Erik Knudsen is Professor of
Film Practice at the University of
Salford in
Manchester, UK. He regularly conducts guest workshops at
international film schools, such as the
Escuela Internacional de Cine y
Television in Cuba, where he is also Head of Editing. He
was born in Ghana to a Danish father and Ghanaian mother
in 1956. He grew up, and was primarily educated, in
Denmark, with a few years of schooling in Britain. After
a stint of Law studies at Århus University in Denmark,
he then went on to study film production at York
University in Toronto, Canada, from where he graduated
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Specialist Honours in
Film Production in 1983. He returned to Britain in 1984,
where he has lived and worked since. He gained his PhD
from the University of Salford, 2002.
He has completed two films
during 2006: the documentary, Heart of Gold, and his latest fiction feature
film, Sea of Madness. His previous film,
Brannigan’s March, was released in February 2004.
Previously, the documentary film Bed of Flowers, was completed in February
2001. Signs of Life, a fiction feature film, was
completed in June 1998. Reunion, was completed in 1995 to a
commission by Channel Four Television. Before
that, One Day Tafo, commissioned by the Danish National
Film Board, shot on location in Denmark and Ghana, won
the bronze award at the 1991 Houston International Film
Festival and was subsequently invited to compete in the
1991 San Sebastian Film festival in Spain. This film was
also broadcast by Channel Four Television.
Prior to these films, Erik scripted and directed more than
half a dozen short films, including Stray Dogs Can't Find
Their Way Home and The Chastity of Jenny. He has optioned a
number of screenplays to other producers, such as On A
Starry Night to Strawberry Vale Productions, London, and
Whose Gambit to Brian Eastman at Carnival Films, London.
A former musician, singer and
song writer, he has also directed more than a dozen Fringe
stage productions in London and Toronto, including
Wedekin's Spring Awakening, Wilde's Salome, Camus' Caligula
and Pinter's The Room. Programmes for radio constitute an
important body of work, including extensive work for the
BBC World Service such as the 20 part drama, Against The
Law, 2 x 20 part series on African literature, African
Voices I and II, and the serialisation of his short stories
A Dream Come True, The Birthday and Albert's Betrayal.
Until September 2007, Erik
was the Course Director of the MA
in Documentary Production and the MA in
Fiction Film Production in the School of Media Music and
Performance at the University of
Salford.
Between 1997 and 1999 he was the Course Leader and Head
of Production of the PG Dip/MA Film Production (fiction)
programme at the Northern
School of Film and Television at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Formerly a director of the Lancashire Film and Video
Summer School, he has also run many workshop projects,
such as the Scriptnet 2000 project and the ANIWA film
festival, both in Ghana. He is also an advisor to North
West Arts Board and a former chair of the board of
the Horse and Bamboo Theatre
Company in
Rossendale. He is currently a member of the board of
trustees for the Cornerhouse Cinema, Manchester. Television appearances
have included contributions to the filmmaking programmes
within BBC 2's Arts and Crafts Show.
Email Erik Knudsen
