Mike Downey (producer) explained

Mike Downey
Birth Place:Devon, England
Occupation:Film producer

Michael Downey is an Irish-British film producer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Film and Music Entertainment and the Chairman of the European Film Academy.

Early years

Downey was born in Devon, England, the son of Brigid Downey (née Flood) and Thomas Downey, who were economic migrants from Kildare, Ireland. The family moved to Taunton, Somerset, where he attended the St George's Roman Catholic School and Huish's Grammar School aka Richard Huish College.

Education and career

After gaining a BA degree in French with Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick,[1] Downey went on to continue post-graduate studies at the (as a Boursier du Gouvernement Francais/French Government Scholar), and Paris X Nanterre. While working towards his MA and then PhD, he taught at the Lycée Charlemagne and at the theatre school at the Théâtre des Amandiers, under Patrice Chereau.[2]

The 1980s saw Downey working as a theatre director France, Germany, the former Yugoslavia and the U.K. in theatres as varied an eclectic as The Gate (London), Bac To Bac Theatre (Exeter), Atelje 212 (Belgrade), Studiotheater and Theater Rechts der Isar (Munich) and the UK's National Student Theatre Company.[3]

In 1986 and 1987, Downey curated a number of film programmes at the National Film Theatre. Among the most significant were the three major seasons he programmed of Yugoslav Cinema.[4] In 1986, he also published his first book, The Self Managing Screen, written by Downey to coincide with a major retrospective of television fiction at the British Film Institute that he curated at the National Film Theatre on the subject of television fiction during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Jugoslavija.[5]

In 1990, he co-founded Moving Pictures International magazine in London and it rapidly became one of the key international trade papers serving the global film industry, alongside Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Screen International.[6]

A decade later, in 2000, Downey joined forces with fellow producer Sam Taylor,[7] to create the UK-based independent production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) as part of a public offering on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt.[8], F&ME is based in Dublin, Ireland.

His work as a film maker has seen projects developed with novelists James Ellroy,[9] the late Gunter Grass,[10] and Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List);[11] IDA writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz,[12] VICE Group founder and CEO Shane Smith,[13] as well as directors such as Volker Schloendorff,[14] Mohsen Makhmalbaf,[15] and Julien Temple;[16] and writers of the ilk of Lee Hall,[17] Colm Tóibín,} and David Grossman.[18]

In his career as a film producer he has worked with a wide range of directors, including Peter Greenaway, Agnieszka Holland,[19] Paweł Pawlikowski, Andrzej Jakimowski,[20] Rajko Grlić,[21] Srđan Karanovićc, Juraj Jakubisko,[22] Fridrik Thor Fridriksson,[23] and Stephen Daldry,[24] as well as a multitude of other helmers the length and breadth of Europe, South America, Africa and India.

In 2002, he wrote and edited The Film Finance Handbook, published by Wallflower Press, which acts as a guide for anyone planning to set out as a producer of films.[25]

In 2004, Downey joined the European Film Academy Board[26] and was elected deputy chairman in 2014,[27] and was also elected as EFA chairman in 2020.[28]

He has served two terms as a BAFTA Council member and in 2008 he was a member of the BAFTA Film Committee.[29] [30] Downey rejoined the BAFTA Council in 2020.[31]

Downey is founder and President of the Motovun Film Festival in Croatia,[32] artistic advisor to the Zagreb Film Festival,[33] artistic director to the Antalya Film Festival[34] and former artistic board member of the Pula Film Festival.[35]

He has been a trustee of the White Ribbon Alliance since 2010,[36] and was on the International board of trustees of The Isango Ensemble, a South African theatre company.[37]

A member of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA) since 2017, Downey was as a former APSA Cultural Diversity Award winner a jury member at the 2019 APSA's.[38] [39]

Serving on more than 20 international juries at film festivals worldwide, including the Sarajevo Film Festival,[40] Festival do Rio de Janeiro,[41] Cottbus International Film Festival,[42] Warsaw International Film Festival,[43] Istanbul Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Motovun Film Festival,[44] Sofia International Film Festival,[45] Transylvania International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI)[46] and Zagreb Film Festival.

Downey is also an alumnus of The Sundance Institute, and quondam Thomas Ewing Professor of Film at Ohio University.[47]

Recognition

In 2009, Downey's work as a producer was honored with a retrospective at the Croatia's largest cultural event, the Zagreb Film Festival.[48]

In 2014, he received Producer of the Decade Award from the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, presented by Stephen Daldry.[49]

In 2015, Prague's Febiofest also celebrated Downey's career as a producer with a retrospective tribute.

In September 2020, it was announced that Downey would be the Honorary President of the 2020/2021 jury for the revamped LUX Prize, renamed LUX – the European Audience Film Award by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy (also known as LUX European Audience Film Award).[50]

It was also in September 2020 that Downey launched the International Coalition for Film Makers at Risk (ICFR) at the Venice Film festival. The ICFR aims to activate the film community's collective response to filmmakers who face political persecution for their work. Downey is a founder and board member, and the European Film Academy, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and IDFA are the founding partners of the ICFR, with activities that include advocacy, support, monitoring, and observation.[51] [52]

Downey was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to British cinema.

Selected filmography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mike Downey – film producer. University of Warwick.
  2. Web site: Biography . Mike Downey . 31 October 2020.
  3. Web site: Theatre. 19 January 2021. Mike Downey.
  4. Web site: Film Seasons and Festivals. 19 January 2021. Mike Downey.
  5. Web site: The Self Managing Screen. 19 January 2021. Mike Downey.
  6. Web site: Publications. 13 January 2021. Mike Downey.
  7. Web site: F&ME // The Team // Sam Taylor . F&ME // News . 31 October 2020.
  8. Web site: Producers pair up for Fame U.K.. 7 February 2001. Variety.
  9. Web site: 17 May 2002. Tartan Films, F&ME team on James Elroy project. Screen Daily. Patrick. Frater.
  10. Web site: Call of the Toad. 19 January 2021. Film Directory, British Council.
  11. Web site: UK-based production house Film & Music Entertainment. 19 January 2021. Filmfestivals.com.
  12. Web site: Servants. 19 January 2021. Cineuropa.
  13. Web site: White Lightnin'. 19 January 2021. Cinando.com.
  14. Web site: Return to Montauk. 19 January 2021. Film Directory, British Council.
  15. Web site: 8 February 2014. Makhmalbaf begins President shoot. IMDb.
  16. Web site: Rio 50 Degrees. 19 January 2021. Film Directory, British Council.
  17. Web site: Röllin sydän. 19 January 2021. IMDb.
  18. Web site: Mike Downey. 19 January 2021. Variety. 17 December 2013 .
  19. Web site: 12 January 2021. Agnieszka Holland's Oscar Entry 'Charlatan' Acquired By AX1 in U.K. and Ireland. Variety. Leo . Barraclough.
  20. Web site: 15 October 2012. Two years after talks in Warsaw, Imagine opens festival. Cineuropa. Jorn Rossing . Jensen.
  21. Web site: 6 September 2016. The Constitution (Ustav Republike Hrvatske) directed by Rajko Grlic, wins big at the 40th Montreal World Film Festival by taking home the prestigious Grand Prize of the Americas worth $100,000. The Constitution Movie.
  22. Web site: 22 June 2007. Bathory inspires two takes on horror tale. Variety. Will. Tizard.
  23. Web site: 17 September 2002. Falcons. Variety. Robert . Koehler.
  24. Web site: 13 February 2003. Daldry fits Brit banner. Variety. Cathy . Dunkley.
  25. Book: The film finance handbook. Mike. Downey. 1 January 1999. Media Business School. 51233940 . Open WorldCat.
  26. Web site: Staff and Structure. European Film Academy.
  27. Web site: Holdsworth. Nick. Mike Downey, deputy chairman of the European Film Academy, calls the late 'City of God' producer, who died Monday, a "benign defender of artists.". The Hollywood Reporter. 7 September 2016 . 7 September 2017.
  28. Web site: 10 December 2019. New European Film Academy Chairman Mike Downey to Reach Out to Other Film Academies. Variety. Leo . Barraclough.
  29. Web site: Review of the Year 2008/2009. British Academy of Film and Television Arts .
  30. Web site: Barraclough. Leo. Prague's Febiofest to Fete British Producer Mike Downey. Variety. 7 September 2017. 18 March 2015.
  31. Web site: BAFTA Council. 13 January 2021. BAFTA. 15 March 2011 .
  32. Web site: Holman. Jordyn. 'The Tribe' Wins Motovun Film Festival's Top Honor. Variety. 1 September 2017. 5 August 2014.
  33. Web site: Who is Who. Zagreb Film Festival.
  34. Web site: Antalya Film Festival Names Mike Downey as Artistic Director. Variety. 1 September 2017. 21 July 2017.
  35. Web site: Grater. Tom. Pula festival unveils 2016 line-up. Screen International. 1 September 2017.
  36. Web site: Mike Downey. White Ribbon Alliance.
  37. Web site: South African Theatre Company" Ambassadors. Isango Ensemble. 1 September 2017.
  38. Web site: 18 October 2019. Asia Pacific Screen Awards launch standalone four-day industry event. Screen Daily.
  39. Web site: Full juries revealed for 13th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 13 January 2021. Film Ink. 7 November 2019 .
  40. Web site: Mike Downey. 13 January 2021. Sarajevo Film Festival.
  41. Web site: Jury Duty in Rio de Janeiro. 13 January 2021. Festival do Rio.
  42. Web site: 13 November 2014. Emir Hadžihafizbegović Wins Best Actor Award in Cottbus. MaXima Film.
  43. Web site: 18 October 2010. Incendies wins Warsaw Grand Prix. Screen Daily. Theodore. Schwinke.
  44. Web site: Juries. 13 January 2021. Mike Downey.
  45. Web site: 16 March 2013. The Awards of the 17th Sofia International Film Festival. Altcine.
  46. Web site: FICCI 56 boasts exclusive jury members. 14 January 2021. FICCI Festival.
  47. Web site: Chairman: Mike Downey, producer. 13 January 2021. The European Film Academy.
  48. Web site: 15 May 2019. Zagreb fest honors Downey, Taylor. Variety. Nick. Holdsworth.
  49. Web site: Pablos. Emiliano De. Fort Lauderdale Fest To Honor Mike Downey. Variety. 1 September 2017. 9 October 2014.
  50. Web site: LUX prize will be awarded jointly by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy. The European Sting. . 9 September 2020 . 31 October 2020.
  51. Web site: 6 September 2020. Manori . Ravindran. International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk Launches in Venice. Variety.
  52. Web site: 7 September 2020. International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk warns Covid-19 is bringing fresh dangers. Screen Daily. Melanie . Goodfellow.
  53. Web site: Hopewell. John. F&ME Completes Production on 'Breathe – Umphefumlo'. Variety. 7 September 2017. 1 October 2014.

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