Marc James Francis

Marc James Francis (also known as Marc J. Francis and Marc Francis) is a British film director, producer and documentary cinematographer.[1][2][3][4]

Marc James Francis
Francis in 2020
Born (1975-12-04) 4 December 1975
UK
Other namesMarc J. Francis, Marc Francis
OccupationFilm director, film producer, documentary film cinematographer
Years active2000–present

In 2007, Marc and his brother Nick Francis were chosen by Harper’s Bazaar magazine as two of their top Forty Under 40; Household Names of the Future.[5] In 2007, The Observer newspaper named the brothers as some of Britain’s Rising Stars.[6] They both were regular contributors to the Observer's sister paper The Guardian between 2006 and 2012, notably in its film blog.[7]

Marc is Co-founder and Creative Director of the production company Speakit, founded in 2004 with his brother Nick Francis.[8][9]

Early life

Prior to his film career, Marc was an undergraduate at the University of Leeds where he learned Mandarin.[10] He also studied Chinese cinema and lived in China during the economic boom of the mid-1990s.[6]

During that time, together with his brother Nick Francis, he made a documentary about the anti-nuclear weapons protest movement and their attempts to shut down Britain’s Trident submarine base in Scotland in 2002.[11]

Career

In 2004, Francis and his brother founded British production company Speakit Films. Their first Speakit film was Black Gold which launched at the Sundance film festival in 2006[12] to critical acclaim.[13][14][15][16] His work has been supported by The Sundance Institute, The BRITDOC Foundation, the BFI, Bertha Foundation[17] CNC and EU MEDIA Programme Fund.[9][18][19]

Feature films

Black Gold (2006)

Directed and produced with his brother Nick Francis, Black Gold was the first film to receive funding from BritDoc.[20] The film follows the efforts of an Ethiopian Coffee Union manager as he travels the world to obtain a better price for his workers' coffee beans.[21] The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.[22] It was nominated to[23][24] and won several awards, amongst which Best Achievement in Production - British Independent Film Awards 2007[4] and Contemporary Issues - San Francisco Black Film Festival (2006).[2]

Black Gold went on to be seen in over 60 international film festivals including London, Rome, Berlin, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro and has secured major broadcast deals around the world including Channel 4 (UK), PBS/Independent Lens (US), Documentary Channel (Canada), NHK (Japan), and Al-jazeera (Middle East).[25]

The film has attracted wide coverage in the media including features on CNN,[13] The Guardian,[26] BBC World, BBC News 24,[27] Sky News,[28] Bloomberg, The Observer,[29] The Times,[30] The Daily Telegraph,[31] New York Times,[32] LA Times,[33] The Washington Post[34] and The Sunday Times.[35]

Since the first showing of Black Gold during Sundance, Starbucks sent people to screenings of the film in what has been called by one journalist "going on a charm offensive".[12][26] As the film became more and more popular, Starbucks flew Tadesse and four other African coffee producers to their Seattle headquarters for a weekend conference, which was seen by many as a PR stunt.[36] Further, just before the film premiered at the London Film Festival in October 2006, a memo received by Starbucks staff from the headquarters leaked to the Black Gold forum. The internal memo was sent out to inform all Starbucks employees that Black Gold was "incomplete and inaccurate".[37]

When China Met Africa (2010)

Directed and produced with his brother Nick Francis. Set on the front line of Chinaʼs foray into Africa, the film follows the lives of a Chinese farmer, a road builder, and the Zambian trade minister.[38]

Walk with Me (2017)

In 2011, Marc was invited by filmmaker and friend Max Pugh to help him make a film[39] about Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.[40][41] He spent several months over 5 years living in Plum Village  - Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in France, where he learned the art of meditation and mindfulness. This experience changed his life and by 2017, they had completed their film Walk with Me and it was released worldwide.[39]

Directed and produced with Max Pugh, the Benedict Cumberbatch narrated film premiered in 2017 and screened at international film festivals like SXSW,[42] BFI London Film Festival 2017,[43] Illuminate Film Festival[44] and Foyle Film Festival.[45]

Short films

A Letter from Calais (2016)

Directed and produced by Marc and Nick Francis released in October 2016 for Benedict Cumberbatch's company, Sunny March.[46][47] Featuring Jude Law,[48] the film aims to draw attention to the hundreds of unaccompanied children living in the Calais refugee camp.

Madam President (2012)

Directed and produced by Marc and Nick Francis released on The Guardian website in December 2012 and supported by The Guardian and the Worldview Broadcast Media Scheme.[49] The film is an exclusive portrait of Malawi’s first female President Joyce Banda, as she tries to steer her country out of an economic crisis.

TV Documentaries

Nuke UK (2001)

Channel 4 / Ideal World Productions TV documentary directed by Marc and Nick Francis.[46]

St Dunstans (2003)

TV documentary of 6 x 30 minutes episodes directed by Marc J. Francis and released on ITV.[46]

References
  1. "Directors Marc and Nick Francis win first Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award For When China Met Africa at the American Museum of Natural History" (PDF). American Museum of Natural History. November 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  2. "The San Francisco Black Film Festival Announces Winners". www.studentfilmmakers.com. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  3. Adams, Tim; Conner, Megan; Elan, Priya; John, Emma; Shaitly, Shahesta (2012-06-02). "The 2012 winners of the Observer Ethical Awards in association with Ecover". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  4. "British Independent Film Awards (2007)". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  5. "Forty Under 40; Household Names of the Future" (PDF). Harper’s Bazaar. September 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  6. "Rising stars". The Observer. July 10, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  7. "Marc Francis Profile". The Guardian Newspaper. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  8. "Speakit Films | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  9. "About Speakit". Speakit Films. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  10. "50th Anniversary of East Asian Studies". leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  11. "Nuke UK (2002)". BFI. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  12. "IndieLondon: Black Gold - Marc and Nick Francis interview - Your London Reviews". www.indielondon.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  13. "Black Gold film shakes up coffee industry". Youtube. CNN. 15 September 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  14. French, Philip (2007-06-09). "Black Gold". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  15. Hoyle, Ben. "A wake up call to world's coffee giants". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  16. Hornaday, Ann (8 December 2006). "Brewing 'Black Gold'". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 Sept 2020
  17. "Bertha Directory of completed films A - Z". Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  18. "Impact of Art" (PDF). britdoc.org. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  19. "Key Crew". Speakit Films. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  20. Evans, Chris (2007-06-08). "Black Gold: storm in a coffee cup". Screen. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  21. "Close-Up Film Filmmaking". 2008-05-22. Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  22. "Close-Up Film Filmmaking". web.archive.org. 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  23. "Nominees Announced in Four Categories for 22nd Annual International Documentary Association Awards". Studio Daily. 2006-10-24. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  24. "Why Ahlaam (Dreams) deserved to win". The Guardian. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  25. "Impact". Black Gold Movie. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  26. Seager, Ashley (2007-01-29). "Starbucks stirred by fair trade film". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  27. "BBC News - Live interview with Black Gold Directors Marc and Nick Francis and Kraft". Youtube (Video). BBC News. 1 October 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  28. "Sky News - Marc & Nick Francis talk about Black Gold, trade & coffee". Youtube. Sky News. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  29. French, Philip (2007-06-09). "Black Gold". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  30. Hoyle, Ben. "A wake up call to world's coffee giants". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  31. "Britain shines at Sundance". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  32. Scott, A. O. (2006-01-27). "Art in Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  33. Chocano, Carina (2007-01-12). "Poverty in that morning cup". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  34. Hornaday, Ann (8 December 2006). "Brewing 'Black Gold'". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  35. Dawson, Jeff. "Wake up and smell the coffee". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  36. "Ethiopian coffee farmer Tadesse Meskela Gudeta tastes... 904004 - seattlepi.com". www.seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  37. Forrest, Adam (27 May 2007). "Grounds for complaint? Why a film about coffee". The Sunday Herald. pp. 16–17.
  38. Pulver, Andrew (2011-10-06). "When China Met Africa – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  39. "Marc J. Francis: "Bringing in my documentary experience into the fiction film world, that's what I would like to do"". FILM TALK. 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  40. "Benedict Cumberbatch boards Buddhism doc". Screen International. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  41. "The Making of "Walk With Me"". thichnhathanhfoundation.org. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  42. Barraclough, Leo (2017-03-09). "Alejandro G. Inarritu on Mindfulness Documentary 'Walk With Me' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  43. "BFI - London Film Festival 2017". UKFilmNews.com. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  44. "Walk With Me | ILLUMINATE Film Festival | Sedona, Arizona". illuminatefilmfestival.com. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  45. "Walk With Me (NI Premiere)". Foyle Film Festival. 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  46. "Nick Francis and Marc J Francis". United Agents. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  47. "Benedict Cumberbatch joins wife Sophie Hunter for Letters Live". Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  48. "A Letter from Calais - Short Film". Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  49. "Madam President: meeting Malawi's Joyce Banda – video". Retrieved July 14, 2017.
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