Christine Edzard (born 15 February 1945)Christine Edzard
IMDb. Retrieved 29 March 2017. is a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

, and costume designer, nominated for BAFTA and Oscar awards for her screenwriting. She has been based in London for most of her career.

Early life

Edzard was born and raised in Paris by her German-born father, Dietz Edzard, and Polish mother, Suzanne Eisendieck, both painters. After a degree in economics she trained as a set and costume designer with

Lila De Nobili Lila De Nobili (September 3, 1916 – February 19, 2002) was an Italian stage designer, costume designer, and fashion illustrator. She was noted for her collaborations with leading stage and opera directors such as Luchino Visconti and Fr ...

and Rotislav Duboujinsky. She assisted Di Nobili on Franco Zeffirelli's productions of ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'' and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' at La Scala in 1963 and 1968.

Career

Edzard co-wrote and designed the film ''

Tales of Beatrix Potter ''The Tales of Beatrix Potter'' (US title: ''Peter Rabbit and Tales of Beatrix Potter'') is a 1971 ballet film based on the children's stories of English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. The film was directed by Reginald Mills, choreograph ...

'' (1971), for which she was nominated for two BAFTA awards for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. With her husband, the film producer

Richard B. Goodwin Richard B. Goodwin (born 13 September 1934) is a British film producer. As a producer, he received an Academy Award nomination for '' A Passage to India'' oscars.org Accessed 2016-2-18 (1984). His other films include ''The Tales of Beatrix Potte ...

, she founded the

Sands Films Sands Films is a small British film production company, founded by producer Richard Goodwin and director Christine Edzard in the early 1970s, and based in Rotherhithe, London. The company is known for its production of costumes for period dramas ...

studio and production company in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of ...

, London in 1975. The studios include the Rotherhithe Picture Research Library, a free resource for the general public, and the building was awarded a Blue Plaque in 2009, unveiled in January that year by

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ''King ...

. Over the years Sands Films has made and supplied period costumes for international film and TV productions. Edzard is best known for her film adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's novel, '' Little Dorrit'' (1988), a British film for which she was nominated for an Oscar, a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

, and a Los Angeles Film Critics Award.

Partial director and writer filmography

* ''The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream'' (2001) (direction, design) * ''The IMAX Nutcracker Prince'' (1997) (screenplay, design, direction) *''Amahl and the Night Visitors'' - filmed opera by Gian Carlo Menotti (direction, set and costume design) * ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has ...

'' (1992) (direction, design) * '' The Fool'' (1990) (screenplay adapted from Henry Mayhew, design, direction) * ''

Biddy Biddy or Biddie is a given name which may refer to: People * Biddy Anderson (1874–1926), South African cricketer * Biddy Baxter (born 1933), English television producer * Biddy Dolan (1881–1950), American Major League Baseball player * Bidd ...

'' (1983) (Screenplay, direction) * '' Little Dorrit'' (1987) (screenplay, direction, design) * ''The Nightingale'' (1981) (screenplay, direction) *''Stories from a Flying Trunk'' (1979) (three short films, ''Little Ida'' (1975), ''The Kitchen'' (1975) and ''The Little Match Girl'' (1975)) * ''

'' (1972)

Making and supplying of period costumes

*'' Wolf Hall'' *'' The Young Victoria'' *'' Mr Turner'' *'' Amistad'' *'' Oscar and Lucinda'' *'' Les Miserables'' *'' A Little Chaos'' *'' The Woman in White'' *'' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' *''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

'' (BAFTA award for Best Costumes) *'' Gormenghast'' *'' Topsy-Turvy'' (Academy Award for Best Costumes)

References

External links

*
Sands Films official websiteGuardian articleFinancial Times articleGreenwich Society history of Sands FilmsThe Costume Society
* ttps://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/productions/you-it-1992-grices-wharf-sands-films Warwick University Shakespeare Projectbr>Rotislav Doboujinsky in the V&A CollectionsLila De Nobili in the V&A Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edzard, Christine 1945 births Living people British women film directors British women screenwriters Film people from Paris British costume designers British film producers British film directors