Phil Grabsky is an award-winning documentary film-maker. With a film career spanning 25 years, Phil and his company Seventh Art Productions make films for cinema, television and DVD. His biggest project to date is the creation of a unique new arts brand: EXHIBITION ON SCREEN. This brings major art exhibitions – and the stories of both the galleries and the artists – to a cinema, TV and DVD audience worldwide.
There simply are not enough hours in the day. Who decided to only have 24?! (Actually wasn't it the ancient Egyptians who divided the day into 12 hours day and 12 hours night on the basis of how long a soldier can stand watch? Hmm, I wonder).
Anyway, I, for one, simply can't get everything done in a day - especially when the Spanish are playing the beautiful game in the Euros, Bradley Wiggens is becoming an absolute hero and poor old Alan Scott crumbles on the last four holes of the Open. To make matters worse, my wife gave me the DVD set of Homeland - which is not-put-downable.... (trailer for series 1 below)
Somewhere, outside of the wee hours of the night, I've been reading about the Papacy in the 15th century, the life of Chopin and the history of the piano.... And, just for fun, the terrible, awful history of the Battle of the Atlantic in World War Two. Some, not all, of the above is for work and that remains the same as ever. Choose subjects you are interested in and then just crack on.
The world of broadcasting becomes harder and harder. Deals are broken, invoices unpaid. One European broadcaster has yet to pay us for THE BOY MIR two years after delivery. It's not a lot of money but it's the principle - or lack of - that irks me. But what to do? It's a game of three-dimensional chess and from time to time you have to sacrifice a pawn to stay in the game. But it's a tough world now - it's not about public service any more, it's about commerce. Look at SKY: one moment on top of the world, the next BT come along and almost steal the rights to premier league football. BT apparently had a purse of £2billion to bid for those games. They didn't get what they wanted but they got some and the price per game has, I believe, risen from a staggering £4m/game to over £6m/game. Yep, you read that right! £6 million quid. Per game. Of football. Now, as a Man City fan, I know and love football and know all about the impact of money but £6m/game is way off the scale. Along comes little ol' me talking public service and culture and asking for £50,000 a show or whatever and you can see why I have battles.... As I said, three-dimensional chess.
On the other hand, when and if we can bring more EXHIBITION shows to the cinema, or IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN or PIANO NOTES - THE UTTERLY PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE PIANO WITH RONALD BRAUTIGAM we'll have done something really worthwhile. It's not in the same league as winning the Tour or a Major in golf but, to us, crossing the finish line is always a victory.
A busy week ends. We've been editing two super projects: PIANO NOTES - THE UTTERLY PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE PIANO WITH RONALD BRAUTIGAM (we're after the longest title award at the next BAFTAs) and the pilot for my film THE PIANIST AND BEETHOVEN (which stars Leif Ove Andsnes). What a thrill, to be working with two of the best pianists in the world. Ronald's series of shorts will eventually comprise of 26 shorts from Scarlati and Bach right up to the modern day. We've shot the first 13 epsiodes and, even if I do say so myself!, they look and sound great. It's not me that makes them work; it's the wonderful pianism of Ronald and the wonderful editing of my editor Phil Reynolds. I do have a personal way I like to shoot but it would be nothing without them. Above all, it's the genius (an over-used word but suitable at this juncture) of the composers themselves. Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schuman, Schubert and more. Really pleased with these films - and they'll be finished and on air later this year.
The project with Leif Ove is also one to get any music fan tingling... Leif Ove is playing and recording the five Beethoven piano concerti over the next three years and he is allowing me full access to follow his journey. Really, filming his performances with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra would be enough but to also look at how he approaches this works of great art, what does he discover about Beethoven and, at the same time, what can we learn about one of the top 10 pianists in the world as he travels from Japan to the USA to Germany to the UK, and so on. You don't often get to see behind-the-scenes in the kind of detail we are already capturing. If I can make it as fascinating to watch as it is to film, I'll be happy. I filmed him performing and recording in Prague and Bergen - it was a little strenuous but worth it when I watched the rushes with Phil the editor. We've put together a pilot and now we need to raise the budget....watch this space.
Edvard Munch 'The Girls on the Bridge', 1901 (c) National Museum, Oslo, Norway 2012
Another project to watch is TIM MARLOW ON… EDVARD MUNCH: THE MODERN EYE. We shoot it Tuesday for TX on SkyArts next Saturday (7th July). Ben Harding is directing and I know it's a great exhibition so it'll make a great film. Take a look.
Just back from an interesting evening at the Broadcast Digital Awards. LEONARDO LIVE had been nominated for an award as best live show of last year which was, frankly, pretty generous as not everything went smoothly on the night. But, as I’ve said before, juries are very random beasts and obviously they had enjoyed the show and were happy to overlook some of the glitches. Plus it was a TV/Cinema ‘first’ and there aren’t really that many of those around.
So… to the Lancaster Hotel where a sea of middle-aged men in black (yep, including me though no dicky bow!) and a very glamourous younger crowd of women gathered in the hope of a gong to adorn a mantelpiece somewhere. Let me state straightaway that I love winning awards - and consider them irrelevant when we don’t…. But there are so many now it’s hard to keep track and also hard to know which are the most valuable. Frankly, it’s much of a muchness – but any award is good news for the broadcaster concerned and offers a stamp of success. Anything thus that helps secure the next commission has to be useful. On the other hand, were those tables really £3000+ a pop?? Good lord – there were 49 tables so do the maths…. I think I might start a few awards ceremonies myself and hold them in my lounge. Or maybe just sell the laurel leaves for producers to fling liberally over their DVD covers. That’s what we do! I’ve won dozens of awards – has it helped? Not much.
So what were we up against and did we win?
Radio 1's Big Weekend Lady Gaga Live, BBC Productions for BBC Three
The FA Cup Final, IMG Sports Media for ESPN
The World Sheepdog Trials, North One TV for More 4
Tour de France 2011, V Squared for ITV4
World Match Racing Tour, Red Handed TV for multiple broadcasters
My vote went to the Tour de France coverage which is super. The jury’s vote went to ….The FA Cup. Never mind, the nomination (our second for Leonardo Live) was nice. The highlight though of the night was the comedian Greg Davies who was superb. The lowlight was the British rail service…..
A Grabsky blog first...I'm on board Norwegian Air who are first airline to have free wi-fi so instead of reading, sleeping, talking, eating or watching tv I'm doing work emails...Is this a good thing? Either way, technology moves on once again.The last two nights I have filmed Leif Ove Andsnes playing Beethoven and I'm off to Norway to film one more concert. They have been staggering...I'll write more later. Enoughof this airline makarkey...
I had a very interesting evening at the impressive One World Media Awards last week. The Boy Mir was nominated in the Children’s Rights category. Sadly we didn’t win but it’s great to be nominated alongside a host of inspiring and illustrious entries. The winner in the Children’s Rights category was Africa Investigates: Spell of the Albino, I’ve included the jury’s comments on The Boy Mir and the other entries in the category below.
This year’s entries were brilliantly powerful and shocking. Each one delivered an influential insight into children’s lives in the developing world, pushing for improvement of their rights. They were all excellent examples of filmmaking/journalism, making it difficult to decide on the winner. The winner of this year’s Children’s Rights Award, therefore, is the entry that took action and made a positive difference to children’s lives in the developing world.
Africa Investigates: Spell of the Albino, InsightNewsTV for Al Jazeera English
This was truly good investigative journalism, an example of how documentaries should be. It wasn’t just a case of reporting an unstressed situation to the world; instead, this documentary took action, made a difference and could potentially save lives. What makes this one entry stand out is the graphic aspects, capturing the attention of the audience - the images weren't just used for 'shock factor'. Without them, the message would not have been be conveyed. It gave a voice to the victims, their families, charity workers and witch doctors, as well as clearly setting out possible solutions to a serious crime.
This website is a great resource that allows audiences to interactively learn about the important issue of child marriage and all the issues surrounding it. It is a powerful website that truly promotes change. Its interactive aspects and multimedia format makes it reign supreme over an average online source. With voices from all over the developing world and access to legal support, this website could possibly be a life-saving tool as well. The entry is a fresh approach on an unsolved, on-going problem that provides aid to the victims yet also shows signs of hope.
The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan, Seventh Art Productions
This documentary captures 10 years in 90 minutes - a very impressive feat. It is a moving and revealing insight into an Afghan family and offers cultural understanding like no other. It was a wonderful and moving experience, both comical and heart-breaking at times. Through the life of one boy, the film teaches the audience about culture, poverty, health, education, family, love, politics and the interdependence of the rich and poor. Very rarely does media give a true insight to the developing world; however, this production did so effectively and compellingly.
So, congratulations to all the winners and nominees (there’s a full list on their website) and for anyone out there interested in documentary I would thoroughly recommend this award.
Breakfast, make lunch sandwich and smuggle out of breakfast room, ironing, unpack, count dvds, emails, phone calls, go for jog, get haircut, go to bank, check emails again, clean shoes, update database, read about Chopin, check local press, do Facebook and Twitter, and... oh yes, the blog.
Into the last week of this tour now and only three cities left. This will be the last blog of the tour as I know DC and NY are going to be very busy. I have the films and meetings and even some filming to do. Right now, I’m here in Kansas City, then tomorrow begins Washington DC and New York. Last week, after Boston I went to Chicago which is a fantastic city to visit - and a very receptive city for my music films. I did seven attended screenings and enjoyed each one - the film was very well received and I had many interesting and encouraging conversations with the audience after the film finished. What was also nice was the extraordinary enthusiasm for the news that I am going to make a film next about Chopin. That gave me a welcome boost. Driving audiences in though is getting tougher - radio and press both seem to be cutting back on reviewers and the cost of ads for small film-makers like me is prohibitive. Bigger distributors may show an income of a million bucks on a doc but they’ve spent a million to get it there. Honestly, though, if I’d had the money, I do think either Beethoven or Boy Mir could have cracked it in the USA but it would have been expensive and even more time-consuming. And I take the long-term view (-I have to-) that folk will see the films in the end one way or another. They do well on DVD, they’ll do increasingly well on the internet platforms and I’ll keep having cinema or concert hall screenings.
It’s fascinating though reading, as I am, Keith Richards’ autobiography - even for a great band like them, so much was carefully orchestrated publicity. So, I have been away for almost six weeks - that is a long time. At least my family were able to fly out and spend some of that time with me otherwise it would have been unacceptable and unbearable. It hasn’t made enough money to pay back much of Haydn’s costs or contribute towards Chopin - to other film-makers I say, again, don’t copy me. But I have achieved much, met many fine people, been highly rewarded by the almost unanimously ecstatic response to the film and the very warm desire for me to now to Chopin. My hat is off to all the hard-working cinema owners and staff, and the overwhelmingly nice hotel and airline staff that I have dealt with. I have only two more flights now and that’s a relief - and I managed all this travelling without paying a single extra baggage charge! Things like that give me great pleasure. I have tried to keep abreast of world events but that’s sometimes hard when you’re so short of time. I’ve certainly watched a lot of films but none were major works. Many, indeed, were really quite bad - and made on a budget a thousand times more than mine. I didn’t lose the three kilos I just can’t shift nor did I keep to my promise to run 5 miles a day... nor did I read the da Ponte biography that I keep lugging around... But I did get through thousands of emails and feel very set up for the months ahead.
By way of final conclusion, I’d have liked better audiences but I couldn’t have hoped for a better critical response from those who came - and that, at the end of the day, is what will keep the film fresh for years and years to come. So cheerio blog buddies... I hope someone is reading... if not, well, it’s the nearest thing I have to a diary!! PS - very corny but best pun title of a review in the press goes to Brent Sheppherd of Kansas City’s The Pitch: Joseph, where have you been Haydn? All the best, Px
A grey and cold morning in Boston – great! I can’t take all these sunny days giving folk the option of going to the beach when naturally they should be thinking about sitting in screenings of In Search of Haydn. Yesterday’s screenings were poorly attended and that is even more frustrating when those that were there were so enthusiastic. Again a reminder, though none is required, that it’s all about publicity. You have to be prepared to spend 20% of what you may earn through Box Office (and DVD sales) on making sure people know about the event. That said, the venue tried and we tried. Kristin – the very excellent manager – pushed as best she could but it didn’t really happen for us. It certainly doesn’t help where it’s a March day that gives you sunburn if you so much as poke your head out of the window. Still, I like the venue which is not a traditional cinema but the Museum of Fine Arts. If you go to Boston, you have to visit this lovely museum. It’s very fresh and has a brand spanking new wing. Actually, so far on my US trip, I’m having my own experiences and preconceptions challenged. In recent trips, I have found the US to be very tired in so many ways. Crummy airports, crummy hotels, crummy coffee. Well, blow me down with a feather but so far the airports (LA, San Fran, Boston) have been excellent, the airline (American) as good as any, the hotels I’ve been in have been good too. What remains true is the inability to make coffee, produce proper bacon, understand that bread should have a taste, and no I don’t want a 600 calorie muffin thanks… Going back to my jog, how lovely and modern Boston seems. I know it’s a passing view of downtown but still…. The only thing I didn’t like about my run this morning was that there I was jogging along listening to Leif Ove Andsnes playing Beethoven and feeling pretty good with myself for getting out there so early when a bunch of male sportsmen ran past – maybe just a college basketball team – but they certainly made me regret all the times I’ve said yes to the 600 calorie muffins.
As I write this, the third of 5 screenings of Haydn is going on – and for the third time, it’s poorly attended. Shame. But I can look back to the previous two dates in LA and just outside San Francisco. Both were very well attended and the audiences very happy. There was an interesting development too: a bunch of them said I need to try crowd-funding for Chopin – essentially ask people to donate to help me make the film. Maybe $100 gets a name on the credits, $250 a signed DVD, $500 credit, DVD and invite to a screening with me – and $10,000 will get me cooking you dinner anywhere in the world! Might give it a go! It would be so great to be able to make one of these films without constantly getting on one knee to the broadcast high & mighty. I think people in the USA are genuinely shocked when they hear that few European and no US TV stations have any interest in these type of films…so they are now suggesting that they, the audience, fund (in small amounts) the films themselves. Interesting – wouldn’t that be nice…50 people who all donated $1000 once a year to let me make In Search of Chopin, then Bach…. Hmmm….any takers?
While you ponder that surely irresistible offer, let me comment on something I’ve seen so much of in only three days in the USA: no-one seems able to survive five minutes without talking into their phones…Barely has a plane touched down before people seem to be talking (loudly) to themselves. Then you realise they are making phone calls. ‘Hi – I’ve just touched down in Boston, how are you? How’s fluffy the cat? Tickle him for me. Is your rash getting better? Oh, I had delicious ravioli last night…’ etc…blah blah…etc. One of my pet projects is to make a film with film-maker David Bickerstaff called ‘Silence’. I’m now more determined than ever. My double screening in the beautiful San Francisco area (north of the Golden Gate bridge) allowed me some time to work but it is hard when around you is so noisy - I stick some Chopin on and that drowns everything out. I thought I’d have cleared my email in-boxes by now and finally finished some proposals but no matter how early into the morning I work, I can’t quite crawl up the rope to safety…I feel like I’m dangling over a long drop and if I ease up I’ll fall in to a deep dark pit of unanswered requests…. Some of the emails of course relate to the continued push of Haydn in Australia and New Zealand (and a few THE BOY MIR screenings coming up too). The first week’s Box Office was one-third Mozart’s and one-tenth’s Beethoven. Shame – again, not enough publicity (and the slightly diminished appeal of Haydn probably). Here’s a review we just got – it’s great but why two weeks into the run do we get it now? Especially as Sydney has already scaled back screenings…still, it will drive DVD sales I guess:
Seeking Haydn by: Evan Williams - The Australian - March 24, 2012 Phil Grabsky completes his fine trilogy of films about great classical composers. In Search of Haydn is the third in Phil Grabsky's fine trilogy of films about great classical composers, a worthy successor to In Search of Mozart and the somewhat less successful In Search of Beethoven. It follows the established formula: interviews with musicians and extracts from letters (the narrator is Juliet Stevenson), mixed with deftly chosen musical excerpts, beautifully performed. And because the emphasis is more on the music than the man, the films are not strictly biographical. We are told little, for example, of Haydn's unhappy and childless marriage to Maria Anne Keller, and nothing of his earlier infatuation with Maria's younger sister Therese or his passionate affair in later life with a young Italian opera singer, Luigia Polzelli, all of which would have made for a juicy biopic in the old Hollywood tradition.But Haydn remains a no less vivid and forceful presence. The key figures in his musical career were Mozart, his revered friend and mentor, and his employer, Hungarian Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy, whom he served for 28 years as a kind of court composer and resident orchestral conductor. Grabsky is a master of lucid exposition and the essentials of Haydn's career are recounted in clear and orderly style, enlivened by fascinating details. I hadn't realised that the theme from one of his string quartets -- a form he virtually invented -- became Austria's first national anthem and later the tune for Deutschland Uber Alles. We are given a glimpse of the only surviving portrait of Haydn showing him without a wig and he looks nothing like the benign and fatherly Papa Haydn I remember from picture books and record covers. The musical excerpts are shot and edited with dazzling skill. Extreme close-ups of strings and flying fingers are intercut with anxious faces and furrowed brows. Haydn wrote no fewer than 104 symphonies before turning to vocal music in later life. We hear something of his oratorio The Creation, an acknowledged masterpiece, and as the film would have it, "a hymn to the perfectibility of man in a divinely ordered universe". It is said that Haydn thought highly of his operas until he heard Mozart's. Someone in the film observes that he needed a Da Ponte to provide him with a decent libretto occasionally. Who knows what operatic treasures he might have given us with Da Ponte at his side? In Search of Haydn is primarily a film for musicians. But all who love music will find it irresistible. In Search of Haydn (G) - 4 stars
I have to say I’ve been watching loads of films over the last four weeks. I have dozens of the recent BAFTA submissions and few have been worth even two stars, never mind four. Gosh, some dreary, dreary stuff – or, and let me ruffle some feathers here, self-indulgent ponderous stuff like Melancholia. Last night I finally put in a film that had me interested from start to finish – and guess what? – It was a documentary. It’s called Knuckle and it’s about two warring traveller families in Ireland.
You’ll probably never get a chance to see it but if it ever pops up somewhere, give it a look. Certainly a lot more interesting than the drivel that seems to form the majority of Hollywood’s production. Well, I can hear that the film is ending and I need to go do my Question & Answer session. Probably be easier to all sit round a table in the café as there are only about 20 folk in. Mind you, even there was only one person in I’d still do the full Q&A. Then back to the hotel for supermarket sushi and a night transcribing Haydn interviews for a forthcoming book. One more day tomorrow then I’m having three days off – so talk to you in a week. I’d love to know where you blog-readers are so do email me on pgrabsky@seventh-art.com and let me know – and if you have any questions, fire away…
