Roland Joffé

Roland Joffé (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>"Roland Joffé and David Puttnam interview for The Killing Fields (1984)"</ref> born 17 November 1945) is an English film and television director, producer and screenwriter. He is known for directing the critically-acclaimed films The Killing Fields (1984) and The Mission (1986), both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the latter winning the Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

Joffé began his career in television, his early credits including episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today. In the late 1980s, he co-founded the production company Lightmotive with Ben Myron.

Early life and education

Joffé was born in London to a family of French and Jewish origin. Around 1950, Roland's father Mark Joffé<ref>The Independent, 5 October 2007: Roland Joffé: Why the director is a victim of his own success</ref><ref>June Rose, Daemons and Angels: A Life of Jacob Epstein , London: Constable, 2002, p.244,258</ref><ref>Mark Joffe by Jacob Epstein, 1952 Watford Museum</ref> began a relationship with the daughter of Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman, Esther Garman, who helped raise Roland.<ref>Esther Garman biography The New Art Gallery Walsall</ref><ref>Photograph of Esther Garman cutting Roland Joffe's birthday cake, c1951 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall</ref><ref>Photograph of Jacob Epstein, Kathleen Garman, Mark Joffe and Esther Garman at Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, 1948 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall</ref> After Esther's suicide in 1954, Roland lived with her parents.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Portraits of Roland as a child by Jacob Epstein and Esther's brother Theodore Garman are part of the Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall.<ref>Roland Joffe by Theodore Garman, 1949-1951 Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall</ref><ref>Roland Joffe by Jacob Epstein Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall</ref>

Joffé was educated at two independent schools: the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London, and Carmel College in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, which was Europe's only Jewish boarding school, until it closed in 1997. He completed his formal education at the University of Manchester.

Career

TV director

After university, Joffé joined Granada Television as a trainee director in 1973, where he directed episodes of Coronation Street,<ref>The Independent, 5 October 2007: Roland Joffé: Why the director is a victim of his own success Retrieved 2013-03-06</ref><ref name=IMDbFilmography>IMDb: Roland Joffé Filmography Retrieved 2013-03-06</ref> Sam,<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> The Stars Look Down,<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> Crown Court,<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> Bill Brand,<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> and Headmaster.<ref name=IMDbFilmography/>

In 1977, producer Tony Garnett was commissioned by the BBC to direct the play The Spongers within BBCs Play for Today series. He informed the BBC drama department that he wanted to hire Roland Joffé as director, but was told that Joffé did not possess BBC clearance and was regarded a "security risk" (see: "Christmas tree" list).<ref name="hnt1">Mark Hollingsworth and Richard Norton-Taylior Blacklist: The Inside Story of Political Vetting, London: Hogarth Press, 1988, p.97-99. The relevant extract from this book is here.</ref> The reason was that Joffé had attended some Workers' Revolutionary Party meetings in the early 1970s,<ref>At that time, the WRP was known as the Socialist Labour League, but Hollingsworth and Norton-Taylor use the later form.</ref> although he never became a party member. He explained around 1988: "I was very interested in politics at that time. But I was interested in what all the political parties were doing, not just the WRP, and I was never actively involved."<ref name="hnt2">Blacklist, p.98</ref> Only after Garnett threatened he would "go public", was the veto on Joffé's appointment withdrawn.<ref name="hnt2"/> The Spongers won the prestigious Prix Italia award.

Joffé also directed an episode in BBC's Second City Firsts in 1977<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> and later directed two more plays for Play for Today: The Legion Hall Bombing (1979) and United Kingdom (1981).<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> In 1979, he directed the TV play No, Mama, No by Verity Bargate for the ITV Playhouse series,<ref name=IMDbFilmography/> and in 1980 he made a version of 17th century dramatist John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore as a TV film for the BBC.<ref name=IMDbFilmography/>

Film director

Roland Joffé's first two feature films (The Killing Fields, 1984, and The Mission, 1986) each garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Joffé worked closely with producer David Puttnam on each film. The Killing Fields detailed the friendship of two men, an American journalist for The New York Times, and his translator, a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in Communist Cambodia. It won three Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing) and was nominated for four more (including Best Picture and Best Director). The Mission was a story of conflict between Jesuit missionaries in South America, who were trying to convert the Guaraní Indians, and the Portuguese and Spanish colonisers, who wanted to enslave the natives. In an interview with Thomas Bird, Joffé says of The Mission, "The Indians are innocent. The film is about what happens in the world... what that innocence brings out in us. You would sit in a cinema in New York, or in Tokyo, or Paris, and for that point of time you would be joined with your companions on this planet. You would come out with a real sense of a network.".<ref>Bird, Thomas. "Roland Joffé " Template:Webarchive, BOMB Magazine Winter, 1987. Retrieved 2012-11-26.</ref> The film won the Palme d'Or and Technical Grand Jury Prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It achieved six Academy Awards nominations—including for Best Picture, Best Director, and Ennio Morricone's acclaimed Best Original Score—and won one, for Best Cinematography.

In 1993, he produced and partially directed a big budget adaptation of the video game Super Mario Bros.. The film struggled to make back its budget. His 1995 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was a critical and financial disaster, and his 2007 horror film Captivity drew controversy with its advertising billboards, widely regarded as exploitative and misogynistic Template:According to whom. He received Razzie Nominations for Worst Director for The Scarlet Letter and Captivity.

His 2011 release, There Be Dragons, garnered press attention as it dealt with the Catholic organisation Opus Dei.<ref>Roland Joffé's new film Mission: to uncover secrets of the Opus Dei The Guardian. 8 June 2009</ref><ref>Bringing a Saint’s Life to the Screen The New York Times. 22 August 2009</ref> A movie about faith and forgiveness, There Be Dragons is a project that Joffé says has a message he's proud to say on film. In an interview with CBN.com, he stated, "I have a very deep emotional investment in this film. I feel that I really want to stand behind what it says to us as human beings."<ref>Director Roland Joffé Explains "There Be Dragons", CBN.com.</ref>

In 2013 Joffé directed the internationally co-produced historical epic romance time travel adventure film, The Lovers.

Personal life

File:Roland Joffé by Jacob Epstein 01.jpg

Roland Joffé by Jacob Epstein, c. 1949

From 1974 to 1980, Joffé was married to actress Jane Lapotaire; they have a son, screenwriter and director Rowan Joffé (b. 1973). Later, he and actress Cherie Lunghi were in a longterm relationship;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> they have a daughter, actor Nathalie Lunghi (b. 1986).

Joffé is a board member of the nonprofit organization Operation USA. He was the official patron of the 2011 Cambodia Volleyball World Cup held from 23 to 29 July at the National Olympic Stadium Phnom Penh.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Roland Joffé lives on the island of Malta and is an active member of the team organising the Valletta Film Festival.

Religiously, Joffé has described himself as a "wobbly agnostic".<ref>Roland Joffé Interview to the National Catholic Register</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1984	The Killing Fields	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1986	The Mission	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1989	Fat Man and Little Boy	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
1992	City of Joy	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1995	The Scarlet Letter	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
1998	Goodbye Lover	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2000	Vatel	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2007	Captivity	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2008	You and I	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2011	There Be Dragons	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2013	The Lovers	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2017	The Forgiven	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Producer only

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1993	Super Mario Bros.	Rocky Morton Annabel Jankel
2000	Waterproof	Barry Berman
2021	Blood on the Crown	Davide Ferrario	Executive producer

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1973–74	Coronation Street	4 episodes
1974–75	Sam	4 episodes
1975	The Stars Look Down	6 episodes
1976	Crown Court	4 episodes
	Bill Brand	5 episodes
1977	Headmaster	3 episodes
	Second City Firsts	1 episode
1978	The Spongers
	Play for Today	Episode: "The Legion Hall Bombing"
1979	No, Mama, No
1980	[['Tis Pity She's a Whore#Adaptations|Template:-'Tis Pity She's a Whore]]
1981	Play for Today	Episode: "United Kingdom"
2002	Undressed	1 episode
2015	Texas Rising	5 episodes
2017	Sun Records	8 episodes
2019	A Lover Scorned	Television film

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
Prix Italia	1978		The Spongers<ref>Prix Italia, Winners 1949 – 2010, RAI Template:Webarchive</ref>
Academy Awards	1985	Best Director	The Killing Fields	Template:Nom
	1987		The Mission	Template:Nom
Golden Globe Awards	1985	Best Director	The Killing Fields	Template:Nom
	1987		The Mission	Template:Nom
Cannes Film Festival	1986	Palme d'Or	The Mission	Template:Won
		Technical Grand Prize		Template:Won
British Academy of Film and Television Arts	1985	Best Direction	The Killing Fields	Template:Nom
	1987		The Mission	Template:Nom
		Best Film		Template:Nom
Berlin International Film Festival	1990	Golden Bear	Fat Man and Little Boy	Template:Nom
Golden Raspberry Awards	1996	Worst Picture	The Scarlet Letter	Template:Nom
		Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel		Template:Won
		Worst Director		Template:Nom
	2008		Captivity	Template:Nom

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if:

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• BOMB Magazine interview with Roland Joffé by Thomas Bird (Winter, 1987) Template:Webarchive