Barney Platts-Mills is a British film director, best known for his award-winning films, Bronco Bullfrog

Bronco Bullfrog

Bronco Bullfrog is a 1969 British black-and-white film directed by Barney Platts-Mills and stars Del Walker and Anne Gooding. It is set in London's East End and features the suedehead subculture...

and Private Road.

Biography

1944 Born in Colchester England. Educated at University College School, London and at Bryanston School, Blandford, Dorset.

1960 Entered film industry as 3rd assistant editor at Shepperton Studios and worked on Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

's Spartacus

Spartacus (film)

Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...

, Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...

's The Greengage Summer

The Greengage Summer

The Greengage Summer is a 1961 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More and Susannah York . It was based on the novel, Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden...

and John Schlesinger

John Schlesinger

John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...

's A Kind of Loving

A Kind of Loving (film)

A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in 1960s West Yorkshire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer...

amongst others, for editors including Peter R. Hunt

Peter R. Hunt

Peter R. Hunt was an English film editor, television producer and director. Hunt was known for his work on the James Bond films with his innovative editing style.-Career:...

 and Reggie Beck. Worked as editor for Anglia TV Survival and Granada TV World in Action.

1966 Established Maya Films with James Scott, Adam Barker-Mill and Andrew St. John. Produced and edited Love's Presentation, a 30 min. documentary on the work of David Hockney

David Hockney

David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....

, directed by James Scott. Produced and directed St Christopher a 45 min. documentary on children in the care of St Christopher's School, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, and the Camphill Village Trust, Botton, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. Wrote, produced and directed The War, a cinema short starring Colin Welland

Colin Welland

Colin Welland is a British actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire ,,,....

 and Eric Burdon

Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...

. (15 min. B&W 35 mm Panavision). Wrote and directed Everybody's an Actor, Shakespeare Said, a documentary on the work of Joan Littlewood

Joan Littlewood

Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...

 with young people in the East End of London

East End of London

The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...

. (35 min. 16 mm Eastmancolor).

1969 Wrote and directed Bronco Bullfrog with young people from the East End. (83 min. 35 mm B&W) Selectione a l'Unanimite pour Semain de la Critique, Festival de Cannes

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

. Screenwriter's Guild award for Best Original Screenplay.

1970 Wrote and directed Private Road (86 min 35 mm Eastmancolor) starring Bruce Robinson

Bruce Robinson

Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I , a film with comic and tragic elements, set in London during the 1960s which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting...

, Susan Penhaligon

Susan Penhaligon

Susan Penhaligon is a British actress and writer, she is probably best known for her appearances in the controversial 1976 drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and several ongoing roles in UK television series.-Early days:...

 and Michael Feast. Awarded Golden Leopard at Locarno Festival for Best Film.

1972 Governor and Honorary Life Member of British Film Institute

British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

 and Director of Prodigal Trust, Inner London School's video project. Took piano lessons with Trevor Fisher.

1976 Wrote screenplay Double Trouble, published as a novel by Duckworth

Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd

-History:Founded in 1898 by Gerald Duckworth, Duckworth is an independent British publisher. It was important in the development of English literature in the first half of the twentieth century, being the publisher of figures such as Virginia Woolf , W. H. Davies, Anthony Powell, John Galsworthy...

.

1977 Wrote screenplays for The Scotsman and Hero. After two years preparation directed Hero (82 min 16 mm Eastmancolor) for Film Four in ancient Gaelic with actors drawn from a Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 youth gang. Official entry Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

.

1983 Wrote screenplay for Ebb Tide by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

, to be filmed for Film Four in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 starring Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...

 and Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...

. Project abandoned when war broke out in that country.

1984 - 88 Resident in Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 with his two young children, Roland and Ruby.

1989 Wrote and directed Blasphemy for Channel Four Dispatches

Dispatches (TV series)

Dispatches is the British television current affairs documentary series on Channel 4, first transmitted in 1987. The programme covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, usually featuring a mole in an organisation.-Awards:*...

.

1990 Worked in The Special Unit, HMP Barlinnie, Glasgow on various projects including a musical to be staged by prisoners in the jail and the first ever performance by a circus ('Arkaos) in a British jail. Edited John Steele's The Bird That Never Flew an autobiography of a prison trouble-maker published by Sinclair-Stevenson in 1992

1993 Advisor to development of Wornington Green Resident's Association Video Project for disadvantaged youth.

1994 Set up and supervised first year of North Kensington

North Kensington

North Kensington is an area of west London lying north of Notting Hill Gate and south of Harrow Road.North Kensington is the key neighbourhood of Notting Hill...

 Video Drama Project including work for Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

 Scam scheme and the Youth Enterprise Scheme.

1995 Together with students from the N.K.V.D.P. established Massive Videos at North Kensington Community Centre and worked on the development of Courttia Newland

Courttia Newland

Courttia Newland is a British writer of Jamaican and Bajan heritage.-Background:Newland grew up in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where he became a rapper and music producer who, together with friends, released a Drum n' Bass white label. In 1997 he published his first novel, The Scholar. Further...

's The Scholar.

1996 - 99 Massive Videos made many short films by and about disadvantaged young people and founded the Portobello Film and video Festival. In Liverpool they established the 'Workhaus' project in a five story building in the city centre and the North X Northwest Film Festival.

1999 met Tunde Olayinka and acted as adviser to "The Alpha Male" Tunde's first film.

2000 Went to Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. Lived for a year on a farm near Larache

Larache

Larache is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah and Tangier drove...

. Wrote screenplay for Lovesways.

2004 Built house in Mejlaou near Assilah and wrote screenplay for Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale.

2010 Re: Release of his films 'Bronco Bullfrog' and 'Private Road' by the BFI and the National Film Theater. Screening of his films in retrospectives at Edinburgh film festival, Gijion Film Festival, BAFICI, Copenhagen Film Festival and Opening night Premiere at the East End Film Festival.
2010Joined Film Production Company Miraj Films as Producer and completed the production of "Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale"

2011 World Premiere of "Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale" his love poem to Morocco and his comeback after 30 years at the 40th International Rotterdam Film Festival.

External links