Richard Kwietniowski

UK

Richard Kwietniowski

Writer-director. Born in London, to Anglo/Polish parents, he worked with cinema in a variety of ways (exhibition, distribution, preservation, grass-roots resourcing, education and training) before committing to production.
B.A. Hons first class in English and American Literature; Ph.D. in Film Studies (both at the University of Kent), with a one year attachment as Visiting Research Scholar at the Pacific Film Archive, University of California at Berkeley.

After working in the independent film sector and higher education, he wrote and directed a number of internationally distributed short films including Alfalfa and Flames of Passion.
Subsequent work as a director for British television won Royal Television Societyand D&AD (Gold and Best of Year) awards, and a Prix Italia nomination.
His debut feature film was Anglo-Canadian co-production Love and Death on Long Island, based on his own adapted screenplay, starring John Hurt and Jason Priestley.
It won the Prix Pierrot for Best European First Feature at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Feature, and the Carl Foreman BAFTA for Best Newcomer in British Film.

His second feature was Owning Mahowny, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver. He regularly contributes to film education and training initiatives, including the London International Film School’s ‘Scenario’ at the Institut Francais in 2003, and the MA in Screenwriting in 2006.