Anthony Wonke
Anthony Wonke is a film director.
Career
Anthony Wonke is an Emmy and triple BAFTA winning director and an Oscar nominated and Emmy winning Executive Producer. He has also won, amongst other awards, the Prix Italia, Peabody, Grierson and RTS for his films. Anthony is known for his original feature documentaries Ronaldo, , Fire in the Night, The Battle for Marjah as well as his documentary series. Wonke's work ranges across a variety of genres always highlighted by intelligence, visual flair and emotional insight. His work has been shown at film festivals in the US, Canada, the Far East, and the UK, as well as being televised on BBC 1, BBC 2, Channel 4 and HBO.Wonke's latest project The Director and The Jedi is a feature documentary following director Rian Johnson and his experience of directing the latest Star Wars film. It had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2018.
He is currently in post production on a feature documentary about the global ISIS terrorist JIhadi John for HBO due to premiere in summer 2019.
In 2016, Wonke was the executive producer on the Oscar nominated short. The 40’ documentary follows the story of a family's escape from the Syrian Civil War, and their attempt to start a new life in Germany.
In 2015, he released his latest theatrical features Ronaldo with Universal Pictures and Being AP with BBC Films. 'Ronaldo' is an intimate and definitive portrait of Cristiano Ronaldo, voted the world's best football player. It was produced by the makers of Senna and Amy. 'Being AP' is the extraordinary story of A P McCoy, who through obsessive dedication to his sport and heroic disregard of injuries has become the most successful jump jockey of all time, as he starts to contemplate retirement. 'Being AP' received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 2014, Wonke produced 'Children on the Front Line', a disturbing but poignant film for Channel 4 and Arte, about children living in the midst of the fighting in Syria, demonstrating the humanity of those at the heart of the conflict. Wonke and co-director Marcel Mettelsiefen have garnered 16 awards for this film including an Emmy, two BAFTAs, the Prix Italia, Peabody, RTS, Grierson, One World plus many other nominations.
In 2013, 'Fire in the Night’, a theatrical documentary about the Piper Alpha disaster produced by STV for Creative Scotland/BBC, had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and went on to win the festival's prestigious Audience Award. It was also nominated for three Scottish BAFTAs including the Audience Film Award and best Feature Film and went on to win best Single documentary. It was released across UK cinemas before its TV premiere on BBC2 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the disaster.
In 2012, 'The Battle for Marjah', the 90’ feature documentary Wonke made with Ben Anderson about a platoon of marines in Afghanistan with Wall to Wall Media for HBO/Channel 4, was nominated for three Emmy awards and won the History Makers Award for Best Current Affairs. Also in 2012, 'Crack House USA', a 90’ film he directed for MSNBC/More 4 about a drugs gang in Chicago brought down by a federal wire tap, was nominated for the BAFTA Factual Photography Award.
In 2008, he won the BAFTA Factual Series Award for his epic 8 x 50’ BBC 1 documentary series. He directed and series-produced this over three years, charting the extremes of contemporary society by focusing on a tower block within one of the poorest council estates in London which was being sold as luxury flats. The series was also nominated for a Grierson and Broadcast Award, and won the RTS Award for Factual Editing.
Subsequently, Wonke series produced and directed 'The £800M Railway Station', a 6 x 30’ series for BBC 2. Nominated for a Broadcasting Press Guild Award, the series explores the passion, sacrifice and politics behind the renovation of St Pancras International.
In 2008 he was granted exclusive access to the female British Olympic Gymnastics squad, showing the hopes, joys and disappointments behind the Olympic dream. The resulting 90' documentary, ‘Gymnast', was broadcast on BBC2 in June 2012.
In the last three years Wonke has added commercials to his directing portfolio and the results have been highly acclaimed. He has worked for Ogilvy Mather, New York, Saatchi and JWT on the BP, Lurpak and Mazda 3 campaigns respectively. His innovative direction of the Ogilvy Mather Du Pont Horizons campaign has been rewarded with a clutch of awards at the BRAVES, the Stevies, the Internet Advertising Awards, the One Show Pencils and a place on the shortlist at Cannes Lion Awards. His Brooklyn Brothers/We Are Social Jaguar “Your Turn Britain” campaign won a Campaign Award and two Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards while his Partizan/Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R Vodafone Real Families Campaign won a British Arrows Craft Award in 2014.
Wonke is represented for film and television by , and by for commercials.
Personal life
Wonke is married with two daughters and lives in North London.Filmography
Executive Producer| Year | Title | Awards and Nominations |
| 2016 | Children of Syria | Winner - Emmy - Current Affairs Nominated - Emmy - Best Documentary |
| 2016 | ' | Nominated - Oscar - Best Documentary Short |
Director
| Year | Title | Awards and Nominations |
| 2017 | The Director and The Jedi | Official Selection - SXSW 2018 |
| 2015 | Being AP | Official Selection - Toronto Film Festival 2015 |
| 2015 | Ronaldo | |
| 2014 | Children on the Frontline - Syria | Winner - Prix Italia - Best TV Documentary, Current Affairs Winner - International Emmy Winner - Cinema for Peace Award, Berlin 2014 Winner - Bayeux-Calvados Award - Long-Format Television Winner - Grierson Award - Best Documentary On An International Contemporary Theme Winner - One World Media - Television Award Winner - Edinburgh TV Awards - Producer/Director Debut Award Winner - AIB Media Excellence Awards - International Current Affairs Documentary Television Winner - RTS - International Documentary Winner - BAFTA Current Affairs Winner - BAFTA CRAFT - Factual Photography Winner - LA FIGRA Award Winner - Peabody Awards - Documentary Nominated - BAFTA CRAFT - Best Newcomer Nominated - Amnesty's Media Award - Documentary Nominated - Rory Peck Award - Feature Nominated - Frontline Awards - Broadcast Nominated - Broadcast Awards - Best Current Affairs Documentary |
| 2013 | Fire in the Night | Official Selection - Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013 Winner - Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013 - Audience Award Winner - BAFTA Scotland - Single Documentary Nominated - BAFTA Scotland - Cineworld Film Audience Award Nominated - BAFTA Scotland - Feature Film Winner - RTS Scotland Award - Factual Nominated - Celtic Media Festival - Factual Single Nominated - FOCAL International Awards - Best Use of Footage In a Cinema Release |
| 2012 | Between the Waves and the Sky | |
| 2010 | Crack House USA | Nominated - BAFTA - Best Factual Photography 2012 |
| 2010 | The Battle for Marjah | Winner - History Makers Award - Current Affairs, 2012 Nominated - News & Documentary Emmy Award 2012 - Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form Nominated - News & Documentary Emmy Award 2012 - Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Editing - Documentary and Long Form Nominated - News & Documentary Emmy Award 2012 - Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music & Sound |
| 2010 | Gymnast | |
| 2010 | The £800M Railway Station | Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Award, 2008 |
| 2007 | The Tower | |
| 2004-07 | ' | Winner - BAFTA - Best Factual Series, 2008 Winner - RTS Award- Factual Editing, 2008 Nominated - Grierson Award - Documentary Series, 2008 Nominated - Broadcast Award - Factual Series, 2008 Nominated - Televisual Bulldog Award - Factual Series, 2008 |
| 2005 | A Very British Bollywood | |
| 2003 | Property People | |
| 2003 | Squaddies on the Rampage | |
| 2002 | Bullet Catchers | |
| 2002 | Witness: Running for God | |
| 2001 | Fraud Squad | |
| 2001 | Cutting Edge: Kidnap | |
| 2001 | The Art of Crime | |
| 2000 | Amsterdam: City of Sin | |
| 1999 | Behind the Crime | |
| 1998 | Staying Lost | Winner - Indies Award - Best Current Affairs Series, 1999 Nominated - BBC2 Awards - Documentary Series, 1999 Nominated - Grierson Awards - Documentary Series, 2000 Nominated - RTS Awards - Documentary & Factual Editing, 2000 |
Awards and Honours
Awards
- 2008 British Academy Television Award, British Academy Television Award for Best Factual Series:
- 2008 RTS Award, Factual Editing:
- 2012 History Makers Award, Best Current Affairs: The Battle for Marjah
- 2013 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Audience Award: Fire in the Night
- 2013 British Academy Scotland Awards, Best Single Documentary: Fire in the Night