Peter Kosminsky

Peter Kosminsky
Born	(1956-04-21) 21 April 1956 London, England, United Kingdom,
Occupation(s)	Film Director, Writer, Producer

Peter Kosminsky is an English Writer, Director and Producer. He has directed both Hollywood films such as White Oleander and television films like The Government Inspector and The Project.

Biography

Born in London in 1956, he attended Haberdashers' Aske's School and Oxford University where he studied chemistry under Dr John Danby of Worcester College, Oxford. He spent much of his time at the university involved in student theatre, where he was Treasurer of the Dramatic Society and where he ultimately produced a successful touring production of Twelfth Night, co-starring fellow student Hugh Grant. The production's composer and accompanist was another young student named Rachel Portman (now an Oscar-winning composer and three time Oscar nominee).

On graduation in 1980, he joined the staff of the BBC in London as a General Trainee, alongside Kevin Lygo (now head of studios at ITV), and Peter Salmon (former head of BBC Sport).

On finishing his training in 1982, Kosminsky became a Script Editor in the BBC Plays Department but was fired within three months of starting work. With the help of BBC2 Controller Brian Wenham, he moved sideways on short-term contract to the BBC Current Affairs Department in Lime Grove before beginning his documentary directing career in earnest in 1985 under John Fairley and John Willis at Yorkshire Television. Programmes included "The Falklands War: the untold story", a two-hour documentary made with Michael Bilton to mark the fifth anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the islands. In 1990, Kosminsky began work as a drama director, directing the four-hour ITV drama "Shoot To Kill", starring Jack Shepherd, for Yorkshire Television and transmitted in the UK on 3rd and 4th June 1990, (RTS Best Single Drama - 1990). The programme was banned in Northern Ireland.

In 1995, Kosminsky was fired from YTV by incoming MD Bruce Gyngell and set up his own company, Stonehenge Films Ltd, to act as a vehicle for his TV dramas. His first independent drama as producer and director was "No Child of Mine", written by Guy Hibbert and starring Brooke Kinsella for Meridian Broadcasting/ITV. The programme, transmitted in the UK on 25th February 1997, was a tough depiction of sexual abuse at home and in care and provoked considerable controversy. Its string of awards included the BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama - 1997 and the FIPA D'Or in Biarritz.

In 1999, Kosminsky teamed up with writer Leigh Jackson to make "Warriors", a two part drama for BBC Television which told the harrowing story of the first British peacekeeping deployment to central Bosnia in 1992-3. Starring Ioan Gruffud, Matthew MacFadyen and Damian Lewis, the films were shown on BBC1 to considerable acclaim. BAFTA Best Drama Serial - 1999, RTS Best Single Drama -1999 and the Prix Italia for Best Fiction Serial - 1999. It transmitted in the UK on BBC1 in November 1999.

In July 2003, Kosminsky began his collaboration with Channel 4 and David Aukin's Daybreak Pictures, a collaboration which continues today. Aukin encouraged Kosminsky to write the films he directed and three programmes have so far resulted. "The Government Inspector" starred Mark Rylance and told the story of the death of biological weapons inspector Dr David Kelly and the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was transmitted in the UK on C4 on 17th March 2005 and won a series of awards including BAFTAs for Best Single Drama, Best Actor (Mark Rylance) and Best Writer (Kosminsky). Next came "Britz", starring Riz Ahmed and Manjinder Virk. In the wake of the 7/7 bombings in London, the 2x100 minute films examine what it means to be second-generation Muslim living in Britain today. Transmitted on C4 as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations on 30th and 31st October 2007, the films won Best Drama Serial of 2007 at BAFTA and at the RTS.

The latest fruit of the collaboration between Kosminsky and Aukin for Channel 4 is "The Promise", a 4 x 100 minute drama serial written and directed by Kosminsky for transmission in February 2011. It stars Claire Foy and Christian Cooke and is shot entirely on location in the Middle East. Eight years in the making, it tells the story of British soldiers stationed in Palestine during the Mandate period 1945-1948 and the effects those events have had on the situation in present-day Israel/Palestine.

Kosminsky has directed two feature films, "Wuthering Heights", (Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche), in 1992 for Paramount Pictures and "White Oleander", (Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn and Alison Lohman), in 2002 for Warner Bros. He is a former Council member of BAFTA, a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and a winner of the BAFTA Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution to TV.

Kosminsky resides in Wiltshire, England. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts from Bournemouth University..

Filmography

• The Falklands War: The Untold Story (1987), TV
• Afghantsi (1988), TV
• Shoot to Kill (1990), TV
• Wuthering Heights (1992)
• The Dying of the Light (1992), TV
• No Child of Mine (1997), TV
• Walking on the Moon (1999), TV
• Warriors (1999), TV
• Innocents (2000), TV
• The Project (2002), TV
• White Oleander (2002)
• The Government Inspector (2005), TV
• Britz (2007), TV
• The Promise (2010 TV mini-series)

Producer - Filmography

• The Falklands War: The Untold Story (1987) (TV) (producer)
• Afghantsi (1988) (TV) (producer)
• The Dying of the Light (1992) (TV) (producer)
• 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight (1993) (TV) (producer)
• No Child of Mine (1997) (TV) (producer)
• Walking on the Moon (1999) (TV) (executive producer)

Writer - Filmography

• The Government Inspector (2005) (TV)

External links

• Peter Kosminsky: People Will Say I Have Made a Recruiting Film for Alqaida, The Independent