Phil Grabsky

Phil Grabsky is a British documentary filmmaker based in Brighton, East Sussex, England. His company Seventh Art Productions has produced documentaries for television and cinema.

Grabsky's work such as I, Caesar, Spain - In the Shadow on the Sun, The Great Commanders and the Tim Marlow on... series, has been broadcast on various U.K. channels such as BBC, Channel 4, Five and Sky Arts, and around the world.

His film The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan was released in cinemas in 2003 and tells the story of 8-year-old Mir and his family living in post-Taliban Afghanistan. The film won 13 awards, including the Gold Hugo in Chicago for Best Film and first prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Grabsky continued to film Mir and his family in Afghanistan,[1] and released a second film about Mir and his family in 2011, The Boy Mir. He and his co-director Shoaib Sharifi continue to films in Afghanistan and have released a third film about Mir and his family called My childhood, my country - 20 years in Afghanistan (2021).[2]

2006 saw the completion of In Search of Mozart.[3] The film illustrates the life and work of the composer through interviews and live performance. The film premiered at London's Barbican concert hall. Subsequently, it has gone on to become one of the most popular films ever made on Mozart. Grabsky then made In Search Of films on Beethoven, Haydn and Chopin.[4][5][6]

Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl (2006) explores the Chernobyl nuclear disaster through Mario Petrucci’s poetry. Grabsky worked in conjunction with director David Bickerstaff for this project which won Best Short Documentary at the Cinequest Film Festival.[7]

In 2007 Grabsky completed Escape from Luanda which tells the tale of three students at Angola's only music school. Other films include history films with Terry Jones, films on Brazilian footballer Pele and Muhammad Ali, and over 100 art films with Tim Marlow.

Grabsky's most recent project - Exhibition On Screen - connects major exhibitions from across the world and shows them on cinema screens. The series began with Leonardo from the National Gallery, and now plays in over 1500 cinemas in 55 countries. Season 7 is currently in production, which includes films on Leonardo da Vinci, Lucien Freud and Frida Kahlo.[8]

Another recent film was Concerto: A Beethoven Journey, which followed top pianist Leif Ove Andsnes as he toured playing Beethoven's five piano concertos.[9] This film as well as the In Search Of series will be re-released in cinemas in 2019 and 2020 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.

In addition to making films, Grabsky has released four books and has served as a judge for BAFTA, Emmys, RTS and the One World awards.[10]