Gus Van Sant

Born 1952 in Kentucky, USA. One of the great independent American filmmakers. His debut, Mala Noche, was a hit and opened many doors. It seemed initially that Van Sant would work for Hollywood, but big studios rejected all his projects. Van Sant turned some, like My Own Private Idaho, into successful films with independent producers. In the mid-1990s, he made several conventional films (Good Will Hunting) that reached a broader audience, after which he returned to independent cinema. In the 1990s, Van Sant categorically joined the ranks of the world’s top directors: Elephant won three awards at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, including the Palm d’Or, with his Paranoid Park taking the 60^th Anniversary Prize at Cannes four years later, while Milk received eight Oscar nominations in 2008.

Selected filmography

1985 Mala Noche

1991 Moje własne Idaho / My Own Private Idaho

2002 Gerry

2003 Słoń / Elephant

2007 Paranoid Park

2008 Obywatel Milk / Milk