---
name: "Kevin Macdonald"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kevin-macdonald"
fi1m_id: "kevin-macdonald"
imdb_id: "nm0531817"
tmdb_id: 17350
wikidata_id: "Q1344373"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "28 October 1967"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 74
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-03T02:53:34.765685+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."
---

# Kevin Macdonald

## Identity

Kevin Macdonald

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kevin-macdonald
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** kevin-macdonald
- **IMDb ID:** nm0531817
- **TMDB ID:** 17350
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1344373
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Macdonald_(director), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1344373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531817/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17350

Director and producer. Born 28 October 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 28 October 1967, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- **Active:** 2003–present
- **Also known as:** Кевін Мак-Дональд
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 3 directing, 3 producing
- **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 87 (1), 2010s 80 (2), 2020s 68 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 70 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Documentary 2, Drama 2, Action 1, Adventure 1, Music 1, Sport 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $25m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Macdonald_(director), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1344373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531817/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17350

## Streaming the US now

- **AMC+:** [*Touching the Void*](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void.md) (87)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Marley*](https://film.one/film/marley.md) (77)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Mauritanian*](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md) (58)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Kevin Macdonald

> Kevin Macdonald makes real events frighteningly immediate, giving testimony the tension of a thriller. We rate him most highly when he stays close to practical decisions and lets the people who made them explain what they faced.

In *Touching the Void* (2003), a climber recounts what happened while a reconstruction makes us consider the effort of getting through it. The speaker’s presence need not end the suspense. Kevin Macdonald gives Joe Simpson and Simon Yates time to explain decisions that are easy to judge from a sofa, and harder to imagine making in exhaustion. We were frightened by how much effort each movement seemed to require in the reconstructed climbing.

He began with biographical documentaries before *One Day in September* (1999) established his reputation for investigative filmmaking. *The Last King of Scotland* (2006) took him into fiction features, followed by studio work such as *State of Play* (2009). He returned to documentary with *Marley* (2012) and *Whitney* (2018), while continuing to make fiction. He also carries documentary habits into his fiction, allowing scenes to unfold rather than relying on conventional coverage of each exchange.

Macdonald’s patience with the speakers is matched by precise work from his collaborators. In *Touching the Void*, editor Justine Wright keeps the testimony and reconstruction moving as one account, so returning to an interview does not let us relax. Alex Heffes’s score sustains the unease without diverting attention from the climb. Macdonald keeps the practical difficulty clear enough for both contributions to work, giving the cutting and music something more substantial to do than manufacture excitement.

That concentration also limits the film. Its slow opening offers less insight into the climbers’ lives than the time spent might lead us to expect, and their reasons for mountaineering remain underexplored. We learn much more about enduring the mountain than about wanting to be there. Some critics have raised a related concern about *One Day in September*, arguing that thriller technique takes priority over substance.

We would welcome a Macdonald film that spent as much time on why people seek danger as on how they endure it. His handling of Simpson and Yates suggests he could ask without sounding superior. Start with *Touching the Void*, and give its opening the patience that the climbing will repay.

## Biography

Kevin Macdonald (born 28 October 1967) is a Scottish film director. He began his career with documentaries, including a biography of his grandfather, the screenwriter Emeric Pressburger. His 1999 documentary *One Day in September*, about the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Macdonald directed the climbing documentary *Touching the Void* (2003), which received the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Subsequent feature films include the drama *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), the political thriller *State of Play* (2009), the Bob Marley documentary *Marley* (2012), and the legal drama *The Mauritanian* (2021). He is the brother of producer Andrew Macdonald.

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

## On Fi1m (6)

### Directed (3) — the average rests on these

- *The Mauritanian* (2021), Fi1m 58, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md)
- *Marley* (2012), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/marley.md)
- *Touching the Void* (2003), Fi1m 87, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void.md)

### Produced (3)

- *Rebellion* (2023), Fi1m 67, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/rebellion.md)
- *The Rescue* (2021), Fi1m 78, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-rescue.md)
- *Senna* (2010), Fi1m 84, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/senna.md)

## Complete filmography (51)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Runner* (2026), Director
- *A Beautiful Obsession* (2026), series, Director
- *One to One: John & Yoko* (2025), Director, Producer
- *Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain* (2025), Director
- *Four Kings* (2024), series, Executive Producer
- *Klitschko: More Than a Fight* (2024), Director, Executive Producer
- *High & Low – John Galliano* (2024), Producer, Director
- *Adrift* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Last Song from Kabul* (2023), Director
- *Rebellion* (2023), Executive Producer — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/rebellion.md)
- *It Takes a Flood* (2021), Director
- *The Rescue* (2021), Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-rescue.md)
- *Kipchoge: The Last Milestone* (2021), Executive Producer
- *Strangest Things* (2021), series, Presenter
- *2020: The Story Of Us* (2021), series, Director, Creator
- *2020: The Story Of Us* (2021), Director
- *Bruno v Tyson* (2021), Director
- *Pelé* (2021), Executive Producer
- *The Mauritanian* (2021), Director — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md)
- *Life in a Day 2020* (2021), Director
- *Return to Podor* (2018), Director
- *Whitney* (2018), Director, Writer
- *Whitney* (2018), series, Creator
- *Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang* (2017), Director
- *Oasis* (2017), series, Director
- *Oasis* (2017), Director, Executive Producer
- *11.22.63* (2016), series, Director, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Black Sea* (2014), Director, Producer
- *Christmas in a Day* (2013), Director
- *How I Live Now* (2013), Director
- *Marley* (2012), Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/marley.md)
- *The Eagle* (2011), Director
- *Life in a Day* (2011), Director
- *Senna* (2010), Executive Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/senna.md)
- *State of Play* (2009), Director
- *My Enemy's Enemy* (2007), as Narrator / Interviewer (uncredited) · Director, Writer, Producer
- *British Film Forever* (2007), series, Actor
- *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), Director
- *Touching the Void: Return to Siula Grande* (2004), Narrator, Director
- *Touching the Void: What Happened Next* (2004), Director
- *Touching the Void* (2003), Director — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void.md)
- *Being Mick* (2001), Director
- *One Day in September* (1999), Director
- *A Brief History of Errol Morris* (1999), Director
- *Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance* (1998), Director
- *Howard Hawks: American Artist* (1997), Director
- *Chaplin's Goliath* (1996), Writer, Director
- *Digging Your Own Grave* (1995), Director
- *The Making of an Englishman* (1995), Director
- *The Moving World of George Rickey*, Director
- *A Spy by Nature*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Kevin Macdonald](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-ce3113b13c24.jpg) Kevin Macdonald — che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017".](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-3e015302a033.jpg) Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017". — 9EkieraM1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald.jpg/1280px-AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017".](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-d2ce75df87d4.jpg) Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017". — 9EkieraM1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017".](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-eb46d2ec6b9b.jpg) Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017". — 9EkieraM1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped_2%29.jpg/1280px-AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped_2%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kevin Macdonald](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-2c4ee0733a54.jpg) Kevin Macdonald — Image via TMDB
- ![Kevin Macdonald](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-0dc8df9f0c3f.jpg) Kevin Macdonald — Image via TMDB
- ![Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017".](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-a2081cd8994a.jpg) Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017". — 9EkieraM1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped_3%29.jpg/1280px-AV0A6328_Kevin_Macdonald_%28cropped_3%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017".](https://film.one/media/person/98313/gallery-8ed978ad8ac2.jpg) Kevin Macdonald bei der Verleihung der "Film Festival Cologne Awards 2017". — 9EkieraM1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/AV0A6418_xxx%2C_Kevin_Macdonald.jpg/1280px-AV0A6418_xxx%2C_Kevin_Macdonald.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 0 won, 4 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Director 2007: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *The Last King of Scotland*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2007: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Last King of Scotland*
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2007: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *The Last King of Scotland*
- European Film Award for Best Documentary 2000: European Film Award for Best Documentary (nominated), for *One Day in September*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© 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/kevin-macdonald