Richard Kwietniowski

Was born in London to Anglo-Polish parents.

He studied literature and film at the University of Kent and U.C. Berkeley.

Richard worked in the Independent Film Sector and Higher Eduction before making a number of acclaimed short films including ‘Alfalfa’ and ‘Flames of Passion’ with backers including the Arts Council, BF1, BBC2 and Channel Four.

Subsequent work as a director for British television won Royal Televisin Society and D&AD (Gold and Best of Year) awards, and a Prix Italia nomination.

His debut feature film was an Anglo-Canadian co-production ‘Love and Death on Long Island’, based on his own adapted screenplay starring John Hurt and Jason Priestley.

It won the Prix Pierrot for Best European First Feature at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Feature, an Excellence in Film-Making award from the U.S. National Board of Review, and the Carl Foreman BAFTA for Best Newcomer in British Film.

Sold to over 20 territories, including Pathe (U.K) and Lions Gate (U.S.) it made many Top Ten Films of the Year lists, including the Observer, the Independent, Newsweek, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, LA Weekly and Village Voice.

His second feature ‘Owning Mahowny’ starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver premiered at the Sundance and Berlin Festivals in 2003.  It was released in the US by Sony Pictures Classics and in the UK by Momentum.

In 2011 he directed ‘Regret Not Speaking’ starring Gael García Bernal and John Hurt. He is currently consulting on a project called ‘Daddy’ for Madhav Roy Kapur.

His surname is pronounced Kfee-et-nee-ov-skee.