---
name: "Neill Blomkamp"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/neill-blomkamp"
fi1m_id: "neill-blomkamp"
imdb_id: "nm0088955"
tmdb_id: 82194
wikidata_id: "Q715838"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "17 September 1979"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-19T09:37:27.536539+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."
---

# Neill Blomkamp

## Identity

Neill Blomkamp

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/neill-blomkamp
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** neill-blomkamp
- **IMDb ID:** nm0088955
- **TMDB ID:** 82194
- **Wikidata ID:** Q715838
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neill_Blomkamp, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q715838, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/82194

Director and writer. Born 17 September 1979 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 17 September 1979, Johannesburg, South Africa
- **Active:** 2009–present
- **Also known as:** Нил Бломкамп, 닐 블롬캠프, Нілл Блумкамп 
- **Frequently works with:** [Sharlto Copley](https://film.one/person/sharlto-copley.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 81 (1), 2010s 60 (1), 2020s 56 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 64 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Action 2, Drama 2, Science Fiction 2, Adventure 1, Sport 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $619m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neill_Blomkamp, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q715838, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/82194

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*District 9*](https://film.one/film/district-9.md) (81)
- **Netflix:** [*Elysium*](https://film.one/film/elysium.md) (60)
- **Disney+:** [*Gran Turismo*](https://film.one/film/gran-turismo.md) (56)

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

## Fi1m on Neill Blomkamp

> Neill Blomkamp makes the aliens in *District 9* solid enough to move us. We recommend his debut, but the prolonged gunfire there and the formula of *Gran Turismo* show where his storytelling needs more discipline.

In *District 9* (2009), Wikus van de Merwe treats the exclusion of aliens as another procedure to carry out. Sharlto Copley gives him the bustle and vanity of a minor official delighted to have authority. Blomkamp and co-writer Terri Tatchell let this officious man show how easily cruelty becomes part of the working day. This is the Blomkamp we rate: inventive, uncomfortable and attentive to the person doing the damage. When he assigns that damage to broader villains, the film gives us too easy an excuse to blame somebody else.

His move from visual effects into directing makes sense when we see how convincingly those creatures share the humans’ streets. *Alive in Joburg* (2005) supplied the basis for his feature debut, followed by the science fiction of *Elysium* (2013) and *Chappie* (2015). Experimental shorts through Oats Studios continued alongside the features. *Gran Turismo* (2023) took him into sports drama, where physical speed could draw on those skills without requiring another alien.

The effects in *District 9* work because we can stop thinking about them. We were moved more than we expected by the alien father-and-son scenes, because the creatures look solid enough for us to watch a family rather than inspect the animation. Copley makes Wikus just as convincing: fear grows without erasing his vanity. That gives the film someone worth watching even when there is little to like about him. Blomkamp is less sure of when to stop the gunfire; prolonged combat takes attention away from the smaller cruelties that made the film worth watching.

In *Gran Turismo*, cinematographer Jacques Jouffret puts cameras low beside the wheels and close to the tarmac, making the races feel fast and heavy. Blomkamp lets a car dissolve into a wire frame and draws the game’s racing line onto the real road, a useful way of showing how Jann Mardenborough reads a corner. Yet Zach Baylin and Jason Hall’s script takes him through the underdog story in the expected order, with a doubtful father, sceptical coach and rich rival. There is enough skill here to admire, but too much of the film feels like an advert for the car for us to recommend it. Start with *District 9*, and allow for a director who does not always know when there has been enough shooting.

## Biography

Neill Blomkamp is a South African-born Canadian film director and screenwriter. He was born on 17 September 1979 in Johannesburg.

Blomkamp is best known for directing and co-writing the science fiction film *District 9* (2009), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also directed *Elysium* (2013), *Chappie* (2015) and the sports drama *Gran Turismo* (2023). He began his career with short films including *Alive in Joburg* (2005) and has frequently collaborated with actor Sharlto Copley. His wife Terri Tatchell has co-written several of his projects.

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

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Gran Turismo* (2023), Fi1m 56, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/gran-turismo.md)
- *Elysium* (2013), Fi1m 60, Writer, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/elysium.md)
- *District 9* (2009), Fi1m 81, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/district-9.md)

## Complete filmography (38)

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

- *Ash* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Gran Turismo* (2023), Director — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/gran-turismo.md)
- *Switcher – Off the Grid Cinema* (2022), Director
- *Oats Studios: Volume 1* (2021), Director
- *OATS Studios* (2021), series, Creator
- *Demonic* (2021), Producer, Director, Screenplay
- *Bad President - Kenya* (2020), Director, Producer
- *God: City* (2018), Director, Writer
- *Kapture: Locust* (2018), Director
- *Adam: The Prophet* (2017), Director, Writer
- *Lima* (2017), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Gdansk* (2017), Director
- *Praetoria: Part One* (2017), Director
- *Adam: The Mirror* (2017), Director, Writer, Executive Producer
- *Kapture: Fluke* (2017), Director, Screenplay
- *Zygote* (2017), Director, Screenplay
- *God: Serengeti* (2017), Director, Screenplay
- *Firebase* (2017), Director, Screenplay
- *Cooking with Bill* (2017), series, Director, Creator
- *Bad President - All My Sh*t* (2017), Director
- *Bad President - Oil Spill* (2017), Director
- *Rakka* (2017), Director, Writer
- *The Escape* (2016), Director, Writer
- *Chappie* (2015), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Elysium* (2013), Director, Writer, Producer — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/elysium.md)
- *District 9* (2009), as Man with Wikus' Coordinates (uncredited) · Director, Writer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/district-9.md)
- *Crossing the Line* (2008), Co-Director
- *Halo: Landfall* (2007), Director
- *Tempbot* (2006), Director
- *Adicolor Yellow* (2006), Director, Writer
- *Alive in Joburg* (2005), Director, Visual Effects
- *Tetra Vaal* (2003), Director, Writer
- *The Hire* (2001), series, Director, Writer
- *3000 Miles to Graceland* (2001), Lead Animator
- *The Gone World*, Director
- *Alpha*, Director
- *Starship Troopers*, Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *District 10*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Neill Blomkamp](https://film.one/media/person/16124/gallery-b8e1e8409f90.jpg) Neill Blomkamp — Natasha Baucas at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdnatasha/, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/NeillBlomkampCCJuly09.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Neill Blomkamp](https://film.one/media/person/16124/gallery-2cdaa1e631e2.jpg) Neill Blomkamp — Image via TMDB
- ![Neill Blomkamp](https://film.one/media/person/16124/gallery-ea58b8beb443.jpg) Neill Blomkamp — Image via TMDB
- ![Neill Blomkamp](https://film.one/media/person/16124/gallery-10de6e465667.jpg) Neill Blomkamp — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2010: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *District 9*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Time Machine Award 2021: Time Machine Award (won)

*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/neill-blomkamp