding school, and Theatre Girls, documenting a hostel for homeless women. After graduating in 1979, she shot a variety of TV documentaries before forming the production company Twentieth Century Vixen with Claire Hunt, in 1986.
Her latest film, Rough Aunties is about a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa.
Read Bright Lights Film Journal’s article about Kim Longinotto
Interview with Kim Longinotto
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