Scottish filmmaker Kevin MacDonald shot to fame with documentaries One Day in September and Touching the Void before moving into drama.
Born in Scotland MacDonald's filmmaking career kicked off in 1995 when he made a movie about his father, The Making of an Englishman, filmmaker Emerica Pressburger.
After other documentaries such as Chaplin's Goliath (1996), a film about the actor Eric Campbell and Howard Hawks: American Artist it was 2000's One Day In September that caught the eye of audiences and the industry.
The 1972 Olympic Games, held in Munich, Germany were to be the "Olympics of Peace and Joy," forever erasing the memory of the Nazi-controlled Berlin games of 1936. But a combination of inadequate security and profound unpreparedness instead led to 21 hours of terror.
As the world looked on in disbelief, an extreme separatist group of Palestinians calling themselves "Black September" entered the sleeping quarters of the athletes from Israel, killing some of the team members and holding the rest hostage.
The film contained a lengthy interview with Jamal Al-Gashey, the last known survivor of the of the Munich terrorists. However he only agreed to appear in the film if his face was blurred and if the interview took place of Al Gashey's choosing.
Despite some criticisms the movie went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 2000 Academy Awards and MacDonald had arrived as a filmmaker.
After A Brief History of Errol Morris and Being Mick, a fly on the wall documentary abut Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger 2003's Touching The Void was another piece of work that brought him success.
The documentary was based on the book that told the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who set out to climb the west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
The west face was treacherous and had never been climbed before. After a successful three day ascent disaster struck as Simpson fell and broke several bones in his leg. In an attempt to descend together Yates lowered him 300 feet at a time.
But when he lowered him over a crevasse Yates, unable to hold on, had no choice but to cut the rope.
Touching the Void took the pair back to the Siula Grande for the first time to retell their incredible story.
However when the film was released Yates came under fire from some mountaineers and climbers for cutting the rope, but he has always been defended by Simpson who believes that Yates' actions saved his life.
MacDonald moved away from documentaries in 2006 when he took on the adaptation of Giles Foden's novel The Last King of Scotland, which was a fictional story of Dr Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) who travelled to Uganda and becomes the personal doctor to dictator Idi Amin, played by Forest Whitaker.
Whitaker put in a powerhouse of a performance as the dictator and collected the Best Actor Oscar for the role. And the film picked up the Bafta for the Best British Film.
MacDonald is back behind the camera this week with the release of State of Play, the big screen adaptation of the hit BBC television show.
Ben Affleck plays the handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins is the future of his political party: an honourable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defence spending.
All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.
Affleck is joined by Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams who are hot on the heels of the story.
State of Play is released today
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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