Margaret Rose "Midge" MacKenzie, (6 March 1938 – 28 January 2004) was a London-born writer and filmmaker who first become known for producing

Robert Joffrey Robert Joffrey (December 24, 1930 – March 25, 1988) was an American dancer, teacher, producer, choreographer, and co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets. He was born Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan in Se ...

's multimedia ballet ''

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

'' with the

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual ...

, and ''Women Talking'', a documentary with interviews of

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended the University of Oxford and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-clas ...

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan (; February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book '' The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the s ...

and other leading figures in the US women's liberation movement. Family Group with Midge Mackenzie

Biography

After reading the work of psychoanalyst Alice Miller, MacKenzie started exploring the meaning of her childhood and from this came ''Prisoners of Childhood'' (1991) in which actors brought out themes of pain and damage from early years. She made the wonderful ''I Stand Here Ironing'' (1980) based on the

Tillie Olsen Tillie Lerner Olsen (January 14, 1912 – January 1, 2007) was an American writer who was associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminism, feminists. Biography Olsen was born to Russian Jewi ...

stories, and later a trilogy of films looking at remote communities in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. ''Saving Faces'' documented the patients whose faces had been reconstructed by surgeon Ian Hutchison, who is the chief executive of the charity Saving Faces. Hutchison recalls, "She followed us around absolutely silently and made a film that said so much." After many years refusing her request to interview him about his World War Two documentaries, Hollywood film director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

finally agreed to MacKenzie interviewing him at his home in Mexico, which became ''John Huston War Stories'', released in 1999, more than a decade after his death. MacKenzie organised and script edited ''

Shoulder to Shoulder ''Shoulder to Shoulder'' is a 1974 BBC television serial relating the history of the women's suffrage movement, created by script editor Midge Mackenzie, producer Verity Lambert and actor Georgia Brown. It was broadcast on BBC2 between 3 Apri ...

'' (1974), a 6-part drama series for the BBC recounting the struggle of the

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

s."Midge Mackenzie"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 11 February 2004 MacKenzie had a severely disabled son, Bunny, (real name Luke) by

Frank Cvitanovich Frank Cvitanovich (14 August 1927 – 12 August 1995) was a Canadian documentary film maker, who made much of his best work for British television. Early years Cvitanovich was born in Vancouver, the son of a Croatian Canadian, Croat immigrant. ...

, born in 1967 who died, aged 11, in 1978. With Cvitanovich, she made a documentary about him called ''Bunny''. She died on 28 January 2004 and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

References

1938 births 2004 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery British television directors 20th-century British screenwriters {{UK-screenwriter-stub