Donald Ranvaud
Encyclopedia
Donald Ranvaud is a British film producer and film journalist.
He has had producing roles on a number of Oscar-nominated films including The Constant Gardener
(2005), City of God (2002), Central Station (1998) and Farewell My Concubine (1993). He is now best known for his work in the Latin American film industry, especially in Brazil
and Bolivia
.
(English and comparative literature) and the University of East Anglia
(film studies) and also at the College of South Wales (film theory). During this time he also worked as a freelance journalist for MFB
, Sight and Sound, The Guardian
, La Repubblica
, Cahiers du cinéma
and American Film, as well as founding the independent cinema and media magazine Framework, which he edited until 1988. He published several books on Italian cinema and directed documentary items for C4 magazine programmes and RAI 1, including portraits of Paul Schrader
, Raul Ruiz, Cui Jian
, Laurie Anderson
and David Mamet
.
In 1988 he established the European Script fund with Renee Goddard as part of the MEDIA
Programme of the Commission of the European Community, where he stayed on for 18 months, during which time the Media Programme was fully integrated into EC policy.
and Farewell My Concubine; in Latin America from 1994 to present, he produced Central do Brasil
, Familia Rodante
, Xango
, Lavoura Arcaica, Babilonia 2000, Madame Sata
, and City of God, garnering a total of 12 Oscar nominations. He was also executive producer on The Constant Gardener
by Fernando Meirelles
in Kenya.
Alongside productions, he managed sales at Videofilmes, Bouquet Multimedia and Sogepaq as well as helping to set up Wild Bunch
.
As Buena Onda's Creative Director since 2003, Donald has continued to discover filmmakers, helping them to access world markets. He is an ambassador for Latin American cinema, setting up joint ventures with Cinergia in Costa Rica for Centro America, and with the Puerto Rico Film Fund. After establishing the film school La Fabrica with Roberto Lanza in Cochabamba, Bolivia, he has recently set up an Institute for 2nd features, theatre and cinema (Artes Andes Americas), together with Cesar Brie's Teatro de los Andes in Yotala, Bolivia.
Since early 2005, first as Head of International Relations with Rain Networks, Brasil, and later independently, he has focused on what he considers to be the central question for the future of a possible cinema - a cost effective distribution platform that becomes the new digital paradigm for the fruition of the cinema that matters.
He has had producing roles on a number of Oscar-nominated films including The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener (film)
The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,...
(2005), City of God (2002), Central Station (1998) and Farewell My Concubine (1993). He is now best known for his work in the Latin American film industry, especially in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
Early career
From 1976-88, Ranvaud taught at the University of WarwickUniversity of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
(English and comparative literature) and the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
(film studies) and also at the College of South Wales (film theory). During this time he also worked as a freelance journalist for MFB
Monthly Film Bulletin
The Monthly Film Bulletin was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. The MFB was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late...
, Sight and Sound, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
, Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
and American Film, as well as founding the independent cinema and media magazine Framework, which he edited until 1988. He published several books on Italian cinema and directed documentary items for C4 magazine programmes and RAI 1, including portraits of Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
, Raul Ruiz, Cui Jian
Cui Jian
Cui Jian is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter and guitarist. Affectionately called "Old Cui" , he is considered to be a pioneer in Chinese rock music and one of the first Chinese artists to write rock songs...
, Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
and David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
.
In 1988 he established the European Script fund with Renee Goddard as part of the MEDIA
Media Plus
The MEDIA Programme is a European Union programme designed to support for the European audiovisual sector. It is currently in its fourth generation, with 1991‒1995 and 1996‒2000, 2001‒2006 being the previous three. The continuation of the programme is in discussion...
Programme of the Commission of the European Community, where he stayed on for 18 months, during which time the Media Programme was fully integrated into EC policy.
Film Production
Since 1989 he has worked as a producer full time, working with directors and in countries that would soon become prominent in the world of independent film: in China from 1989 to 1993, he produced Life on a StringLife on a String (film)
Life on a String is a 1991 Chinese film by acclaimed film director Chen Kaige. Made before his international breakthrough Farewell, My Concubine, Life on a String is a more intimate and philosophical affair, telling the story of a blind sanxian player and his young disciple. The film was based on...
and Farewell My Concubine; in Latin America from 1994 to present, he produced Central do Brasil
Central do Brasil
Central do Brasil is the most important train station in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. It is the last stop of Rio's railway network, as well as a hub for connection with the city subway and a bus station...
, Familia Rodante
Familia rodante
Familia rodante is a 2004 comedy drama film, written and directed by Pablo Trapero, and produced by various countries, including Argentina...
, Xango
Xango
Xango may refer to:* XanGo, a company based in Utah that markets a beverage, XanGo juice* Shango, one of the key orishas of Yoruba mythology, and the name of an Afro-Brazilian religion * Xangô, a brazilian song by Luís Bonfá...
, Lavoura Arcaica, Babilonia 2000, Madame Sata
Madame Satã
João Francisco dos Santos , also known as the infamous drag performer and capoeirista Madame Satã , was born into a family of ex-slaves in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil...
, and City of God, garnering a total of 12 Oscar nominations. He was also executive producer on The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener (film)
The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,...
by Fernando Meirelles
Fernando Meirelles
Fernando Ferreira Meirelles is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter.He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 2004 for his work in the Brazilian film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films...
in Kenya.
Alongside productions, he managed sales at Videofilmes, Bouquet Multimedia and Sogepaq as well as helping to set up Wild Bunch
Wild Bunch (film company)
Wild Bunch S.A. is a French film production and international sales company. Originally a division of StudioCanal, the company has produced films such as Land of the Dead, Southland Tales and Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?. They have also produced Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, Vicky...
.
As Buena Onda's Creative Director since 2003, Donald has continued to discover filmmakers, helping them to access world markets. He is an ambassador for Latin American cinema, setting up joint ventures with Cinergia in Costa Rica for Centro America, and with the Puerto Rico Film Fund. After establishing the film school La Fabrica with Roberto Lanza in Cochabamba, Bolivia, he has recently set up an Institute for 2nd features, theatre and cinema (Artes Andes Americas), together with Cesar Brie's Teatro de los Andes in Yotala, Bolivia.
Since early 2005, first as Head of International Relations with Rain Networks, Brasil, and later independently, he has focused on what he considers to be the central question for the future of a possible cinema - a cost effective distribution platform that becomes the new digital paradigm for the fruition of the cinema that matters.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Speaking Parts Speaking Parts Speaking Parts is a 1989 Canadian drama film from Atom Egoyan. It earned a Best Motion Picture nomination, including five others, at the 1989 Genie Awards.- Plot :... |
Executive producer | |
| 1991 | Life On A String Life on a String (film) Life on a String is a 1991 Chinese film by acclaimed film director Chen Kaige. Made before his international breakthrough Farewell, My Concubine, Life on a String is a more intimate and philosophical affair, telling the story of a blind sanxian player and his young disciple. The film was based on... |
Producer | |
| 1993 | Buccaneer Soul (Alma Corsária) Brazilian films of the 1990s An incomplete list of films produced in Brazil in the 1990s. For an A-Z list of films currently on Wikipedia see :Category:Brazilian films.-1990:-1991:-1992:-1993:-1994:-1995:-1996:-1997:-1998:-1999:-External links:... |
Producer | |
| Farewell My Concubine (Ba wang bie ji) | Associate producer | ||
| 1996 | Tieta Do Agreste | Producer | |
| 1998 | Central Station (Central Do Brasil) | Executive producer | |
| 1999 | Babilonia 2000 Eduardo Coutinho Eduardo Coutinho is an Brazilian film director, screen writer, actor and film producer.He directed and wrote the script to the 1967 popular Brazilian film, El ABC del amor near the beginning of his career... |
Producer | |
| 2000 | Turbulence (Estorvo) Ruy Guerra Ruy Alexandre Guerra Coelho Pereira is a film director, screenwriter, film editor, and actor in Brazil. Guerra was born a Portuguese citizen in Lourenço Marques in Moçambique, when it was still a colony of Portugal.... |
Producer | |
| 2001 | To The Left of The Father (Lavoura Arcaica) | Associate producer | |
| Smokers Only (Vagón Fumador) | Producer | ||
| Xango de Baker Street | Producer | ||
| 2002 | City of God (Cidade De Deus) | Co-producer | |
| Madame Satã Madame Satã João Francisco dos Santos , also known as the infamous drag performer and capoeirista Madame Satã , was born into a family of ex-slaves in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil... |
Producer | ||
| 2004 | Con Game (Doble Juego) | Producer | |
| Rolling Family (Familia Rodante) Familia rodante Familia rodante is a 2004 comedy drama film, written and directed by Pablo Trapero, and produced by various countries, including Argentina... |
Producer | ||
| 2005 | Lower City (Cidade Baixa) | Associate producer | |
| The Constant Gardener The Constant Gardener (film) The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,... |
Executive producer | ||
| 2006 | Cobrador: In God We Trust | Executive producer | |
| Coca Lives | Producer | ||
| Who Killed The White Llama? | Producer | ||
| 2007 | Evo Pueblo | Producer | |
| Maldeamores Maldeamores Maldeamores is a 2007 Puerto Rican film starring Luis Guzmán, written by Carlos Ruíz Ruíz and Jorge Gonzales, and directed by Ruíz and his wife Mariem Pérez Riera.The film consists of three separate stories dealing with the ironies of love... |
Executive producer | ||
| Not By Chance (Nao Por Acaso) | Associate producer | ||
| Cochochi | Producer | ||
| Gasolina Gasolina (film) Gasolina is a 2007 Guatemalan film written and directed by Julio Hernández. The film deals with dehumanization, lack of purpose and recklessness in Guatemalan youth by following the exploits of three teenage boys who go out on a midnight joyride outside their housing project, stealing gasoline... |
Producer | ||
| The New American Century | Associate producer | ||
| 2008 | Nunca Mas! | Producer | |
| Tentayape: The Last House | Producer | ||
| 2009 | Oso Blanco | Producer | |