Phil Grabsky Explained

Phil Grabsky is a British documentary film-maker.

His film In Search of Mozart was shown at the Barbican Concert Hall in 2006.^[1]

Escape from Luanda (2007) is about three students at the only music school in Angola.^[2]

His books include The Great Artists – co-authored with Tim Marlow – and The Great Commanders.

In 2009, Grabsky and his colleagues started Exhibition on Screen, a series of documentaries on art exhibitions. It began with 'Leonardo Live';^[3] other topics include Pompeii,^[4] van Gogh, Rembrandt, David Hockney, Frida Kahlo and Vermeer.^[5]

Feature documentaries

• • My National Gallery (2024) (co-directed with Ali Ray)
  • Pissarro: Father of Impressionism (2022)
  • My Childhood, My Country - 20 Years in Afghanistan (2021)
  • The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin (2021)
  • Sunflowers (2021)
  • Easter in Art (2020)
  • Frida Kahlo (2020)
  • Raphael Revealed (2020)
  • Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait (2020)
  • Leonardo: The Works (2019)
  • Van Gogh and Japan (2019)
  • Young Picasso (2019)
  • Degas: Passion For Perfection (2018)
  • David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts (2017)
  • Michelangelo: Love and Death (2017)
  • The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism (2017)
  • I, Claude Monet (2017)
  • Canaletto and the Art of Venice (2017)
  • The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (2016)
  • Painting the Modern Garden: from Monet to Matisse (2016)
  • Concerto - A Beethoven Journey (2015)
  • Renoir: Revered and Reviled (2015)
  • Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood (2015)
  • The impressionists and the Man Who Made Them (2015)
  • Vincent van Gogh: a New Way of Seeing (2015)
  • Girl with a Pearl Earring (2015)
  • Matisse Live (2014)
  • In Search of Chopin (2014)
  • Rembrandt from the National Gallery (2014)
  • Leonardo from the National Gallery (2014)
  • Vermeer (2013)
  • Munch (2013)
  • Manet (2012)
  • Leonardo Live (2012)
  • In Search of Haydn (2012)
  • The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan (2011)
  • In Search of Beethoven (2009)
  • Escape from Luanda (2007)
  • Heavy Water: A Film for Chernoby (2006)
  • In Search of Mozart (2006)
  • The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan (2003)
  • Muhammad Ali – Through the Eyes of the World (2001)

Selected TV programmes

Series

• Great Art (2018–present)
• Judgement Day

Images of Heaven and Hell (2004)

• Great Artists with Tim Marlow (2003)
• The Impressionists (1998)
• I, Caesar – The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (1997)
• Ancient Warriors (1994-1995)
• The Great Commanders (1993)
• Spain – In the Shadow of the Sun (1990)

One-offs

• Witness - A Child of Afghanistan: 20 Years of War (2021) 45 minute version of My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan co-directed with Shoaib Sharifi^{[6] [7] [8]}
• Tim Marlow On..Highlights of the New Tate Modern (2006)
• The Hidden History of Rome – with Terry Jones (2001)
• The Hidden History of Egypt – with Terry Jones (2001)
• Brazil – An Inconvenient History (2000)
• The Lost Temple of Java (1999)

Publications

• The Great Artists: From Giotto to Turner by Grabsky and Tim Marlow (2002)
• The Lost Temple of Java by Grabsky (1999)
• I, Caesar: Ruling the Roman Empire by Grabsky (1997)
• The Great Commanders: Alexander, Caesar, Nelson, Napoleon, Grant and Zhukov by Grabsky (1995)

Awards

• My Childhood, My Country - 20 Years in Afghanistan (2021)
  • Best Single Documentary - BAFTA Television Awards (2022)
  • Best Documentary - Royal Television Society (2022)
  • Phoenix Award for Best Documentary - Film Festival Cologne (2021)
  • Best Documentary - Seminici Valladolid International Film Festival (2021)
  • Golden Reel for Best Documentary - Tiburon Film Festival (2021)
  • Best International Documentary - DC International Film Festival (2022)
  • Student Jury Award - One World International Human Rights Film Festival (2022)
  • Best Documentary Feature - San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (2022)
  • Best Feature Documentary - Titan International Film Festival (2022)
  • Best Feature Documentary - Bali International Film Festival (2022)
  • Author's Documentary - URTI Grand Prix European Film Festival(2022)
• Exhibition on Screen: Matisse (2015)
  • Royal Television Society Southern Awards - Best Non-broadcast (2015)
• The Boy Mir - 10 Years in Afghanistan (2011)
  • Best Documentary - Santa Barbara International Film Festival
  • Best Foreign Film - HumanDOC Documentary Film Festival, Poland
  • Runner up: long documentary - Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival
• In Search of Beethoven (2009) – Shortlisted: Creative communication - Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards
• Escape from Luanda (2007) – Silver Award for Excellence - Park City Film Music Festival
• In Search of Mozart (2006) – Best Documentary - Dubrovnik Film Festival
• Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl (2006) – Winner – Special Mention - Ourense International Independent Film Festival
• The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan (2003)
  • Best Film, Cinematography and Editing - Gold Hugo in Chicago
  • First prize - Valladolid International Film Festival
  • Best Original Score (Dimitri Tchamouroff) – RTS Awards

External links

• • Escape from Luanda
• escapefromluanda.com downloads

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2006-01-08 . In Search of Mozart, Barbican, London . 2022-10-12 . The Independent . en.
2. Web site: 2008-06-21 . Escape from Luanda (DVD) - The Classical Source . 2022-10-12 . en-GB.
3. News: 2013-04-09 . Show me the Manet: Would you pay to see art in the cinema? . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-10-12.
4. Web site: 2013-02-04 . Pompeii exhibit to be disaster movie of the summer . 2022-10-12 . The Independent . en.
5. Web site: Our Films . 2022-10-12 . exhibitiononscreen.com . en-GB.
6. Web site: A Child of Afghanistan: 20 Years of War .
7. Web site: SBS, al Jazeera, SVT pick up Afghanistan doc My Childhood from Bomanbridge .
8. Web site: My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan .