Todd Haynes

Born:January 1961
Where: Los Angeles, USA

A documentary about the late songstress Karen Carpenter's death from anorexia using Barbie and Ken dolls launched gay film-maker Todd Haynes.

However, you're never likely to see it because the star's furious brother Richard - who was made to look a selfish nerd - procured a "cease and desist" order in 1989.

Still following the experimental path Haynes' award-winning first feature Poison intercuts a triptych of stylistically divergent episodes, each set in a world "dying of panicky fright."

He returned to the short form for the 27-minute comedy-drama Dottie Gets Spanked before his breakthrough movie Safe in 1995.

The restrained study of a woman (Julianne Moore) suffering from an environmental illness functioned as both a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic as well as for the general malaise of late 20th century life.

Haynes took a highly personal look at the British glam rock scene of the early 70s with Velvet Goldmine, his biggest and most accessible until then.

However, he reached a major audience with Far From Heaven, influenced by Douglas Sirk, again starring Moore as a suburban housewife who discovers her husband is gay.