Ross Devenish

Ross Devenish
Film director, Screenwriter
Principal country concerned : Column : Theater, Cinema/tv

Ross Devenish (born 15 November 1939) directed the eight-part adaptation of BLEAK HOUSE which won three BAFTAs. NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE won a Blue Riband Award. He was one of the two directors engaged on GOAL! about the World Cup Competition being held in England in 1966. GOAL! received the Robert Flaherty Award from BAFTA. Now writing as well, he has adapted Zakes Mda's WAYS OF LIVING as a modest budget South African film.

Ross Devenish studied film-making in London. He started his career with documentaries, filming behind the Royalist lines in the Civil War in the Yemen, secretly entering and filming the mercenaries trapped in the besieged town of Bukava in the Congo after a failed coup, and the next year filming in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive. He then spent the best part of a year in the United States making a film about the native Americans, called NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE.

Deciding to concentrate on his interest in drama, he began working with the dramatist Athol Fugard. He directed three films with scripts by Fugard, including THE GUEST and MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST, in his native South Africa. THE GUEST won a Bronze Leopard at Locarno and MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST a Silver Bear in Berlin.


2006

WAYS OF LIVING:
Feature film based on adaptation of Zakes Mda's novel WAYS OF DYING: Ross to direct

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
Feature adaptation of John Kani's play of the same name: Filming finished in December 2006

2005
SHADES: based on the novel by Marguerite Poland, script by Ross Devenish


2000 / 1
DALZIEL & PASCOE
A feature length film for BBC TV: Producer Annie Tricklebank: 8.2m viewers: Highest rating for Dalziel & Pascoe

1997-8
A CERTAIN JUSTICE:
From the novel by P D James: Anglia / United: three-part thriller: Producer Martin Auty

1997
DALZIEL AND PASCOE: EXIT LINES
BBC: feature length film for television: Producer Paddy Higson

1996
TRUE TILDA
BBC: 6 episodes: Producers: Eric Abraham and Brenda Reid

1995
DALZIEL AND PASCOE: A CLUBBABLE WOMAN
BBC: feature length film for television: Producers Eric Abraham and Chris Parr

1995
A TOUCH OF FROST
YTV: feature length film for television: Starring David Jason

1994
BETWEEN THE LINES
BBC: two episodes

1993
CALLING THE SHOTS
BBC: three-part thriller: Starring Lynn Redgrave

1991
ONE TWO BUCKLE MY SHOE
LWT: feature length film for television: Starring David Suchet as Poirot: Producer Brian Eastman

1990
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
LWT: feature length film for television: Starring David Suchet: Producer: Brian Eastman

1989
MADLY IN LOVE
Channel 4: Starring Penelope Wilton

1987
DEATH OF A SON
BBC: feature length film: Starring Lynn Redgrave

1986
HAPPY VALLEY
BBC: 90-minute film shot on location in Kenya: Starring Denholm Elliot

1986
ASINAMALI
BBC: adaptation of Mbongoni Ngema's stage play about the State of Emergency in apartheid South Africa

1985
BLEAK HOUSE
BBC's epic adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel: Starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliot

1978
MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST
Independent feature: with Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona: South African / British co-production

1977
THE GUEST
Independent feature: with Athol Fugard: South African / British co-production

1974
BOESMAN AND LENA
Independent feature: with Athol Fugard and Yvonne Bryceland


In America:
1968
NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE
Thames

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