ELIZABETH KARLSEN & STEPHEN WOOLLEY O U TSTA N D I N G B R I T I S H CO N T R I B U T I O N TO CI N E M A Words by Neil Smith
• Portrait by BAFTA/Charlie Clift
Images courtesy of BFI; the recipients; Number 9 Films; Robert Viglasky (Colette); Tom Hilton (The Crying Game); Wilson Webb (Carol); Nicola Dove (The Limehouse Golem); BAFTA/Doug McKenzie (Film Awards, 1993)
W
ith one win and nine nominations between them, Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen are certainly no strangers to BAFTA voters. Yet that’s only a part of the story, the films they have produced either separately or together having notched up more than 50 BAFTA nominations over the course of four prolific decades. From The Company of Wolves (1984), Mona Lisa (1986) and Scandal (1989) to Little Voice (1998), Made in Dagenham (2010) and Carol (2015), the producing partners have shown a staunch commitment to independent cinema that has been celebrated by audiences, critics and Awards bodies alike. Despite this, however, the news they had been chosen by BAFTA to receive its Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award came as a shock. “Stephen came into the office, tossed a letter down and said, ‘Look at this – your mum will be pleased!’” Karlsen smiles. “I read it and it was impossible to comprehend. I read it, read it again and thought, ‘Wait, is this a joke?’ It was amazing to receive it; such a validation of our work.” “We were thrilled, honoured and pleased for everybody who’s been associated with our films and us,” says Woolley, who considers Michael Balcon, the British producer in whose honour this special award is annually presented, one of his own personal heroes. “Filmmakers like Balcon came to the forefront during World War II because they had to mix movies about reality with movies that entertained,” he continues. “Our career has similarly been about making films without money under a kind of duress, and yet through that process we’ve been able to make some good movies.”
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