Tony Kaye

In January 2012, Detachment won Best Picture at the Ramdam Film Festival in Tournai, Belgium. On 24 January 2016, Kaye announced on his Facebook page that he will be directing Joe Vinciguerra's screenplay titled Stranger Than the Wheel. The upcoming film features Shia LaBeouf and potentially Alec Baldwin about a young man who revisits his past, and his relationship with this abusive father.

Kaye also began filming a documentary in 2016 called The Hell of Compromise which he is making about the struggle over American History X, composed chiefly of videos he shot of himself at the time. Kaye said that it is meant to be a personal portrait of the process and the trauma that he encountered in his first experience as a Hollywood filmmaker. He also pointed out that the point of the movie was to help creative people to not get in their own way.

The battle over artistic control of the film, which has become part of Hollywood folklore, all but destroyed Kaye's career. He delivered his original cut on time and within budget – but when the producer, New Line Cinema, insisted on changes, the arguments began.

Kaye's fourth feature film, Detachment (2011), starring Adrien Brody, as well as featuring Kaye's daughter Betty, is a drama about the decline of the education system in American high schools. It premiered in April 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival On 9 September 2011, Detachment screened in competition at the 37th Deauville American Film Festival in France. It won both the Revelations Prize and the International Critics' Award. On 18 September, Detachment was announced as the Closing Night Film at the Woodstock Film Festival, where Kaye was the recipient of the Honorary Maverick Award.

On 12 October 2011, Detachment screened in competition at the Valenciennes International Festival of Action and Adventure Films in France, where it won the Grand Prize and the Audience Award. Later, on 26 October, the film screened in competition at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival. It received the award for Best Artistic Contribution, sharing honors with the film Kora.

Kaye's third feature film was a crime drama titled Black Water Transit starring Laurence Fishburne, Karl Urban, Evan Ross, Brittany Snow, and Stephen Dorff. The film was shot in New Orleans during the summer of 2007. A rough cut was reportedly screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival but the film was never released to cinemas. As of 2017 the film is considered unfinished due to the production company's bankruptcy and the ensuing litigation.

Kaye's second feature, a documentary called Lake of Fire, was about the abortion debate in the United States. It opened in Toronto in September 2006. The movie was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (though it did not win a nomination), and was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, and the Satellite Awards. Lake of Fire took Kaye 18 years to make.

His feature film debut was American History X (1998), a drama about racism starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. Kaye disowned the final cut of the film and unsuccessfully attempted to have his name removed from the credits. The film was critically lauded and Norton was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.

Tony Kaye (born 8 July 1952) is a British director of films, music videos, advertisements, and documentaries. He is best known as the director of American History X (1998).

Detachment also screened in competition at the 35th São Paulo International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Foreign Language Film. On 16 November, Detachment screened at the 53rd Muestra Internacional de Cine in Mexico.