Adam Curtis

Directing

Adam Curtis

Born 1955-05-26 · Dartford, Kent, England, UK

Adam Curtis (born 1955) is an award-winning British documentarian and writer. He has also worked as a television producer, director and narrator. He works for BBC Current Affairs. His programmes express a clear, albeit sometimes controversial, opinion about their subject.

Acting credits

HyperNormalisation poster
7.4

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

HyperNormalisation

2016

Bitter Lake poster
7.6

An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.

Bitter Lake

2015

Every Day Is Like Sunday poster
6.8

As we wait to see whether Rupert Murdoch will fall from power and lose control of News International, Every Day is Like Sunday tells the forgotten story of the dramatic downfall of Cecil King—the newspaper mogul who used to dominate British media in the 1960s, before Rupert Murdoch arrived.

Every Day Is Like Sunday

2011

Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh poster
6.0

In 1951, a woman died in Baltimore, U.S.A. She was called Henrietta Lacks. These are cells from her body. They were taken from her just before she died. They have been growing and multiplying ever since. There are now billions of these cells in laboratories around the world. If massed together, they would weigh 400 times her original weight. These cells have transformed modern medicine, but they also became caught up in the politics of our age.

Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh

1997

"Oh Dear"-ism II & Non-Linear War poster
7.2

Short film examining the global events of 2014 to reveal a chaotic morass, the reporting of which is increasingly difficult to comprehend in the context of the 24-hour news cycle and the internet. Screened during Charlie Brooker's 2014 Wipe special.

"Oh Dear"-ism II & Non-Linear War

2014

Paranoia poster
6.0

Short film using the paranoia of Richard Nixon to explore how a similar outlook on life has been propagated on a larger social scale in the new media age and the resulting moral panics and immobilisation of politics. Screen during the fourth episode of the second series of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.

Paranoia

2010

MK Ultra poster
10.0

The Rosie Kay Dance Company present a piece about the strange history and pop-cultural aftermath of CIA mind control experiments during the Cold War, with documentary segments by Adam Curtis.

MK Ultra

2020

The Rise of “Oh Dear”-ism poster
8.0

Short film about how mainstream media simplify complex events and present them as "scattered terrible things happening everywhere, Oh Dear", leaving the public feeling powerless to do anything about them. Screened in the third episode of the first series of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.

The Rise of “Oh Dear”-ism

2009

Behind the camera

HyperNormalisation poster
7.4

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

HyperNormalisation

2016

HyperNormalisation poster
7.4

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

HyperNormalisation

2016

The Seaside poster
NR

Documentary about the town of Walton-on-the-Naze, directed by Adam Curtis

The Seaside

1983

The Cost of Treachery poster
1.0

In 1949, at the height of the Cold War, the British and American Governments decided to fight back at the growing Soviet Empire with a secret plan, the Albanian Subversion, in which the CIA and MI6 attempted to overthrow the Albanian government and to weaken the Soviet Union and the role of double agent Kim Philby.

The Cost of Treachery

1984

The Cost of Treachery poster
1.0

In 1949, at the height of the Cold War, the British and American Governments decided to fight back at the growing Soviet Empire with a secret plan, the Albanian Subversion, in which the CIA and MI6 attempted to overthrow the Albanian government and to weaken the Soviet Union and the role of double agent Kim Philby.

The Cost of Treachery

1984

The Cost of Treachery poster
1.0

In 1949, at the height of the Cold War, the British and American Governments decided to fight back at the growing Soviet Empire with a secret plan, the Albanian Subversion, in which the CIA and MI6 attempted to overthrow the Albanian government and to weaken the Soviet Union and the role of double agent Kim Philby.

The Cost of Treachery

1984

Bitter Lake poster
7.6

An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.

Bitter Lake

2015

Bitter Lake poster
7.6

An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.

Bitter Lake

2015

Murdoch's Revolution poster
NR

This short film uses the history and figure of the Murdoch media empire as a vast invasive machine, to draw parallels to new media machines such as Google that are not only more invasive, but more pervasive than anything the Murdoch media empire has managed. Why are we not more concerned about this?

Murdoch's Revolution

2010

The Kingdom of Fun poster
NR

The largest leisure and shopping complex in Europe, the Metro Centre in Tynemouth, and its creator John Hall.

The Kingdom of Fun

1989

The Kingdom of Fun poster
NR

The largest leisure and shopping complex in Europe, the Metro Centre in Tynemouth, and its creator John Hall.

The Kingdom of Fun

1989

Trumpets and Typewriters: A History of War Reporting poster
NR

The history of war correspondents.

Trumpets and Typewriters: A History of War Reporting

1983

No artwork available
NR

Music video directed by Adam Curtis, featuring Gerard Murphy. Taken from the Gang of Four 1995 album “Shrinkwrapped”.

Tattoo

1995

No artwork available
NR

A film about of a cross-section of the various characters that came to Charles and Diana's wedding.

Wedding Day - Not only Charles and Diana...

1982

Every Day Is Like Sunday poster
6.8

As we wait to see whether Rupert Murdoch will fall from power and lose control of News International, Every Day is Like Sunday tells the forgotten story of the dramatic downfall of Cecil King—the newspaper mogul who used to dominate British media in the 1960s, before Rupert Murdoch arrived.

Every Day Is Like Sunday

2011

Every Day Is Like Sunday poster
6.8

As we wait to see whether Rupert Murdoch will fall from power and lose control of News International, Every Day is Like Sunday tells the forgotten story of the dramatic downfall of Cecil King—the newspaper mogul who used to dominate British media in the 1960s, before Rupert Murdoch arrived.

Every Day Is Like Sunday

2011

The Road to Terror poster
7.0

In The Road to Terror, revolutionaries tell how their dream descended into a nightmare of terror and execution. They speak as exiles in Paris, a city that is preparing to celebrate the glories of the first mass revolution of 1978. Behind its strange images, the struggle for power in the Iranian revolution has followed a pattern uncannily similar to many of the great revolutions of the past: just as 200 years ago in France, the Iranian revolution has gone down the old road from liberation to repression, the road to terror.

The Road to Terror

1989

The Mayor of Montemilone poster
5.0

Dino Labriola runs the small town of Montemilone in the deep south. He was elected the first Communist mayor. Now he faces the problems of a town dying on its feet. There are no jobs, the young emigrate, the old have given up hope and government aid often goes astray. While Dino is determined to fight for his town, his wife Angela sometimes feels that the struggle is not worth it. A massive dam is being built just outside Montemilone. It's a new threat to the town and to Dino's position as mayor.

The Mayor of Montemilone

1984

The Mayor of Montemilone poster
5.0

Dino Labriola runs the small town of Montemilone in the deep south. He was elected the first Communist mayor. Now he faces the problems of a town dying on its feet. There are no jobs, the young emigrate, the old have given up hope and government aid often goes astray. While Dino is determined to fight for his town, his wife Angela sometimes feels that the struggle is not worth it. A massive dam is being built just outside Montemilone. It's a new threat to the town and to Dino's position as mayor.

The Mayor of Montemilone

1984

Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster poster
6.6

David Jones investigates how 1960s council housing came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.

Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster

1984

Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster poster
6.6

David Jones investigates how 1960s council housing came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.

Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster

1984

It Felt Like a Kiss poster
6.5

The story of America's rise to power starting with 1959, using archival footage and US pop music to highlight the consequences to the rest of the world and in the peoples' minds.

It Felt Like a Kiss

2009

It Felt Like a Kiss poster
6.5

The story of America's rise to power starting with 1959, using archival footage and US pop music to highlight the consequences to the rest of the world and in the peoples' minds.

It Felt Like a Kiss

2009

It Felt Like a Kiss poster
6.5

The story of America's rise to power starting with 1959, using archival footage and US pop music to highlight the consequences to the rest of the world and in the peoples' minds.

It Felt Like a Kiss

2009