Director, Producer and Screenwriter, 1957, United Kingdom. One of Britain's most renowned filmmakers, Mike Leigh began his career as a stage director and playwright, where he perfected his talent and mastery to direct actors and working with them to create complex and human characters. His work, whose aesthetics and sensibility have been compared to those of Yasujiro Ozu, focuses on ordinary people, their struggles and determination. Leigh's work has been awarded by some of the most prestigious festivals on the international circuit, including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for his first feature, Bleak Moments, in 1971, the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 for Secrets & Lies, and the Golden Lion for Vera Drake at the Venice Film Festival in 2004, where this year his latest feature, Peterloo, premiered in the Official Competition.
LEFFEST will pay tribute to his body of work by screening a retrospective.