16 Facts About Adam Curtis

Adam Curtis was born on 26 May 1955 and is an English documentary filmmaker.

Adam Curtis's style has been described as involving, "whiplash digressions, menacing atmospherics and arpeggiated scores, and the near-psychedelic compilation of archival footage", narrated by Curtis himself with "patrician economy and assertion".

Adam Curtis was born in Dartford in Kent, and raised in nearby Platt.

Adam Curtis's father was Martin Curtis, a cinematographer with a socialist background.

Adam Curtis won a county scholarship and attended the Sevenoaks School.

Adam Curtis completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in human sciences at Mansfield College, Oxford.

Adam Curtis began a PhD and taught in politics, but ultimately became disillusioned with academia and decided to leave the profession.

Adam Curtis applied to the BBC and was hired to make a film for one of its training courses, comparing designer clothes in music videos to the design of weapons.

Adam Curtis was a film director on Out of Court, a BBC Two legal series, from 1980 until 1982.

Adam Curtis is inspired by the sociologist Max Weber, who, he argues, challenged the "crude, left-wing, vulgar Marxism that says that everything happens because of economic forces within society".

Adam Curtis cites the USA trilogy, a series of three novels by John Dos Passos that he first read when he was thirteen, as the greatest influence on his work:.

Adam Curtis makes extensive use of archive footage in his documentaries.

Adam Curtis has acknowledged the influence of recordings made by Erik Durschmied and is "constantly using his stuff in my films".

In 2005, Adam Curtis received the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Adam Curtis's critics have accused him of exaggeration and distortion, even wilful misrepresentation.

Adam Curtis administered a blog subtitled 'The Medium and the Message' hosted by the BBC and updated between 2009 and 2016.