Penny Woolcock
Encyclopedia
Penny Woolcock is a British filmmaker, opera director, and screenwriter. She was raised in a British community in Montevideo
, speaking English and going to English schools. Her father, an accountant, had wanted to be a writer.
In 1967, she founded a radical theatre group and was briefly arrested; her parents wanted to send her to Europe for safety. Instead, she fled to Spain with a man from the theater group and had a baby in Barcelona.
In 1970 she moved to England as a single mother. She worked in factories and other jobs. In her thirties she enrolled in a filmmakers' workshop, borrowed film-making equipment, and sold the resulting feature to BBC Channel 4. She then was hired as a director and editor of a current-affairs program originating in Newcastle. From there, she went on to feature-making.
Her first feature as a writer and director was "Women in Tropical Places" in 1989. Since then she has directed/ written seven films.
Her Breakthrough film was Tina Goes Shopping, which was a collaborative piece with the real residents of the Gipton
estates in Leeds
, which was part of what is now known as the Tina Trilogy. Current projects include 1 Day
, a film scheduled for 2009 release, and a production of the John Adams opera Doctor Atomic
, which she is directing for the Metropolitan Opera
's 2008-2009 season. She previously filmed Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer
as a feature film. Penny Woolcock most recent film is 1 Day
.
Directed and adapted Macbeth on the estate 1997.
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, speaking English and going to English schools. Her father, an accountant, had wanted to be a writer.
In 1967, she founded a radical theatre group and was briefly arrested; her parents wanted to send her to Europe for safety. Instead, she fled to Spain with a man from the theater group and had a baby in Barcelona.
In 1970 she moved to England as a single mother. She worked in factories and other jobs. In her thirties she enrolled in a filmmakers' workshop, borrowed film-making equipment, and sold the resulting feature to BBC Channel 4. She then was hired as a director and editor of a current-affairs program originating in Newcastle. From there, she went on to feature-making.
Her first feature as a writer and director was "Women in Tropical Places" in 1989. Since then she has directed/ written seven films.
Her Breakthrough film was Tina Goes Shopping, which was a collaborative piece with the real residents of the Gipton
Gipton
Gipton is a suburb of East Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between the A58 to the north and the A64 to the south. It is joined with Harehills as a City Council Ward...
estates in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, which was part of what is now known as the Tina Trilogy. Current projects include 1 Day
1 Day
1 Day is a 2009 British film about gun life in inner city Birmingham. The story follows Flash as he attempts to get £100,000 to his boss Angel in less than 24 hours or face certain death.-Plot:...
, a film scheduled for 2009 release, and a production of the John Adams opera Doctor Atomic
Doctor Atomic
Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars. It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on 1 October 2005. The work focuses on the great stress and anxiety experienced by those at Los Alamos while the test of the first atomic bomb was...
, which she is directing for the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
's 2008-2009 season. She previously filmed Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer
The Death of Klinghoffer
The Death of Klinghoffer is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the hijacking of the passenger liner Achille Lauro by the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985, and the...
as a feature film. Penny Woolcock most recent film is 1 Day
1 Day
1 Day is a 2009 British film about gun life in inner city Birmingham. The story follows Flash as he attempts to get £100,000 to his boss Angel in less than 24 hours or face certain death.-Plot:...
.
Directed and adapted Macbeth on the estate 1997.