Peter Straughan: An American Cinematheque Retrospective

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The American Cinematheque is thrilled to welcome acclaimed screenwriter and playwright Peter Straughan for a retrospective in celebration of his newest film, CONCLAVE, a deliciously twisty thriller about the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders meeting to select a new pope, for which his writing was recently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Recognized for his work on genre-bending black comedies with a political bend, Peter Straughan’s writing shows a sharp satirical eye and a sly sense of humor in deconstructive farces like THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS and OUR BRAND IS CRISIS that dismantle the mythos of power. Straughan was previously nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, a Cold War spy film adapted from a John Le Carré novel that follows the British Secret Intelligence Service’s hunt for a Soviet agent hidden in their ranks. He won a BAFTA for Best Screenplay for his work on FRANK, the quirky story of a dysfunctional-yet-ambitious band fronted by the titular Frank, a mad genius who never takes off his papier-mache mask.