Monday 12 May 2025 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Edmund Leach Seminar Room
About
Filmmaker Josh Appignanesi started out in Social Anthropology at Cambridge before becoming a filmmaker working in documentary, fiction, and the spaces in-between. His six feature films have been shown theatrically in over thirty countries, and in competition at festivals including Berlin, Tribeca, Rotterdam, Cannes/ACID and Edinburgh.
In this discussion event, he'll discuss his trajectory into filmmaking, talk about the ways in which anthropological thought and visual ethnographic practice continue to influence his work, and hear interactively about your projects and how you might develop them further.
Biography
Josh Appignanesi is a writer/director whose work spans fiction, documentary and the space in-between. His six features and multiple shorts have been released theatrically in over thirty territories, and he has directed talent like Tom Hiddleston, John Malkovich, David Tennant, Omid Djalili, and Richard Schiff, while cultural figures like Zadie Smith, Hisham Matar, Slavoj Zizek, and John Berger have appeared in his films, often playing ‘versions of themselves.’
His acclaimed docufiction features include Husband (2022, Edinburgh competition), Female Human Animal (2018, Sheffield Doc/Fest, BAFICI, streamed MUBI) produced by Jacqui Davies, The New Man (2016, #2 Indie on iTunes UK), and fiction features including the David Baddiel-scripted The Infidel (Tribeca competition, awards at Torino, Cluj) and award-winning debut Song of Songs (Rotterdam competition, ACID/Cannes, awards at LFF, Edinburgh, BIFA nominated).
His climate action doc My Extinction (2023) screened at 60 UK sites and powered direct recruitment to a range of climate action partners. It was selected to screen to delegates at COP28 in Dubai.
With work shown on BBC TV, Channel 4, and MUBI, and interviews on BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio, The Times, The Observer and The Guardian, funding partners include Arts Council England, BFI, BBC Films, Channel4, Film London, WellcomeTrust, and AHRC. A guest editor of Granta, BAFTA and BIFA guest juror, and Fellow of King's College Cambridge ClimaTRACES lab, he teaches internationally and is Associate Professor of Film at Roehampton University.
This event will be chaired by Professor Sian Lazar