Phil Grabsky

Phil Grabsky is a BAFTA-winning British documentary filmmaker who has received multiple awards for his directing, writing, producing and cinematography.

He and his company Seventh Art Productions are behind cinema films such as Muhammad Ali – Through the Eyes of the World, In Search of Beethoven, In Search of Mozart and the landmark My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan, which won Best Single Documentary at the 2022 Television BAFTAs and was also nominated for its cinematography. He has made over 250 films which have played in cinemas and on TV and digital platforms worldwide.

Among the many films Grabsky has directed for television are multiple singles for Channel 4, ITV, the BBC, Discovery, A&E, PBS, Sky Arts and others, as well as major series such as I Caesar – the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Great Commanders, Tim Marlow on… and Spain – In the Shadow of the Sun. Seventh Art has also made six history films with Monty Python's Terry Jones, alongside being the world's biggest producer of arts film for cinema and TV over the last 20 years.

Phil Grabsky also made the first surround-sound documentary The Lost Temple of Java for the BBC and the world's first 3D visual arts film, Tim Marlow on British Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts for Sky Arts 3D.

Grabsky's Great Composers series includes the four In Search Of films, each exploring the life and music of a different classical composer (Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Chopin), as well as the ground-breaking feature Concerto – A Beethoven Journey following world-famous pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on his extensive journey through the five Beethoven piano concertos. In Search of Mozart premiered at London's Barbican concert hall in 2006,[1] in front of 1000 people.

In 2007 Grabsky completed Escape from Luanda which tells the tale of three students at Angola's only music school.[2] Other films cover a broad range of topics, from Brazilian footballer Pele and Muhammad Ali to Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl (2006), which explores the Chernobyl nuclear disaster through Mario Petrucci's poetry. He worked in conjunction with director David Bickerstaff for this project which won Best Short Documentary at the Cinequest Film Festival.

Grabsky has also written four history books, including The Great Artists – co-authored with Tim Marlow – and the best-seller The Great Commanders. He is regularly involved as a judge for the Emmys, BAFTAs, Grierson and One World awards, and has won numerous personal awards himself including Royal Television Society awards for both ‘Best Director’ and ‘Services to Television’, and a Voice of the Listener and Viewer Award for ‘Services to Education.’

Grabsky also lectures and gives masterclasses and has been invited to talk on Radio 3 (In Tune), Radio 4 (the Today Show, Start the Week, The History Quiz), Radio 5, BBC Southern Counties (Breakfast show, Film Review, Music of my Life), Classic FM, LBC, TalkSport, Times Radio, and the BBC World Service. He also frequently attends question & answer sessions with his films in the UK and around the world. He also has an art blog and hosts the popular podcast ‘Painting of the Week.’

In 2009, Grabsky and his colleagues began work on a new arts genre for the cinema: Exhibition on Screen, which began with 'Leonardo Live'.[3] This brings major art exhibitions – and the intimate biographies of the artists – to cinema, mainstream television and home entertainment platforms worldwide. The aim of the project is to increase access to these exhibitions and their curatorial context. Grabsky has said of them that they are 'partly for people to learn about the works and partly the pure aesthetic pleasure of seeing the artworks on a massive screen'.[4] Exhibition on Screen now plays in 1500 cinemas and 60+ countries worldwide. Its website lists 34 films on artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, David Hockney, Frida Kahlo, and Vermeer.[5]