Biography

Writer/Director Hugo Berkeley has spent more than 20 years telling stories from around the world. In his Peabody Award winning documentary “The Jazz Ambassadors” (PBS/BBC/Arte), Hugo reveals the role of America’s greatest jazz musicians in the Cold War. In 2017, he directed a 4-part true crime series for Sky (Italy) and the BBC, unravelling a devilishly complex DNA murder investigation in Northern Italy. Hugo won an earlier Peabody for directing “Land Rush” (one of 7 Why Poverty? films), about land grabbing in Mali, West Africa. And he received the Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Award in 2003 for “A Normal Life” about post-war Kosovo. Hugo has also co-produced several award-winning feature docs, including “I Bring What I Love”, about the Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour. Hugo lives in London, works frequently in America, and is a member of both BAFTA and the Directors Guild of America. 

Credits

Veleno: Town Of Lost Children 6 episodes View
Series   Role Year
Series 1, Episode 1   Director 2021
Series 1, Episode 2   Director 2021
Series 1, Episode 3   Director 2021
Series 1, Episode 4   Director 2021
Series 1, Episode 5   Director 2021
Series 1, Episode 6   Director 2021
Hacker:Hunter 2 episodes View
Series   Role Year
Series 1, Episode 1   Director 2019
Series 1, Episode 2   Director 2019
Jazz Ambassadors, The 1 episode View
Series   Role Year
-   Director 2018
Unknown Male Number 1 4 episodes View
Series   Role Year
Series 1, Episode 1   Director 2017
Series 1, Episode 2   Director 2017
Series 1, Episode 3   Director 2017
Series 1, Episode 4   Director 2017
Storyville 1 episode View
Series   Role Year
-   Director 2017
Land Rush 1 episode View
Series   Role Year
-   Director 2012

Other Credits

Why poverty?: the great land rush CLIPS / INSERT View
Description Year
ANIMATIONS / CARTOON 2012
The market maker SINGLE FILM View
Description Year
DOCUMENTARY / NATURAL HISTORY 2009
A normal life SINGLE FILM View
Description Year
DOCUMENTARY / NATURAL HISTORY 2003
Mtv high school stories CLIPS / INSERT View
Description Year
FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT / REALITY 2005
Eone: miles español CLIPS / INSERT View
Description Year
ANIMATIONS / CARTOON 2010
Unknown Male Number 1 Documentary Series (4x45mins) View
Description Year
“Unknown Male Number 1” (“Ignoto 1”) tells the story of the most high profile and unbelievable murder investigation in recent Italian history, resulting from the tragic and brutal slaying of 13-year old Yara Gambiarasio near her home in northern Italy in 2010. Recounted through the intimate testimony of the tenacious and emotionally-invested lead prosecutor, Letizia Ruggeri, the series gives audiences unfettered access to one of the most complicated forensic investigations ever undertaken, anywhere. And, following the 2014 arrest of a local builder, Massimo Bossetti, for Yara’s murder, the series follows his defence through a year-long trial, embedding with his lawyers and asking whether the central DNA evidence really stands up to scrutiny. With a sensitive and cinematic approach to its subject matter, “Unknown Male Number 1” is both a thrilling account of a remarkable criminal investigation and a tender portrait of life, death and justice in present day Italy. Not to be missed / Pick of the Day – Evening Standard, Independent and Guardian (UK) (Broadcast on BBC Storyville as "Muder In Italy" 1x90mins) 2017
The Jazz Ambassadors Single Music Documentary View
Description Year
An Antelope South, Normal Life Pictures film, for THIRTEEN/WENT (PBS, USA), BBC and ZDF, in collaboration with ARTE The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1955, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their mixed-race band members, faced a painful dilemma: how could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation? 2018

Non-Directorial Credits

On a Knife Edge (Co-Producer) View
Description
Set against a background of rising tension and protest, a Lakota teenager learns first-hand what it means to lead a new generation and enter adulthood in a world where the odds are stacked against him. Filmed over a five-year period, On a Knife Edge provides a privileged view into the interior world of George Dull Knife as he becomes politically active with the American Indian Movement, confronts the challenges of growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and wrestles with accepting leadership of his storied family from his aging father.

Awards

Skills

  • HD
  • Arts
  • Music
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