Professor Gideon Koppel

Professor of Film
B.A. (London College of Printing) PGDip (Slade School of Fine Art)
Associate Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford

Contact

Email: gbk@aber.ac.uk
Office: B29 Hugh Owen Building
Phone: 01970 628491
Fax: 01970 622831
Personal Web Site:http://unitedagents.co.uk/gideon-koppel

Responsibilities

Professor of Film

Research

The blurred area between documentary film and fine art; materiality and process; landscape and place.

Biography

Koppel’s work as an artist and film maker has been broadcast internationally and exhibited in galleries from The Tate Modern London, to MoMA New York. Koppel is also an award-winning director of film commercials and has made films for several of the world’s leading fashion designers such as Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons.

His most recent film ‘sleep furiously’ was nominated for a Golden Leopard at 2008 The Locarno International Film Festival and then became one of the most critically acclaimed new British films of the year, winning The 2009 Guardian First Feature Film Award.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/4958

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/09/sleep-furiously-film-mark-ford

‘The Observer’ [23 August 2009] described Gideon Koppel as being at the vanguard of a new generation of British filmmakers poised to take over from the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

Andrew O'Hagan wrote in ‘The Evening Standard’ [29 May 2009] sleep furiously may be the most beautifully elemental documentary film to have emerged in Britain in over a decade... . In one stroke, Koppel reveals himself to be among the best listeners and watchers in the country, which is good news for everybody.

Teaching

Documentary film and experimental media

FM30220 Key Film and Media Practices

FM33540 Advanced Experimental Media Production

FM10340 Media Production Project

FM33740 Advanced Documentary Film And Television Production

PhD Supervision

Publications

Ooh la la and the art of dressing up

57 minutes; 16mm & 8mm film

BBC Wales & Chrysalis Television 2004

a sketchbook for The Library Van

115 minutes & 59 minutes / HD Video & super8mm film

UK Film Council & @radicalmedia 2005

Documentary - the evocation of a world

Volume 8, Issue 3 of Journal of Media Practice; Intellect 2007

sleep furiously

90 minutes /16mm & 35mm film

Film Agency for Wales New Wave Films 2008

Reprocessing Reality

20 minutes; DVCAM

Visions du Réel Documentary Film Festival 2010

Sound sleep furiously

Volume 1, Page 1-11 of The New Soundtrack, Edinburgh University Press, March 2011

A portrait of Eden

20 minutes; HD

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation & Project Art Works

DVD: This Our Still Life, Andrew Kötting, BFI 2012

Koppel is currently working on a feature-length film for BFI/Film Agency for Wales; a feature-length documentary with producers Margaret Matheson and Serge Lalou and in pre-production on a two-screen film installation for Arts Council of Wales.

Additional Interests

External Examiner - The London Film School, 2011 -

External Examiner - Swansea Metropolitan University, Faculty of Art & Design, 2003 - 2007

Documentary Jury - Morelia International Film Festival, Mexico, 2010

Regards Neufs Jury - Visions du Réel - International Documentary Film Festival, Nyon, Switzerland, 2010

International Jury - Era New Horizons International Film Festival, Wroclaw, Poland, 2010

Member of the Advisory Selection Panel - Portland Green Projects

Guest Lectures include:

National Film and Television School, UK

The University of Television and Film, Munich (HFF)

University College for the Creative Arts

l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales HEC, Paris

Royal College of Art

New York University

University of The Arts, Saint Martins College of Art, London

Awards And Prizes

2011 Creative Award, Arts Council of Wales

2010'In Transit' Artist Filmmakers Commission/The Paul Hamlyn Foundation

2010 Wales Arts International

2010 UK Film Council/Film Agency for Wales Development Award

2010 Winner of 2009 The Guardian First Film Award

2009 Nominated for The Evening Standard Film Awards

2009 Shortlisted for the Bank of America CREATE Art Award

2009 The New Cinema Network International – one of 12 producer/director teams selected from among the most interesting talents on the international independent cinema scene

2009 Shortlisted for The Grierson Award

2009 European Documentary Network Bursary

2009 London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange Award

2008 Youth Jury Prize, Locarno International Film Festival; Nomination for The Golden Leopard, Locarno International Film Festival

2008 UK Film Council IFSS Award

2008 Skillset Trailblazer – selected as one of 25 people working in UK film industry who produced the most innovative and outstanding work of the year

2006 AHRC Research Leave Award

Conferences And Events

British Council Documentary Master-class, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 17 – 20 February 2011

Choreography for Blackboards – Installation / Performance with Michael Kliën and Daghdha Dance Company, Hayward Gallery London, 26 & 27 November 2010, supported by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Documentary Fortnight – Screening and discussion MoMA, New York 24 & 25 February 2010

BFI Southbank Passport to Cinema – Introduced Wim Wenders’ Lightning over Water 16 November 2009

Total Doclipse of The Art – The Sheffield Documentary Film Festival 7 November 2009 – a discussion on the cross-over between art and documentary with Gary Thomas, Gideon Koppel, Anthony Wall and Gary Tarn.

The Inside Out Festival - the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange - screening and discussion with Professor Theodore Zeldin and Gideon Koppel exploring the possibilities of video portraiture; The National Portrait Gallery 24 October 2009.

Birkbeck College, University of London screening of sleep furiously and discussion with Professors Philip Crang, Annette Kuhn and chaired by Professor Ian Christie 23 October 2009

New Cinema Network - Rome International Film Festival 15 – 19 October 2009. Presented A Film for Paul Celan with Margaret Matheson.

Visions du Réel – Nyon, Switzerland 25-26 April 2009

Presenting A Film for Paul Celan – one of 10 feature-length documentary film proposals selected worldwide

School of Sound International Symposium  - South Bank Centre, London 15-18 April 2009

Michael Grigsby, Gideon Koppel, Kim Longinotto – ‘a discussion between three of Britain's most eminent documentary filmmakers exploring the use of sound and music within their different styles of filmmaking.’

Making Film – Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts 7 March 2009

Screening of sleep furiously followed by a staged discussion with Booker Prize winning novelist John Banville

MeCCSA Conference – Paper on the making of sleep furiously University of Bradford/National Media Museum 16 January 2009

A New Kind of Portraiture - National Portrait Gallery 9 June 2006Organiser and Chair

Staged discussion with Professors Theodore Zeldin and Andrew Kötting

Truth or Dare - Whitechapel Gallery 24 & 25 February 2006

Stage discussion with Turner Prize nominees Louise and Jane Wilson

Film Festival Participation

Locarno International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

San Francisco Cinematheque Festival

Rome International Film Festival