Nick Broomfield
London born Broomfield is a graduate in political science (Essex U) and of the National Film School. His idiosyncratic style of documentary filmmaking has been called not so much fly on the wall as fly in the soup.
His subjects, all ‘public’ figures, range from political leaders to serial killers and dead musicians, and he deconstructs the media hype that has, in some way, fashioned them.
His signature participatory style is that of an apparently bumbling and chaotic Englishman who disarms his subjects.
His performance underlines the notion that documentary, too, is representation and not unmediated fact. He explains his approach: “what’s important is the interaction between the filmmakers and those being filmed, and that the audience is aware of that interaction so they can make decisions of their own.”
Biggie and Tupac
UK 2002 108min
Dir: Nick Broomfield
In 1997, rap artists and former friends, Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, the Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents six months apart. At the time they were seen as victims of the infamous east-west gang rap rivalry but, while investigating Wallace’s death, detective Russell Poole uncovered damning evidence that LA cops were involved. When he voiced his fears, Poole was sidelined.
Broomfield decides to investigate the reasons, and person, behind the much-flaunted red herrings. After extensive interviews with Wallace’s mother, large chain-heavy boys in the hood and ex-LAPD officers, the cigar-smoking, feared rap mogul, Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, emerges as the number one candidate. As gangland violence, cop corruption and the FBI infiltrate the modern music industry, the emerging story is alternately shocking, amusing, and oddly moving.
Courtesy of the Director and the British Council
JOHANNESBURG SUN 16 4pm SAT 22 6pm
CAPE TOWN SAT 29 3.45pm TUE 1 8.30pm
His Big White Self
UK 2006 93min
Dir: Nick Broomfield
Nick Broomfield is renowned for getting into trouble with his subjects. His encounters with AWB leader, Eugene Terreblanche, are no exception and resulted in death threats after his first exposé on The Leader in 1991. But when Terreblanche is released after 3 years in jail, Broomfield cannot resist tracking down his protagonist 12 years into post-apartheid Ventersdorp. In this fascinating and complete follow up, a disguised and fearful Broomfield skirts around a court order and briefly reunites with the big white bully. Terreblanche no longer commands 500,000 right-wing followers who once threatened to destabilise the peace process, instead, he concentrates on writing bad poetry. But while on the surface Terreblanche appears altered, as are JP and Anita (the Driver and his Wife), Broomfield questions what has really changed – socially and intellectually – for the residents of this former Transvaal town.
Courtesy of the Director and the British Council
JOHANNESBURG SAT 15 8.45pm FRI 21 8.30pm
CAPE TOWN THU 27 6.30pm SUN 30 4.15pm SAT 5 8.30pm
Kurt and Courtney
UK 1998 95min
Dir: Nick Broomfield
When rock phenomenon Kurt Cobain took his life in 1994, the world was stunned. But some believe that there was a more insidious side to the tragedy. Interviewing lurid doped-up friends and trailing from Kurt’s home town to an LA studio where Hole is rehearsing, garrulous Broomfield sets out to investigate the conspiracy theory, as well as explore Cobain’s state of mind. As this enthralling film unfolds, Courtney Love emerges as the theorist’s favourite target, with her accusers being her own father, an ex-boyfriend, a former nanny and El Duce, a disreputable singer who claims Love offered him $50,000 to ‘whack’ Cobain. When Love applies pressure to have its funding withdrawn, the film becomes as much about her vindictive meddling and controversial quest for stardom, as the circumstances surrounding Kurt’s suicide.
Sierra Award for Best Documentary. Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 1998
Courtesy of the Director and the British Council
JOHANNESBURG SAT 15 4.30pm SUN 23 2pm
CAPE TOWN WED 26 6.30pm SUN 6 6pm