Antonia Bird

This British-born director had already amassed an impressive resume of stage and TV credits, when her first feature film brought her both a fame and notoriety neither she nor the studio had expected. The daughter of a failed actor, Bird ran away at 16 and got her start acting (and being Jill-of-all-trades) for a repertory company. She eventually distinguished herself, spending eight years directing productions on the 'legitimate' English stage, notably at London's Royal Court Theater, before shifting to helming TV shows for the BBC (including much of the first season of the popular series "EastEnders"). Bird gained some measure of international acclaim with "Safe" (1993), a hard-hitting telefilm about homeless teens on the streets of London. Winner of the 1993 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Single Drama, the film was also a hit on the festival circuit; Bird garnered a Best New Director Award from the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Among her other TV dramas was the detective mystery "Absolute Conviction", shown on PBS in 1995. Bird courted controversy with her provocative feature debut "Priest" (1994). Scripted by acclaimed British TV writer Jimmy McGovern...

This British-born director had already amassed an impressive resume of stage and TV credits, when her first feature film brought her both a fame and notoriety neither she nor the studio had expected.

The daughter of a failed actor, Bird ran away at 16 and got her start acting (and being Jill-of-all-trades) for a repertory company. She eventually distinguished herself, spending eight years directing productions on the 'legitimate' English stage, notably at London's Royal Court Theater, before shifting to helming TV shows for the BBC (including much of the first season of the popular series "EastEnders"). Bird gained some measure of international acclaim with "Safe" (1993), a hard-hitting telefilm about homeless teens on the streets of London. Winner of the 1993 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Single Drama, the film was also a hit on the festival circuit; Bird garnered a Best New Director Award from the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Among her other TV dramas was the detective mystery "Absolute Conviction", shown on PBS in 1995.

Bird courted controversy with her provocative feature debut "Priest" (1994). Scripted by acclaimed British TV writer Jimmy McGovern ("Brookside", "Cracker"), the film told the story of a young, covertly gay priest whose on-going crisis of faith and conscience deepens when he learns in confession that a teen parishoner is being regularly molested by her father. Vocally attacked by the Religious Right as anti-Catholic, "Priest" was defended by its director as an expose of intolerance and hypocrisy within the church and society at large. Bird followed up with her first Hollywood project "Mad Love" (1995), starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell as troubled young lovers on the road.

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CAST: (feature film)