Our work is consistently critically acclaimed in national and trade press.
Amir Amirani
“We Are Many” – Producer/Director
Screen Daily / International – “It is a powerful and at times moving tribute to organised dissent and the power of the people… It is admirably watchable and provocative… Amirani is to be congratulated for this passionate and provocative film”
Hollywood Reporter – “An all star cast of artists, activists and politicians remember the mass global protests against the Iraq War in this polished documentary”
Tim Robbins “This is the most important film of 2015.”
Stephen Fry “Was it really 12 years ago? I’m not sure a trailer has ever made me want to see a film more.”
Huffington Post ★★★★★“The only film I’ve ever watched where the audience started clapping halfway through”
Daily Mirror ★★★★ “shows the spirit of revolt is still very much alive”
Daily Mail ★★★★ “immensely powerful”, “brilliant”
Daily Express ★★★★ “the anger, excitement and hope of that day is brilliantly captured in We Are Many, an emotional and often stirring documentary”
Financial Times ★★★★ “A sturdy documentary”
Joe.co.uk ★★★★★ “The most thrilling, vital and rousing film of the year.”
Daily Star ★★★★ “engrossing documentary”
Spectator “powerful account of the epic failure of public opinion”
The Herald ★★★★ “piercing documentary… a righteously angry film”
Radio Times ★★★★ “Rousing and moving, it’s a film that should be seen by the many”
Variety “Consistently intelligent and nuanced”
Timewatch, BBC2 “Concorde – A Love Story” 2003
“This charming elegy marks the retirement of the world’s only supersonic passenger jet.” Daily Telegraph
“BBC2’s Concorde – A Love Story discharged its task very well. In tracing Concorde’s 40-year history, last night’s documentary certainly demonstrated the truth of its subtitle. And yet, this admiration was also accompanied by more hard-headed judgments. Timewatch kept up this deft and revealing dual perspective for the whole programme.” The Daily Telegraph
“A gripping film about a sensational plane.” The Time
“Concorde – A Love Story has the visuals to underline the sheer beauty of the doomed supersonic aircraft. This is a suitable and affectionate obituary for the amazing aircraft. Admirably, this doesn’t shirk some of the more awkward facts about Concorde.” The Financial Times
“…All this came sharply into focus during Concorde – A Love Story. It was indeed a love story. The designers, engineers and pilots who created and flew Concorde all clearly adored their beautiful plane. Except that there was this other story rumbling away in the background to our tragic tale of lost love…” The Times
“Amirani’s film does an excellent job of conveying the facts, but there is another, more subtle strand that runs throughout – a lingering sense of regret over the death of something so elegant.” Time Out
“Concorde was given a splendid send off last night by Timewatch, which presented its 30-year career as a long running romance.” The Daily Mail
“Concorde – A Love Story marked the end of Concorde’s service with a brief history of the plane from drawing board to redundancy, and it was a programme that gave full expression to the sentiment it has always aroused. Otherwise rational engineers talked of their “love” for the plane, enthusiasts got all choked up as they contemplated its imminent retirement.” The Independent
“…Thus begins this paean to an engineering marvel. But it’s not all flattery…” Sunday Telegraph
“This fascinating documentary provides an insight into the design and development of what has become the most recognizable passenger plane in the world.” Sunday Express
“For an insight into all things British, you were better off with Concorde – A Love Story. Here was a tale of gumption, ingenuity and resolve; of parochialism, pettiness and calamitous fiscal ineptitude.” The Mail on Sunday
“The documentary oozed nostalgia and sadness. It made you feel great to be British.” Daily Express
“The way those involved spoke about it, you couldn’t help but feel a pang for the plane. Couples told of spending their savings on tickets.” The Guardian
“The sheer scale of this folie de grandeur is marvellous – as Amirani’s film outlines tellingly. Radio Times
Arena BBC2 “And The Winner Is….” 2001
“Arena doing what it does best. Exploring a cultural phenomenon with an intelligent, multi-layered film essay.” The Sunday Times
“… deeply entertaining…” The Observer Review
“A wide ranging, clever and thoughtful antidote to the BAFTAs. Amirani’s documentary took a pleasingly fragmentary approach…Amirani gave us several neat moments…” The Daily Express
“A disarming documentary on the cult of awards ceremonies.” Time Out
“A gratifyingly irreverent look at a multi-million dollar industry.” The Times
“Another excellent Arena explores the world of awards ceremonies…” Daily Telegraph
“A timely and quirky look at the world of awards….” The Daily Express
Three Minute Wonders Channel 4, “This Time Next Year” 2004
“Of course, three minute films are never going to be massively consequential. Yet, they can be charming, lovingly made, and mildly thought provoking. This Time Next Year is succeeding on all three counts.”
James Walton The Daily Telegraph
Correspondent BBC2 “Addicted to Arms” 2002
“Will Self’s investigation into Britain’s addiction to selling arms was shocking, witty and worrying. Self was like the nation’s conscience as sketched by Edward Gorey. This was vital, important television”. The Guardian
“Will Self and producer/director Amirani use numerous devices to get round the weasel words and stalling tactics of the arms manufacturers and their mouthpieces. Simultaneously amusing and anger-inducing – and don’t switch over as the credits roll!” Time Out
“Self is a compelling guide”. Independent on Sunday
“It won’t make especially easy viewing for the government.” The Daily Telegraph
Correspondent BBC2 “Letter to America” 2001
“This uncomfortable onslaught on the US was far and away the most important programme of the weekend. I’d like it to be shown both in the US and by Al-Jazeera” The Daily Mail
“While maintaining the foreign affairs strand’s high standards, this week’s Correspondent strays from the usual single issue template…tonight’s programme will be instructive viewing. The images in “Letter to America” are also a break from the norm. There’s extraordinary footage of a spontaneous candle-lit vigil in Tehran to show sympathy for the victims of September 11.” Time Out
Black Britain BBC2 “Bands Apart” 2000
“One of the most breathtakingly revealing moments in an excellent documentary…” Time Out
“A wonderful essay on the radio station, an academically well-researched and sympathetic portrayal of the limitations forced on blacks at the height of apartheid……Pine’s thesis is best viewed through his interview with Jack Lerole; Lerole’s predicament forms the backbone of a glorious documentary.” The Observer Review
“Fortunately, history was treated with rather more care by Bands Apart…Pine allowed the white people who’d run Radio Bantu to put their case. He did everything you’d want, in fact.” Daily Telegraph
“A fascinating Black Britain special….a story dripping with bitter ironies. In a curious but nonetheless riveting interview, Pine talks to the formidable Dr. Yvonne Huskisson…” Daily Telegraph
“Amirani’s film is revealing, entertaining and provocative….” Daily Mail
Picture This BBC2 “Hallelujah Hendrix” 1999
“A beautifully crafted Picture This documentary built around the unveiling of a Blue Plaque on Hendrix’s London home….” The Daily Mail
“Amirani’s success lies in evoking Hendrix’s everyday London life…” Time Out
“In the pleasingly eccentric Picture This……” The Guardian
“Picture This is both less dramatic and more intimate….” The Times
“A wryly charming documentary about the erection of a blue plaque at the rock star’s central London flat….” The Telegraph
“More entertainingly, Amirani’s delightful Picture This: Hallelujah Hendrix, follows the process by which an absurdly stuffy English Heritage committee came to erect a blue plaque.” Sunday Times
Taghi Amirani
Coup53 – Director
“This is big. This is going to be big!”
Werner Herzog
“remarkable”
“passionate and fearless”
“will enthrall documentary and history geeks”
“jaw dropping revelations”
“has the air of something that grew from
an impudent home movie into a magnum opus”
Todd McCarthy – Hollywood Reporter
“spine tingling revelations”
Variety
“a work of art and a masterpiece of political intervention”
“a thriller that had me on the edge of my seat”
“beyond extraordinary”
Ariel Dorfman
“masterful storytelling makes this a taut and thrilling watch”
“captivating tour-de-force”
BFI London Film Festival
“Amazing. Beautifully done. Clever use of archive. Unique”
Oliver Stone
“this is material worthy of John le Carré”
Vancouver International Film Festival
“this is one of a handful of documentaries that
can truly make the argument for being seen in a cinema”
24fps UK
“a superb work of journalism and research”
Vancouver Observer
“as compelling as a John Le Carre novel or a Costa-Gavras classic”
Screen Daily
“an astonishing feat of film-making”
London Metro
Mad About Machines, Channel 4, 1997
“Director Taghi Amirani manages to evoke a truly magical quality in the images he captures, turning the least auspicious ideas into absolute gems…. Intelligent cutting…and a genuine interest in the people he features make Amirani’s gentle films presently some of the best on television.”
Fiona Morrow Time Out
“Of course, we are ultimately more interested in the subjects and their lives, and Brindley emerges as a Patricia Routledge-type character, as scripted by Alan Bennett. And if you’re worried that one woman and her typewriter are not enough to make an entertaining 30 minutes, there are two breath-catching moments of inspiration… It’s gentle, alluring and whimsical.”
Omer Ali Time Out
“I confess to having been sceptical about Taghi Amirani’s series when I saw it described on paper because it seemed unlikely that the matter – people’s love affairs with machinery – could amply fill the time. It sounded like a set of quirky miniatures that had got ideas above their station. In the event though, the films offer something genuinely unusual on television – a sustained set of ideas running through portraits of very different lives.
Thomas Sutcliffe The Independent
“Mad About Machines purported to be about the merely mechanical, but what emerged proved to be far more satisfying than one might have expected – a thoughtful and loving examination of the mechanics of one life, where fortitude had triumphed over great disappointments.”
Cristina Odone The Daily Telegraph
“Amirani has a special feeling for his subjects, which prevents his films from being the least bit patronising. The result is unusual amid the current plethora of heavily ironic documentaries, proving that film-makers don’t need gimmicks if they have a sure eye and an open mind.”
Fiona Morrow Time Out
“If you’re keen to understand how it is that the things we love shape our lives, Taghi Amirani’s exquisitely made programme will fill both your eyes and your cuttings bin.”
Nicola Barker The Observer
The Dispossessed, BBC, 2002
“The Dispossessed charts the fall of the Taliban from a unique perspective… A remarkable record of how fast-moving events affect ordinary lives. A quietly humane film… powerful and dignified”
The Daily Telegraph
“a stark sorrowful film that is, nevertheless, not without touches of quirky comedy.”
The Sunday Times
Red Lines and Deadlines, PBS, 2005
“Anyone wanting a clearer picture of the complexities and contradictions that are today’s Iran should tune into this week’s installment of “Wide Angle”, PBS’s weekly series of international documentaries. “Red Line and Deadlines”, directed by Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani, provides an unprecedented look into the Orwellian world of Iranian journalism.”
The Wall Street Journal
Holy Places, Channel 4, 1995
“Video has for too long been treated as the runt brother of film but Chris Morphet’s team of cameramen showed what the medium is capable of doing, making stunning use of natural lighting. Dissolves melted on the eyes, while the audio post-dubbing was exceptional, and the entire programme a starred first. Throughout the series, director and producer Taghi Amirani has displayed sensitivity and integrity, currently rare attributes among television makers, the collective noun for whom these days, must surely be a callousness.”
Victor Lewis-Smith Evening Standard
“Holy Places, produced and directed by Taghi Amirani is such a nice surprise.”
Nancy Banks-Smith The Guardian
“A small but delightful film constantly working against stereotype.”
Fiona Morrow Time Out
“This series has proved itself a little gem.”
Fiona Morrow Time Out
Jupiter Collision, BBC, 1994
“Witty but never a send-up, this is actually one of the best science films in years”
Time Out
True Stories, Channel 4, 1992
“…so understated it transcends eccentricity…. it’s an affectionate film that never sends ordinary people up”
Time Out
“It has all the ingredients of a carefully plotted spy story”
Daily Express
“A warm, optimistic programme, full of unobtrusively obstinate courage”
The Sunday Telegraph
“An indomitable little pastoral”
The Guardian
“A flower of humanity and light”
Daily Mail
“Beautifully made”
The Daily Telegraph
QED, BBC, 1993
“There were many moments of unworldly charm in Taghi Amirani’s exceptional documentary.”
Matthew Norman Evening Standard
“An irresistible story”
The Times
Equinox, Channel 4, 1989
“…while the overall effect is similar to that of a formal exercise in surrealism by Peter Greenaway the star watchers themselves are presented with respect and affection.”
Anne Billson The Times
“It’s Taghi Amirani’s first film and a beauty of its quiet kind”
Hugh Hebert The Guardian
“…a delightful and, in its way quite moving documentary”
Geoffrey Phillips Evening Standard
“An eccentric, entrancing, heart-warming film”
Elaine Patterson Time Out
“It’s rare for television cameras to capture such ingenuousness.”
Jasper Rees The Times
“Wonderfully buoyant, utterly entrancing. See it.”
John Lyttle City Limits
Auction, BBC, 1994
“a fascinating X-ray of human behaviour.”
The Independent
Mark James
Raoul Martinez
The Lottery of Birth – Director
“Challenging, insightful and timely. Unmissable.”
Alan Rickman
“I was quite blown away. A lot of bracing, tangential and uncomfortable thought. And it looks and sounds beautiful.”
Colin Firth
“Absolutely wonderful. beautifully made and utterly captivating.”
Margaret Heffernan
“The Lottery of Birth is one of the most important films we have ever screened at Raindance, and needs to be seen by anyone willing to challenge the way our society functions.”
Elliot Grove (Founder of Raindance Film Festival)
“Activist cinema for the age of TED talks.”
New York Times
“Fascinating, compelling and intellectually arresting, The Lottery of Birth is a truly powerful and insightful documentary, which will completely blow you away. Highly recommended.”
View London Review
“It just shows you how powerful a documentary can be. It’s like a switch has been turned on, the electricity is flowing — now I can begin to look at the world in a way that I’ve been working my way towards without direction. The Lottery of Birth is the beginning of a new way of approaching things.”
Kid in the Front Row