English filmmaker Nigel Finch was BOTD in 1949. Born in Tenterden, Kent, he was raised in London, and studied art history at the University of Sussex. After graduating, he began his professional career as an editor for the BBC’s documentary unit. He made his directorial with the 1981 documentary Chelsea Hotel, profiling the queer residents and guests of the famous New York City flophouse, including Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, William S. Burroughs, Quentin Crisp and Andy Warhol. His other documentary subjects included filmmaker Kenneth Anger and artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Louise Bourgeois. He rose to wider public attention as the co-director of the gay-themed TV series The Lost Language of Cranes, based on David Leavitt‘s novel and adapted by Sean Mathias. His final project was Stonewall, a stirring doco-drama about the queer and trans activists behind the Stonewall Riots in 1969 New York City, scripted by Rikki Beadle-Blair. Finch died of an AIDS-related illness in 1995, during the post-production of Stonewall; he was 45. The film was released after his death and dedicated to him, opening to excellent reviews.