Chris Atkins (filmmaker)

Chris Atkins
Image of Chris Atkins in front of a poster for his second feature length documentary, Starsuckers
Born	Christopher Walsh Atkins 1976
Nationality	British
Education	Bromsgrove School
Occupation	Documentary film maker
Notable work	Taking Liberties Starsuckers

Chris Atkins (born Christopher Walsh Atkins in 1976) is a British journalist and documentary film maker. He has made several fiction feature films, feature length documentaries and television documentaries. His work is noted for causing controversy and has often faced legal action as a result of his films. He gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics of the British press.

Atkins was educated at Bromsgrove School from 1986–1994. His early career involved making low-budget dramas with director Richard Jobson, including Jobson's debut feature film, 16 Years of Alcohol, which was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards in 2003, winning two. He also produced The Purifiers with Jobson, a martial arts film set in the future, which was acquired by Working Title and released in the USA by Newline Cinema. in 2005 he produced Jobson's A Woman In Winter, starring Jamie Sivves, Julie Gayet and Brian Cox. It was nomainted for two Scottish BAFTAs, including best film.

In 2007 he directed his first feature documentary Taking Liberties (2007) which strongly criticised the Blair government for undermining civil liberties since the war on terror. While making Taking Liberties, Atkins was held under anti-terror laws when he tried to speak with the Home Secretary John Reid at the 2006 Labour Party conference. The film was released in over 50 British cinemas shortly before Blair stepped down in 2007 to very strong reviews. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film 4 stars, saying "there's something exhilarating about this thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile docu-blast against Tony Blair's insidious diminution of native British liberties." The film was BAFTA nominated for the "Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer in their first feature film" in the 2008 British Academy Film Awards.

In 2009 Atkins directed his second feature documentary, Starsuckers (2009)., which heavily criticised the media for the negative effects of celebrity culture. The film gained wide notoriety for selling fake celebrity stories to several British tabloid newspapers, and for secretly filming journalists from sunday tabloids who were attempting to buy celebrity medical records. The Guardian newspaper published two front page stories about Starsuckers in October 2009, and the News Of The World attempted to sue the film for secretly filming one of their journalists. Atkins also secretly filmed the celebrity publicist Max Clifford boasting about how he kept embarrassing stories about his clients out of the media, and Clifford also tried to legally block the film's release. The film also criticised Bob Geldof over the negative consequences of both Live Aid and Live 8 charitiy concerts, leading Geldof to write Atkins a scathing 6,000 word letter attacking the film days before it was screened on Channel 4 in 2010. Thirty minutes of footage from Starsuckers were shown as part of Atkins' evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. His evidence was quoted extensively in Leveson's final report.