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-18 in Oslo
The mystery around me is snow and ice. I slip with my heavy bag. Why is no one else slipping? I’m clearly the newcomer here, my first time in temperatures of -18. ‘Welcome to Norway, Sean my dear’ – It’s great to hear Nizam’s voice again on the message he leaves me – but impossible [...]
Sean McAllister and Samir Peter at Sundance
Sean McAllister
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.
Over the past 12 years Sean McAllister has made films for both the BBC and Channel 4; working in the UK, Israel, Iraq, and most recently Japan.
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 get as close as I can... I pull the trigger - Sean McAllister
"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
"My duty as a filmmaker is to get beyond the performance" - Sean McAllister
⇒ 2008, Japan: A Story of Love and Hate [BBC + NHK]
Flahertiana 2009, Perm, Russia >>> Special Jury Mention ⇒ See more awards
Naoki 56, had it all in Japan's bubble economy days: he ran a business with 70 staff, drove a brand new BMW, and lived in a 6 bedroom house. But when Japan's economy crashed in the early 1990's he lost everything, ending up divorced (for the third time) and penniless. ⇒ Read more about Japan: A Story of Love and Hate
⇒ 2004, The Liberace of Baghdad [BBC Four]
Special Jury Prize (World Documentary) - Sundance Film Festival 2005
Held up in a heavily fortified Baghdad hotel the pianist, Samir Peter and the film-maker Sean McAllister try to survive the "peace" of post-war Iraq. Samir Peter, once Iraq's most famous pianist now plays in a half-empty hotel bar to contractors, mercenaries and besieged journalists. In his heyday he described himself as the 'Liberace of Baghdad' but today he sleeps in a bricked up hotel room. ⇒ Read more about The Liberace of Baghdad
⇒ 2002, Hull's Angel [Channel 4]
"Sean McAllister's Hull's Angel saw him return to his home city to examine the impact of an influx of 1,500 asylum seekers. The film follows Tina for a year as she loses her job, is shunned by her family, and is spat on and punched in the streets for helping the mostly Kurdish refugees. ⇒ Read more about Hull's Angel
⇒ 2000, Settlers [Channel 4]
Tension mounts to the boiling point as Jewish "settlers" encroach upon the formerly exclusive Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. On the other end of the Israeli political spectrum, the state complies with international demands to relinquish territory to the Palestinians. Such schizophrenic splits only fuel the flames. In the intense heat of these conflicts, the camera captures two unforgettable subjects: Ali and Dov. ⇒ Read more about Settlers
⇒ 1998, The Minders [BBC2]
Nominated for a Royal Television Society Award
"This extraordinary film was made by Sean McAllister during the last Iraqi crisis (the one defused by the UN's Kofi Annan in person *February 1998). With air strikes averted, McAllister decided to carry on filming..." ⇒ Read more about The Minders
⇒ 1997, Working for the Enemy [BBC2]
Nominated for a Royal Television Society Award
"Sean McAllister's bleak, extraordinarily intimate film offers an insight into the lives of 35-year-old Kevin, who hasn't worked in 18 years, and his 19-year-old girlfriend Robbie, who earns £70 a week as a seamstress." ⇒ Read more about Working for the Enemy
"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
You can read Sean McAllister's blog at http://www.seanmcallister.com/blog/
You can contact Sean directly by visiting his contact/feedback page
