Mike Figgis

Me? Well, I'm just about hitting my stride now and it's really difficult to cram it all in, this living experience. I love what I do and feel pretty lucky to be able to express myself in as many ways as possible. Music is very important to me and I play something every day, depending on where I am and what my schedule is. I play trumpet guitar and piano mainly but also dabble on bass and drums. I'd say music has always been my main thing, the centre of my being. I have three very interesting children, adults now, a delightful ex-wife who I get along with very well. I'm in a relationship but that's private. I was raised in East AFRICA, father Irish, mother Northern english, went to school in Newcastle where I played in my first bands (Brian Ferry) have lived in London for most of my life now with long stints in LA.PROJECTS - well...I'm doing a lot of photography, it's always been something I've loved. I've had a few exhibitions and just had published a book of Kate Moss images called MISS X. I'm doing an installation with photographer Masimo Vitali in Rome in July, commissioned by Agnes B'. I'm directing something for the Manchester music festival - THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET - based on the novel by Salman rushdie. I just directed a tv pilot for Fox called CANTERBURY'S LAW which has been picked up and will go in the autumn sometime. I just made a film - improvised with 2 actors and structured around the Gumball Rally, this is in post and should appear sometime in the end of 2007. I am writing a new script for a feature set in London which I hope to shoot low budget (on super 16mm) later this year. It's an erotic thriller. I just had a book published called DIGITAL FILMMAKING (Fabers) which is a kind of handbook for young filmmakers. I'm working on a performance piece for 4 musicians and 4 dancers - this is NY based and is a new experiment for me where I will arrive at a formal score and a choreography through a process of improvisation with video cameras and computer editing. I did a smaller version of this for the London film Festival with 2 pianos (Yukawa Chan duo) and a dancer. this will be ready sometime next year. I'm set to do a one week masterclass in Australia in August - the idea is to create a feature length film in one week and then screen it to a paying public on the last night. I already did a version of this in Slovenia 2 years ago and the results are on a DVD called COMA which has just been released.