Damien Lewis (filmmaker)
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Damien Gavin Lewis (born March 1966) is a British author and filmmaker who has spent over twenty years reporting from and writing about conflict zones in many countries. He has produced about twenty films. He has written more than fifteen books, some of which have been published in over thirty languages. His books have appeared on bestseller lists in many countries. He is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and a Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
.


Early life and education

Damien Gavin Lewis was born March 1966 in
Weymouth, Dorset Weymouth ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Dorset (district), Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, Dorset, River Wey, south of the county town of ...
.


Career

Lewis worked as a war correspondent, and between 1991 and 2005 he wrote, directed, produced and filmed a number of documentary films for
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
, the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
, amongst others, largely focusing on investigating and exposing environmental and human rights violations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In 1991 Lewis's independently-funded documentary film ''Parks or People?'', about conflict between rainforest conservationists and indigenous tribes in the Congo, won the Wildscreen Film Festival Golden Panda Award. In 1998 he created a documentary film for the BBC, ''Hidden Cost of Heroin'', exposing how
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
is traded for wildlife on the Burmese border. This film won at the BBC One World Awards. In 2000 Lewis's documentary film ''Death in the Air'', about the use of
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...
in the
Sudanese civil war The term Sudanese Civil War refers to at least three separate conflicts in Sudan in Northeast Africa: *First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) *Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005) *Sudanese civil war (2023–present) It could also refer to other ...
, was a finalist in the British Rory Peck Awards, but its accuracy was disputed by the London-based European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council. In 2004 Lewis wrote his first book, ''Slave'', a novel which won the Index on Censorship Book Award at the
Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...
Awards. The book was later adapted as a film, ''
I Am Slave ''I Am Slave'' is a 2010 television film produced for Channel 4 on the story of one woman's fight for freedom from modern-day slavery. It premiered on Channel 4 on 30 August 2010. The movie is mostly based on the experiences of Mende Nazer, a S ...
'', which won the Drama Award at the BBC One World Media Awards in 2011. ''Slave'' was also adapted into a stage play: ''Slave - A Question of Freedom'', by Kevin Fegan, produced and directed by Caroline Clegg and Feelgood Theatre Productions. It won Best Stage Production at the inaugural Media Awards 2011 in association with the Human Trafficking Foundation, and Best New Play at the
Manchester Evening News Awards The Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards (MENTA) were a theatre awards ceremony that recognised live theatre within Greater Manchester. They were administered by the ''Manchester Evening News'', and presented at an annual ceremony in Manchester ...
. In 2005 Lewis's documentary ''War Hospital'' produced by
CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...
and the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
, about
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...
doctors working in the world's largest field hospital in
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
, won the Best of the Festival Award at the
Columbus International Film & Video Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually ann ...
. Lewis has written other fiction and nonfiction books. In 2006 he was chosen as one of the "Nation's Twenty Favourite Authors" by the UK Government's
Quick Reads Initiative '' Quick Reads'' is a series of short books by bestselling authors and celebrities. With no more than 200 pages, they are designed to encourage adults who do not read often or find reading difficult to discover the joy of books. Quick Reads are a c ...
in association with
World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright ...
. In 2024 it was announced Lewis' 2014 book ''Churchill's Secret Warriors'' had been turned into a movie,
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ''The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'' is a 2024 action comedy war film directed, co-written and produced by Guy Ritchie, and starring Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding and Alex Pettyfer. Based on the 2014 book ' ...
, by
Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in e ...
.


Personal life

In February 2018 Lewis became a patron for the Scottish charity Bravehound which provides assistance dogs for veterans. Lewis's father lives in France and showed him Chateau des Milandes, which he writes, inspired Lewis to write a book about
Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...
.


Books


Military

*''Operation Certain Death: The Inside Story of the SAS's Greatest Battle'' (Century, 2004) - The account of Operation Barras, the attempt by the SAS to rescue the British Forces captured by guerrilla militia group the West Side Boys in
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
. *''Bloody Heroes: Ultimate Betrayal – Ultimate Firepower - Ultimate Revenge: The True Story of Britain's Secret Warriors in Afghanistan'' (Century 2006) - The account of British and American special forces unit deployed against
Al Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
in Afghanistan. *''Apache Dawn: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'' (Sphere, 2008) A chronicle of the Apache pilots deployed in the
Afghanistan war War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...
. *''Fire strike 7/9'' (Ebury, 2010) An account of an Apache helicopter Fire Support Team's tour of Afghanistan. *''It's all about Treo: Life and War with the World's Bravest Dog'' ( Quercus Publishing, 2012) - The true story of Treo - the world's most highly decorated living dog – whose job it was to sniff out bombs in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. *''Zero Six Bravo: 60 Special Forces, 100,000 Enemy, The Explosive True Story'' (Quercus, 2013) - Tells the story of a
Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roy ...
unit caught in a ferocious enemy ambush in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, who managed to inflict massive damage on their enemies despite being outnumbered and outgunned. *''War Dog: The No-man's Land Puppy Who Took to the Skies'' (Sphere, 2013, ) - The true story of a
German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...
puppy Antis, rescued from World War Two no man's land in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
by Czech fighter pilot Robert Bozdech, and their lives together. *''Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII'' (Quercus, 2014) - The story of
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
's first 'deniable' secret operative force to operate behind enemy lines in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. This book was adapted into the 2024 action-comedy film ''
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ''The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'' is a 2024 action comedy war film directed, co-written and produced by Guy Ritchie, and starring Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding and Alex Pettyfer. Based on the 2014 book ' ...
''. *'' Judy: A Dog in a Million: The Heartwarming Story of WWII's Only Animal Prisoner of War'' (Quercus, 2014) - An account of the only dog to be declared an official
Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
in
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
in World War Two. *
The Nazi Hunters
' (Quercus, 2015) - About the SAS's secret mission after WWII to hunt the SS commanders responsible for the murder of their comrades. *''Hunting Hitler's Nukes: The Secret Race to Stop the Nazi Bomb'' (2016), , details the
Norwegian heavy water sabotage The Norwegian heavy water sabotage (; ) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water (deuterium) production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involving both Norwegian commandos and Al ...
by Norwegian & British Commandos of the Vemork Hydroelectric Plant during WW2. *
SAS Ghost Patrol
' (Quercus, 2017) ; LRDG/ SAS raids on
Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclopà ...
and Barce in 1942.


Biographies and memoirs

*''Slave'' (
PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is a book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. The current Publisher is Clive Priddl ...
, 2004) The life story of Mende Nazer who was stolen from her village in the Nuba mountains and sold into life as a domestic slave in
Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...
and then
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. *'' Tears of the Desert: Surviving The Genocide - One Woman's True Story'' (Hodder & Stoughton 2008) The biography of Sudanese doctor Halima Bashir who suffered greatly as a result of speaking out about the torture of her people by the
Janjaweed The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United ...
Arab militias."One Woman's True Story of Surviving the Horrors of Darfur"
''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
''. Review by Lesley McDowell, 9 August 2008 *''Little Daughter: A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West'' (Simon & Schuster, 2009) The life story of Zoya Phan, a Karen refugee from war-torn
Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
who went on to become the face of Burma's enslaved people. *''Homeland: An Extraordinary Story of Hope and Survival'' (Simon & Schuster, 2010) Tells the story of U.S. President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's Kenyan half-brother George Obama who gave up a life of crime to help improve the lives of children in the
Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
slums. *''Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse: The True Story of One Woman Who Risked Everything to Bring Hope to Afghanistan'' (Virago, 2011) Is the story of how Suraya Sadeed set up an underground school for girls in
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
, offering hope and aid to thousands of fellow Afghans. *''Against a Tide of Evil: How One Man Became the Whistleblower to the First Mass Murder of the Twenty-First Century'' (Mainstream Publishing 2013) - The story of Mukesh Kapila, the former head of the United Nations in Sudan, who brought about justice for those responsible for the
Darfur genocide The Darfur genocide was the systematic killing of ethnic Darfuri people during the War in Darfur. The genocide, which was carried out against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict sev ...
. *


Thrillers

*''Desert Claw'' (Arrow, 2006) The fictional tale of ex-SAS soldier Mat Kilbride who takes on a
black ops A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...
deniable mission to forcibly retrieve a priceless
Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
painting looted from a palace in post war
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. *''Cobra Gold'' (Century 2007) The fictional story of SAS veteran Luke Kilbride's search for 50 million dollars worth of
gold bullion A gold bar, also known as gold bullion or a gold ingot, is a quantity of refining, refined metallic gold that can be shaped in various forms, produced under standardized conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record-keeping. Larger varietie ...
he and his team stole in a
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
bank heist twenty years before.


References


External links


Damien Lewis websiteDamien Lewis at ''Military Speakers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Damien Living people Place of birth missing (living people) British filmmakers 1966 births People from Weymouth, Dorset 20th-century British writers 21st-century British writers