Rendez-vous with Stephen Frears

Born in Leceister (United Kingdom), Stephen Frears studies law at Cambridge, before becoming assistant to the director of the Royal Court theatre in Chealsea. He quickly finds his place in cinema within the British New Wave. He directs his first short film, The Burning, in 1967. In 1970, the meeting with scriptwriter Neville Smith results in him making Gumshoe, his first feature and disillusioned thriller, a film that launches his career. Stephen Frears then dedicated himself to television (twenty-odd films in twelve years), but in 1984 the success of his film The Hit heralds his long term return to cinema.

Between 1985 and 1987, he signs three great satires of British society : My Beatiful Laundrette, Prick up Your Ears (Best Artistic Countribution Prize at Cannes in 1987) and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. The trilogy having firmly established his international reputation, Frears adapts Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos in 1988 in the United States, where he also makes The Grifters and Hero. He then returns closer to gome, directing two episodes of Irish author Roddy Doyle's social trilogy: The Snapper and The Van, both of which where selected for Cannes, in 1993 and 1996 respectively. In 2000, he directs High Fidelity adapted from the novel by Nick Hornby in a social humoristic vein, and in 2002 the modern social drama: Dirty Pretty Things.