Long before Michael Moore, there was...Nick Broomfield. One of the first graduates of the National Film (and Television)
School in England in the 1970s, Broomfield quickly established himself as a leading documentary filmmaker concerned with social
issues in films such as "Behind the Rent Strike" and especially "Juvenile Liaison" which investigated
the child welfare and supervision system in England at the time.
Broomfield's work and
career trajectory has encompassed not only progressive social concerns, but also right wing politics with films on Margaret
Thatcher and apartheid in South Africa, and the craziness of show business in "Drive me Crazy" (a portrait of a
dance school in New York that became as much about the making of the film as the budget collapsed), and the infamous "Hollywood
Madam," a film about Heidi Fleiss and her services to Hollywood's rich and famous.
Although
Broomfield is well known for his documentary work, he is also a feature filmmaker. CINEPOD interviews Broomfield on his unusual
second feature film GHOSTS which was based on the real life story of a group of illegal Chinese immigrants who were drowned
while collecting cockles in Morecombe Bay near Liverpool in England. It is a tale of modern slavery, frustrated dreams, and
tender love.
