"The great thing about Sean's films is that he champions the characters in his documentaries, he always takes a loser and makes them a winner." - D A Pennebaker
Sean McAllister is interviewed on C4 News
Sean McAllister
Seans' latest documentary (filmed in The Republic of Yemen) 'The Reluctant Revolutionary', will receive its world premiere at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival.
"Sean McAllister makes filming look easy" - Nick Fraser, BBC Commissioning Editor
"one of the hottest UK documentary makers around" - Brent Woods, Director, Sheffield Sheffield International Documentary Festival
After leaving school at 16 Sean worked in and out of factories before finding a camera and filming his way into the National Film School. He graduated in 1996. Since 1996 Sean McAllister has made films for both the BBC and Channel 4; working in the UK, Israel, Iraq, Japan, and most recently Syria, and The Yemen.
His films are intimate portraits of people from different parts of the world who are survivors; caught up in political and personal conflict struggling to make sense of the world we live in.
From Working for the Enemy in 1997 to Japan: A Story of Love and Hate in 2008 his absorbing films have received prestigious nominations and awards - including from the Grierson Trust, the Sundance Film Festival, the Florence Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). Sean McAllister's filmmaking success is a triumph for anti-apathy - a triumph for himself and for the people he puts on screen.
• Nominations for McAllister's films include the Directors Guild of America and Royal Television Society Awards.
"I made the first film to escape from the factory. I had got the story there. I sent it to Bournemouth cinema school. They admitted me on the spot and wanted to make the film. They offered a whole crew with cranks and all. I refused. They insisted. I left and went back to the factory with a camera in my bag. I would film whenever the supervisor was out of sight. I would get my camera out. The supervisor would clock me and shout. I once shot him as he was screaming at me, it was then that I understood what makes drama." - Sean McAllister
"My duty as a filmmaker is to get beyond the performance" - Sean McAllister
"I get as close as I can... I pull the trigger" - Sean McAllister
Read Sean's blog at www.tenfootfilms.co.uk
You can contact Sean directly by completing the online form on his contact/feedback page or by visiting his Facebook page and leaving a message.
