Christine Edzard

Christine Edzard was born in Paris in 1945 of German-born father, painter Dietz Edzard and Gdansk-born mother, painter Susanne Eisendieck. After studying for a degree in Economics, she began a career in the theatre as an assistant to Lila de Nobili and Rostislav Doboujinsky. Whilst in Rome, working on Franco Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet", she met Richard Goodwin, the producer, to whom she is married. In 1971, having designed several productions for various European Opera and Theatre companies, Christine Edzard wrote the script of "Tales of Beatrix Potter" and designed, with Doboujinsky, both the sets and costumes. This marked the birth of Sands Films. In 1975, Christine Edzard and Richard Goodwin moved into two disused warehouses in Rotherhithe, South London, where they equipped a small film studio and made three short films which Christine Edzard wrote and directed: "The Little Match Girl", "The Kitchen" and "Little Ida". These films were based on stories by Hans Christian Andersen and were released by EMI in 1979 under the title: "Stories From a Flying Trunk". Christine Edzard's subsequent films include the animated film "The Nightingale" (1981) and her first feature, entitled "Biddy" (1982), describing the life of a nanny between 1860 and the turn of the century; she wrote and directed both films. In 1983 Christine Edzard Began work, with Olivier Stockman, on her six-hour film adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit", which was released to enormous acclaim in 1987. The film received many awards, including: Oscar Nomination for Screenplay adaptation, 1988; BAFTA as Best Screenplay; the Los Angeles Critics Award for best film; and for the cast: Derek Jacobi received the Evening Standard Award for best actor; Miriam Margolyes received the Globe Award and Sir Alec Guinness received the Berlin Film Festival Award and had both Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Soon after Christine Edzard began work on "The Fool" which she directed after having written an original screenplay based on the work of Henry Mayhew. Like her previous work this remarkable piece stands out by the quality of its cast and the meticulous details of its production designs. In 1991 Christine Edzard directed a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in contemporary setting. Again the cast include a myriad of British acting talents; James Fox, Cyril Cusack, Griff Rhys Jones and Miriam Margolyes to name but a few. In 1992 Sands re-created the sets and costumes of "Tales of Beatrix Potter", this time, however, for the live revival of the film at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With the making of these films, the studio grew bigger and immediately after "the Fool" Sands began to provide studio space and facilities to outside productions. In particular, Sands Films has built up a formidable reputation for the making of 19C. period costumes. The company has made and supplied costumes to many of the most prestigious period dramas made for cinema as well as TV: recent projects include "Amistad", "Oscar and Lucinda", "The Woman in White", "Great Expectations" (Bafta for best costumes), "Gormenghast", "Topsy-Turvy" (Oscar for best costumes). In 1996 Christine Edzard completed the location filming of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera: "Amahl and the Night Visitors" for which she also designed the sets and costumes. 1997 saw Christine Edzard write, design and direct "The Nutcracker" a dramatised, non-ballet version of the Hoffmann tale, in IMAX 3D... The first entirely European production of an Imax 3D feature.