Twice Oscar-nominated film director Mike Figgis came to Birmingham on 12 March as the latest speaker in our Boilerhouse Voices series of events.

Mike Figgis, whose Hollywood credits include Leaving Las Vegas and Internal Affairs, is visionary filmmaker who thrives on taking artistic risks. Starting out in experimental theatre and music – including a spell working with The People Show – a wide range of creative influences have shaped the vision that characterizes his feature film and documentary output.

For the last decade Mike has been working at the cutting edge of creative digital video. His film Timecode was shot in a single day without a script and using four digital cameras to create separate stories unfolding simultaneously in real time on a quadruple split screen.

Those who caught Mike recently on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Start the Week’, or who have read his book Digital Film Making will be familiar with his ideas about how the digital process is fundamentally changing the way ‘films’ are made, distributed and consumed. He has highlighted the profound implications of these developments, and the rise of Web 2.0, not just for the business of movies, but also for anyone who‘s ever thought of making one.