Andrea Arnold - Directing

Directing

After retiring from her career as a television presenter, Arnold studied directing at the prestigious AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles and trained in screenwriting at the PAL Labs in Kent. Her early short films included Milk (1998) and Dog (2001). She won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Wasp, in 2003. She was also named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow.

Red Road is the first instalment of Advance Party, a planned set of three conceptually-related films by different first-time directors. Set on a housing estate in Glasgow, the revenge-themed story centres on a CCTV (security TV cameras) operator who develops an obsession with someone she observes, for reasons that become clear through the progress of the film. The picture has won the British director comparisons with established names such as Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier. Screen International critic Allan Hunter said the film was "likely to emerge as one of the discoveries of this year's Cannes Film Festival (2006)." It went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes that year.

Arnold won the 2007 BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer for directing Red Road.

Her 2009 film Fish Tank premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, where she once again won the Jury Prize. The film also went on to win the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film in 2010.

In 2011, Arnold completed shooting an adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, produced by London's Ecosse Films. The film was shown in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September., where it won the Golden Osella for Best Cinematography.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to the film industry.

In 2012, she was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

In all of her film's there are some common themes that Arnold chooses to use to propel the narrative. Since childhood, Arnold has been interested in human psychology and the human experience. She says, “I am obsessed with why people turn out the way they are.