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Phil Grabsky is a British documentary film-maker based in Brighton, East Sussex. 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 internationally 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 has been shown across the globe and won 13 awards including the Gold Hugo in Chicago for Best Film and first prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Phil is continuing to film Mir and his family in Afghanistan.
2006 saw the completion of In Search of Mozart. 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 top 100 grossing documentaries in Australia.
Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl (2006) explores the Chernobyl nuclear disaster through Mario Petrucci’s poetry. Phil worked in conjunction with director David Bickerstaff for this project which went on to win Best Short Documentary at the Cinequest International Film Festival.
In 2007 Grabsky completed Escape from Luanda which tells the tale of three students at Angola’s only music school.
Phil Grabsky's most recent film In Search of Beethoven, focusing on the life and work of the German composer was released in 2009.
In addition to making films, Phil has released four books and often serves as a judge for various awards including BAFTA, Emmys, RTS and the One World awards.
| 2024 | My National Gallery, London - Director |
| 2024 | John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger - Producer |
| 2023 | Klimt & The Kiss - Producer |
| 2023 | Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition - Executive Producer |
| 2022 | Hopper: An American Love Story - Cinematography |
| 2022 | Hopper: An American Love Story - Director |
| 2022 | Hopper: An American Love Story - Producer |
| 2022 | Hopper: An American Love Story - Writer |
| 2021 | Raphael Revealed - Director |
| 2021 | My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan - Director |
| 2021 | My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan - Producer |
| 2020 | Easter in Art - Director |
| 2019 | Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait - Producer |
| 2019 | Leonardo: The Works - Director |
| 2019 | Leonardo: The Works - Executive Producer |
| 2019 | Leonardo: The Works - Writer |
| 2019 | Exhibition on Screen: Vermeer and Music - Director |
| 2019 | Young Picasso - Director |
| 2018 | Rembrandt: From the National Gallery, London and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Producer |
| 2018 | Rembrandt: From the National Gallery, London and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Writer |
| 2018 | Cézanne: Portraits of a Life - Director |
| 2018 | Cézanne: Portraits of a Life - Writer |
| 2017 | David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts - Director |
| 2017 | The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism - Director |
| 2017 | El fascinante mundo de El Bosco - Director |
| 2017 | I, Claude Monet - Director |
| 2017 | I, Claude Monet - Director of Photography |
| 2017 | I, Claude Monet - Producer |
| 2016 | The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch - Director |
| 2016 | Renoir: Reviled and Revered - Director |
| 2016 | Renoir: Reviled and Revered - Director of Photography |
| 2016 | Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse - Executive Producer |
| 2016 | Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse - Producer |
| 2016 | Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood - Writer |
| 2015 | Concerto: A Beethoven Journey - Director |
| 2015 | The Impressionists: And the Man Who Made Them - Director |
| 2015 | Vincent Van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing - Director |
| 2015 | Girl with a Pearl Earring: And Other Treasures from the Mauritshuis - Producer |
| 2014 | Matisse: From MoMA and Tate Modern - Director |
| 2014 | In Search of Chopin - Director |
| 2013 | Munch from the Munch Museum and National Gallery Oslo - Executive Producer |
| 2013 | Manet - Portraying Life - Director |
| 2012 | Leonardo: From the National Gallery, London - Director |
| 2012 | Leonardo: From the National Gallery, London - Writer |
| 2012 | In Search of Haydn - Director |
| 2012 | In Search of Haydn - Director of Photography |
| 2012 | In Search of Haydn - Producer |
| 2012 | In Search of Haydn - Writer |
| 2011 | The Boy Mir - Director |
| 2009 | Making War Horse - Director |
| 2009 | Making War Horse - Producer |
| 2009 | In Search of Beethoven - Director |
| 2007 | Escape from Luanda - Director |
| 2007 | Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl - Writer |
| 2006 | In Search of Mozart - Cinematography |
| 2006 | In Search of Mozart - Director |
| 2006 | In Search of Mozart - Writer |
| 2004 | The Boy who plays On The Buddhas Of Bamiyan - Cinematography |
| 2004 | The Boy who plays On The Buddhas Of Bamiyan - Director |
| 2002 | The Surprising History of Sex and Love - Director |
| 2002 | The Surprising History of Sex and Love - Writer |
| 2002 | The Surprising History of Egypt - Director |
| 2002 | The Surprising History of Egypt - Writer |
| 2002 | The Hidden History of Egypt - Director |
| 2002 | The Hidden History of Rome - Director |
| 2001 | Muhammad Ali - Through The Eyes Of The World - Director |
| 2001 | Nero's Golden House - Director |
| 2001 | Nero's Golden House - Writer |
| 1993 | Julius Caesar: Master of the Roman World - Director |
| 1993 | Julius Caesar: Master of the Roman World - Producer |
| 1993 | Julius Caesar: Master of the Roman World - Writer |
| Manet - Director of Photography |
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