Gideon Koppel
Writer / Director
Film, TV & Theatre
Having originally studied mathematics, Gideon Koppel was a postgraduate student at the Slade School of Fine Art. His prolific work as a film maker is exhibited in a wide variety of formats: from 'Jones' a stylised drama based on the correspondence between Ernest Jones and Freud; to the acclaimed Channel Four series 'Undressed: A History of Twentieth-Century Fashion'; a film installation for fashion label Comme des Garcons seen at the Florence Biennale; and the controversial BBC film 'Ooh la la and the art of dressing up' which explores the psychopathology of celebrity.
Gideon is also an award-winning director of film commercials; Professor of Film at Aberystwyth University and an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. His most recent film is the feature length film 'sleep furiously' which became a critical discovery at the 2008 Edinburgh Film Festival and was nominated for a prestigious Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. Since the cinema release in May 2009 'sleep furiously' has become one of the most critically acclaimed British films of the year and identified as one of the signs of a British art cinema resurgence.
Gideon was the winner of The Guardian's Best First Film Award for 'sleep furiously'.
In Development
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
BORTH | Bard Entertainments Ltd/The Arts Council of Wales | In Post-Production |
BETWEEN THE DOGS AND THE CROWS | Bard Entertainments Ltd / UKFC / Film Agency Wales | Feature Film |
THE LAST POET | Bard Entertainments Ltd/Films d'Ici | Feature Film |
Film
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
OOH LA LA AND THE ART OF DRESSING UP | BBC Wales | A modern-day Faustian story which explores the psychopathology of celebrity through the world of Julien Macdonald and Givenchy |
UNDRESSED: A HISTORY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY FASHION - 'Rebellion' and 'Sex' | Channel 4 | Acclaimed television documentary series |
SLEEP FURIOUSLY | Bard Entertainments Ltd / Van Film Ltd / The Film Agency for Wales | Director |
A SKETCHBOOK FOR THE LIBRARY VAN | UK Film Council | A sketchbook featuring characters from 'sleep furiously' |
JONES | BBC Wales | A stylised drama based on the correspondence between Ernest Jones and Freud |
Other
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Andrew O'Hagan | 'The Evening Standard' | "...the most beautifully elemental documentary film to have emerged in Britain in over a decade... I can't applaud it loud enough... Koppel reveals himself to be among the best listeners and watchers in the country... the beauty of his film lies in its ability to show us this truth... A reminder of the magic of cinema." |
Antony Quinn | 'The Independent' | "The elegiac tenderness and pictorial beauty becomes... quite compelling... A film forged from a real love of place." |
John Banville | 'Sight and Sound' | "Profound and utterly beguiling... it is simply - and it is simple in its sly way - a mutely gorgeous, moving and deeply poetic work of art... Sleep Furiously is, simply, a masterpiece." |
Kevin Maher | 'The Times' | "...the stand-out movie of the summer so far." |
Nigel Andrews | 'The Financial Times' | "Gideon Koppel's magnificent documentary... mixture of community portrait, pastoral fresco and musing on eternity... Koppel somehow infuses the idyllic with the impassioned, the bleak with the lyrical, the inarticulate gaze with the evangelistic vision." |
PRESS FOR 'SLEEP FURIOUSLY': | ||
Ray Bennett | 'The Hollywood Reporter' | "Lyrical and haunting, Gideon Koppe's documentary feature 'Sleep Furiously' is a love letter to a way of life in rural Wales that is fast disappearing." |
Sukhdev Sandhu | 'The Daily Telegraph' | "Riveting... extraordinary, ethereal... it looks, sounds and somehow even smells wholly new" |
Wendy Ide | 'The Times' | "Here is a voice to be cherished... wonderful... Images of wistful sadness are interlaced with humour and moments of skin-prickling beauty that leave the audience undone... profoundly and unexpectedly moving." |
Short Films
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
CANDY GIRLS | Saatchi/Matthew Williamson | |
COMME DES GARCONS | A film installation for fashion label Comme des Garcons at the Florence Biennale | |
FLIRTATIONS | Arte | An essay with historian Theodore Zeldin |
UNSEEN UNSAID | BFI |
Promos
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
NSPCC: OPEN YOUR EYES | Childline | Gideon Koppel is an award-winning director of commercials, the most high profile of which is his famous NSPCC campaign. |