# Kevin Macdonald (director)
**Kevin Macdonald** (born 1967) is a Scottish film director who works in both documentary and fiction features, best known for the Oscar-winning documentary *One Day in September* (1999), the BAFTA-winning *Touching the Void* (2003), and the fictional drama *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), which won [Forest Whitaker](https://www.edgepedia.org/forest-whitaker) the [Academy Award for Best Actor](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actor).[1](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/) • [2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald) • [3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967, Glasgow, Scotland[1](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/) |
| Signature award | Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, *One Day in September*, at the 72nd Academy Awards (March 26, 2000), shared with producer Arthur Cohn[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Family | Grandson of Hungarian-born filmmaker Emeric Pressburger; brother of producer Andrew Macdonald (*Trainspotting*, *28 Days Later*)[1](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/) • [3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/) |
| First fiction feature | *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), about Idi Amin's Uganda; Forest Whitaker won Best Actor[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/46567/) • [2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald) |
| Crowd-sourced project | *Life in a Day* (2011): over 80,000 YouTube submissions, about 4,500 hours of footage shot on July 24, 2010, edited into a 90-minute documentary[6](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-kevin-macdonald-director-of-life-in-a-day) |
| Recent work | *The Mauritanian* (2021); *One to One: John & Yoko* (premiered 2024 Venice Film Festival); *High & Low - John Galliano*[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald) • [7](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-backstory-get-to-know-kevin-macdonald-the-filmmaker-behind-one-to-one-john-yoko/) • [8](https://apnews.com/article/fd65d674cd72c60c97ec53c0dafdc517) |
## Early life and family
Macdonald was born in Glasgow in 1967 and attended boarding school at Glenalmond College.[1](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/) His maternal grandfather was Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988), the Hungarian-born screenwriter and producer who worked with [Michael Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-powell) on films including *The Red Shoes* and *A Matter of Life and Death*.[3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/) Macdonald published a biography of his grandfather, *The Life and Death of a Screenwriter*, in 1994, and his first documentary, *The Making of an Englishman* (1995), was also about Pressburger.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/46567/) • [1](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/) He is the brother of film producer Andrew Macdonald.[3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/)
His original ambition was journalism. He could not get a job as a journalist and instead began making "home-movie documentaries for fun," followed by low-budget commissions for BBC Scotland, STV, and [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4).[9](https://shots.net/news/view/84663-director-profile-kevin-macdonald) His early work included biographical documentaries about filmmakers such as [Howard Hawks](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-hawks) and Donald Cammell.[3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/) With Mark Cousins he co-edited *Imagining Reality*, a history of documentary film.[10](https://www.magnoliapictures.com/s/ONETOONEfinalnotes-nbe2.pdf)
## Documentary career
**One Day in September.** In 1999 Macdonald directed a feature documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympics attack in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed. He has said he became one of the first British directors to helm a documentary made for cinema release with this film.[9](https://shots.net/news/view/84663-director-profile-kevin-macdonald) It deliberately used fictional conventions, narrative and tension, to reach an audience that would not normally see documentaries in theaters.[11](https://nitrateonline.com/2000/foneday) At the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony on March 26, 2000, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, credited to [Arthur Cohn](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-cohn) and Kevin Macdonald.[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000)
**Touching the Void.** His 2003 film about a disastrous mountain-climbing expedition in the Peruvian Andes used actor reconstructions, a technique Macdonald said he felt nervous about until he rewatched [Errol Morris](https://www.edgepedia.org/errol-morris)'s *The Thin Blue Line* (1988).[12](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html) He also borrowed Morris's "interrotron" interviewing setup, in which the subject speaks directly into the lens, to capture full eye contact in the interviews.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/12/film-changed-life-kevin-macdonald) The film won a BAFTA in 2004 and, according to a 2012 profile, became the highest-grossing British cinema documentary until it was overtaken by *Senna*, which Macdonald executive produced.[3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/)
**Music documentaries.** *Marley* (2012), an account of [Bob Marley](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-marley)'s life and music, screened at the 2012 Berlinale; Macdonald has said he interviewed roughly 80 or 85 people for the film and wanted to get behind the myth of the singer.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/46567/) • [14](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/89096-interview-director-kevin-macdonald-on-his-marley-doc) Later portraits of musicians and performers include *Whitney* (2018) on [Whitney Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitney-houston)[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald), *One to One: John & Yoko*, built around [John Lennon](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-lennon)'s American years and premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival[7](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-backstory-get-to-know-kevin-macdonald-the-filmmaker-behind-one-to-one-john-yoko/), and *High & Low - John Galliano* (2023), featuring interviews with Galliano along with Anna Wintour, Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Kate Moss, and Charlize Theron.[8](https://apnews.com/article/fd65d674cd72c60c97ec53c0dafdc517) In 2024, *Klitschko: More Than a Fight* opened Sheffield DocFest.[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald)
## Fiction features
Macdonald's feature debut, *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), told the fictional story of [Idi Amin](https://www.edgepedia.org/idi-amin)'s Scottish personal physician, adapted from Giles Foden's novel.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/46567/) • [12](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html) Investors wanted to shoot it in South Africa, but Macdonald insisted on filming in Kampala, where the events it depicts took place; he has said he had never been on a set for more than about an hour before making it and applied documentary methods to staging, filming conversations as they happened rather than following conventional setups.[9](https://shots.net/news/view/84663-director-profile-kevin-macdonald) Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Amin, and the film won three BAFTAs.[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald) • [12](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html)
Subsequent fiction includes the political thriller *State of Play* (2009), the Roman adventure *The Eagle* (2011), *How I Live Now* (2013) with [Saoirse Ronan](https://www.edgepedia.org/saoirse-ronan), the submarine thriller *Black Sea* (2014) with [Jude Law](https://www.edgepedia.org/jude-law), and the Guantanamo Bay legal drama *The Mauritanian* (2021) starring [Benedict Cumberbatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/benedict-cumberbatch), Jodie Foster, and Tahar Rahim.[12](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html) • [3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/) • [15](https://time.com/3677258/kevin-macdonald-black-sea-film/) • [2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald)
## Life in a Day
*Life in a Day* was a partnership between YouTube, RSA, and [LG Electronics](https://www.edgepedia.org/lg-electronics), produced with Ridley Scott, in which people worldwide were asked to record their day, July 24, 2010, and upload the footage.[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald) From more than 80,000 submissions totaling over 4,500 hours, Macdonald and a team of researchers spent seven months assembling a 90-minute documentary; contributors were asked to tell their story, say what they fear, and show what was in their pockets.[6](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-kevin-macdonald-director-of-life-in-a-day) • [16](https://time.com/3779414/life-in-a-day/) The team sent 500 cameras to developing regions, at a cost of $40,000, so that people without cameras or internet access could take part.[6](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-kevin-macdonald-director-of-life-in-a-day) Macdonald described the film's underlying observation as the fundamental similarity of people everywhere, with the most common subjects being children, love, work, illness, and death.[6](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-kevin-macdonald-director-of-life-in-a-day) He revisited the format for *Life in a Day 2020*, which premiered on YouTube in February 2021.[2](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald)
## Method and outlook
Macdonald describes the two genres as different disciplines: documentary is more intellectual and journalistic, while fiction asks for instinctive visual and emotional decisions.[3](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/) He alternates between them deliberately, saying he tries to make fiction feel real and documentary feel shaped, so that each form feeds the other.[15](https://time.com/3677258/kevin-macdonald-black-sea-film/) In 2012 he received the Coutts Grierson Trustees' Award at the 40th British Documentary Awards.[12](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html)
## References
1. [Kevin Macdonald Biography, showtimes.com](https://www.showtimes.com/celebrity/kevin-macdonald-4732/biography/)
2. [Kevin Macdonald, RSA Films](https://rsafilms.com/uk/directors/kevin-macdonald)
3. [Interview: Kevin Macdonald, Televisual](https://www.televisual.com/news/interview-kevin-macdonald_bid-401/)
4. [The 72nd Academy Awards, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000)
5. [Kevin Macdonald, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/46567/)
6. [Conversation: Kevin MacDonald, Director of 'Life in a Day', PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-kevin-macdonald-director-of-life-in-a-day)
7. [Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Kevin Macdonald, Sundance.org](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-backstory-get-to-know-kevin-macdonald-the-filmmaker-behind-one-to-one-john-yoko/)
8. ['High & Low - John Galliano' explores the rise and fall of a controversial designer, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/fd65d674cd72c60c97ec53c0dafdc517)
9. [Director Profile: Kevin Macdonald, shots](https://shots.net/news/view/84663-director-profile-kevin-macdonald)
10. [One to One: John & Yoko press notes, Magnolia Pictures](https://www.magnoliapictures.com/s/ONETOONEfinalnotes-nbe2.pdf)
11. [One Day in September - Interview with Kevin Macdonald, Nitrate Online](https://nitrateonline.com/2000/foneday)
12. [Kevin Macdonald: 'The world is full of opinion. What we need is people who go out and find the facts', The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kevin-macdonald-the-world-is-full-of-opinion-what-we-need-is-people-who-go-out-and-find-the-facts-8281185.html)
13. [The film that changed my life: Kevin Macdonald, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/12/film-changed-life-kevin-macdonald)
14. [Interview: Director Kevin Macdonald on His Marley Doc](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/89096-interview-director-kevin-macdonald-on-his-marley-doc)
15. [Why Oscar-Winning Director Kevin Macdonald Decided to Make a Submarine Thriller, TIME](https://time.com/3677258/kevin-macdonald-black-sea-film/)
16. [From Midnight to Midnight: Life in a Day, TIME](https://time.com/3779414/life-in-a-day/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Documentary film directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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