---
name: "Annabel Jankel"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/annabel-jankel"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "1 June 1955"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T14:38:18.359188+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Annabel Jankel

Director. Born 1 June 1955 in London, England.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 1 June 1955, London, England

## Fi1m on Annabel Jankel

> Annabel Jankel has an appetite for unusual images that we value, though her storytelling has not always justified them. Her work stretches from mixed-media experiments to intimate drama; *Super Mario Bros.* shows how badly things can go when the characters are neglected.

In *Super Mario Bros.* (1993), the surroundings are busier and more interesting than the people. David L. Snyder’s production design gives us something to look at while Annabel Jankel and co-director Rocky Morton struggle to make the adventure hold together. We grew bored because the thin characters and jokes that repeatedly fell flat gave us so little reason to stay involved. There is effort and imagination here, and we would not dismiss either. But this is a poor family adventure, however much care has gone into its sets.

That taste for unusual images has a longer and more productive history. At Cucumber Studios, which Jankel co-founded with Morton in the late 1970s, their music videos, commercials and title sequences combined live action, animation and early computer graphics. *Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future* (1985), which she co-created and directed, introduced a satirical figure in a dystopian future. That work gives us more reason to value her visual curiosity than the later family adventure does. The move into Hollywood features came with their co-directed *D.O.A.* (1988), before *Super Mario Bros.*.

Jankel and Morton deserve credit for attempting a strange fantasy rather than a tidy, anonymous one. Snyder deserves the more substantial credit for giving that fantasy surroundings worth examining. Yet at 105 minutes, the film makes sustained attention hard work, and its inventiveness offers diminishing compensation for the muddled story. We cannot recommend it simply because its choices are unusual.

Jankel’s later solo work moves towards intimate, character-led stories, with the television film *Skellig* (2009) preceding *Tell It to the Bees* (2018). The latter is a period romance adapted from a novel, a considerable change of subject from the early mixed-media work. Its attention to actors and emotional nuance is welcome. The predictable plotting and heavy-handed drama remain reasons for caution, rather than evidence that the storytelling difficulties are behind her. For the early experiments, start with *Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future*; leave *Super Mario Bros.* to those with a particular interest in production design.

## Biography

Annabel Jankel is a British film and television director. Born on 1 June 1955 in London, she began her career in the late 1970s co-founding Cucumber Studios with director Rocky Morton, where they created music videos, commercials and title sequences.

Jankel and Morton co-created the cyber-character Max Headroom and directed the 1985 television film *Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future*. They later directed the features *D.O.A.* (1988) and *Super Mario Bros.* (1993). Jankel has since directed solo projects including the television film *Skellig* (2009) and the feature *Tell It to the Bees* (2018). She is the sister of musician Chaz Jankel.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, allmovie.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Super Mario Bros.* (1993), Fi1m 42, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/super-mario-bros.md)

## Also known for

- *Tell It to the Bees* (2019), Director
- *D.O.A.* (1988), Director
- *Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future* (1985), Director, Story

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/annabel-jankel