Margy Kinmonth is a British film director and producer.
Covering a wide range of genres, her award-winning films include feature documentaries Revolution: New Art for a New World , [1] Hermitage Revealed , [2] Royal Paintbox with King Charles III, War Art with Eddie Redmayne , [3] Looking for Lowry , [4] Mariinsky Theatre , [5] The Nutcracker Story , [6] The Secret World of Haute Couture , [7] The Strange World of Barry Who? [8] and Naked Hollywood. [9]
Kinmonth has received numerous awards for her work, including the BAFTA for Best Documentary Series, the Royal Television Society Arts Award and the Creative Originality Award at the Women in Film and Television Awards. [10]
She is the founding director of independent film company Foxtrot Films Ltd. [11]
Kinmonth’s most recent project is the feature documentary Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War (2022), released by Dartmouth Films. This is the first major feature film to be made about Eric Ravilious, artist who was killed in a plane crash over Iceland in 1942. [12] [13]
Kinmonth was born to Kathleen ( née Godfrey; 1922–2015) and her first husband, John Bernard Kinmonth (1916–1982). Kathleen was a daughter of John Henry Godfrey, a Royal Navy intelligence officer on whom Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss "M". [14] [15]
She was educated at St Paul’s Girls School in London, followed by a foundation in drawing and painting at the Byam Shaw School of Art. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, specialising in film and animation.
Kinmonth spent her early career as a producer and director of television and radio commercials. She worked for Wasey Campbell Ewald, part of The Interpublic Group of Companies and at the Central Office of Information. She then moved to Granada TV in Manchester, where she started to research, write and direct current affairs programmes.
In 1981, Kinmonth founded independent production company Foxtrot Films Ltd to make films celebrating art and culture. Her first film To The Western World with John Huston premiered at the London Film Festival. She then worked as a freelance director for BBC, ITV and MTV, making films including South of Watford with Hugh Laurie in 1986 and a profile of Steven Berkoff for The South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg, featuring Roman Polanski and Mikhail Baryshnikov. [16] In 1990, she directed the series Naked Hollywood on the motion picture industry, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, Nora Ephron, Oliver Stone, Terry Gilliam and Harvey Weinstein. The series won her a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary Series. [17]
After moving into drama in the 1990s, Kinmonth directed episodes of BBC1's Grange Hill, Casualty with Robson Green and Sophie Okonedo, and Eastenders with Ross Kemp and June Brown. She then directed a biography of playwright Simon Gray in The Smoking Diaries, featuring Harold Pinter. [18]
In the 2000s, Kinmonth started to present investigative biographies, including The Strange World of Barry Who? about the lives of Francis Bacon and Rudolph Nureyev. Her film The Secret World of Haute Couture with Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano explored the world of the elite fashion industry. [7]
Starting from 2007, Kinmonth investigated the Russian world of ballet, opera and art in a series of films. Nutcracker Story explored the cultural phenomenon behind Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker, from its genesis through to the present day. [6] In 2008, Mariinsky Theatre celebrated the 225th anniversary of Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre and featured Valery Gergiev, Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko. [5] In Hermitage Revealed, she became the first foreign director to be granted permission to film the story of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, including rare behind-the-scenes access to the archives. [19] The film was premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in June 2014. [20]
In 2017, to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Kinmonth directed the feature documentary Revolution: New Art for a New World about the artists of the Revolution, which premiered at the Louvre in Paris and was shown theatrically in 34 countries. [1]
Her films about the art world have included Looking for Lowry with Ian McKellen, Noel Gallagher and Paula Rego, [4] War Art with Eddie Redmayne [3] and feature documentary Royal Paintbox with King Charles III. [21]
Kinmonth’s latest film, Eric Ravilious - Drawn to War was the second most successful doc in UK theatrically of 2022. The film features Ai Weiwei, Alan Bennett, Grayson Perry, Robert Macfarlane with Freddie Fox and Tamsin Greig.
The film had its World Premiere at the Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria in 2022, and its UK Premiere at Curzon Mayfair in 2022. It won the Best Documentary Campaign at the Big Screen Awards 2022, and Best Documentary Film at La Femme International Film Festival. It was nominated at The Master of Art Film Festival in 2022. It is a Finalist at the Dallas Independent Film Festival 2023.
Kinmonth has worked with the charity Amnesty International, directing the feature doc film Remember the Secret Policeman’s Ball? produced by Roger Graef, and starring Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Michael Palin and Sting.[ citation needed ]
Kinmonth’s feature documentary film Royal Paintbox , made with King Charles III, supported the Royal Drawing School in promoting the art of drawing from observation.[ citation needed ]
Kinmonth worked with Combat Stress, the charity for veterans' mental health, on War Art with Eddie Redmayne , about WW1, shown on ITV network.[ citation needed ]
Kinmonth is the Granddaughter of Admiral John Henry Godfrey, (10 July 1888 – 29 August 1970) an officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. She has given several talks and written articles raising awareness of his life and work.
This includes the article "The Ladies who Secretly won the War" [22] about her grandmother, her mother Kathleen Godfrey, and Admiral Godfrey, who all worked secretly at Bletchley Park during WW2. The article features never before published personal correspondence, bundles of handwritten letters, private diaries and family photos.
Her talks include "Secret Admiral [23] ", an illustrated talk about Admiral Godfrey at the Celebrating Bletchley Park two-day Festival, at Firle Place in 2016. The talk featured previously unseen material unearthed in the preparation of the biography film "Secret Admiral” directed by Kinmonth. Other speakers included Sir Dermot Turning (Alan Turing’s nephew) and Baroness Trumpington.
In 2016, Kinmonth delivered a talk titled "Very Special Admiral" [24] about Admiral Godfrey, immortalised as “M” in the James Bond books written by Ian Fleming, his wartime assistant. The event was held at Wilmington, Folkington and Milton Street Village Club, Sussex in 2016, in the village where Godfrey lived from 1948 to 1980. The talk featured readings from his unpublished memoirs, previously unseen family photos, along with official wartime portraits by Cecil Beaton and society photographer Dorothy Wilding.
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | |||
1981 | To the Western World | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV series |
1982 | Baker's Dozen | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV movie |
1991 | Casualty | Yes | No | No | 2 episodes |
1991 | Naked Hollywood | Yes | No | No | TV miniseries |
1992–1993 | EastEnders | Yes | No | No | 11 episodes |
1994 | Dawn French on Big Women | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV documentary |
1996 | London Bridge | Yes | No | No | TV series |
1998 | Grange Hill | Yes | No | No | 4 spisodes |
2003 | Life Beyond the Box | Yes | No | No | TV movie |
2004 | ''The Secret Policeman's Ball?'' | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary film |
2007 | Strange World of Barry Who | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV movie |
2007 | The Secret World of Haute Couture | Yes | No | Yes | TV movie |
2007 | The Nutcracker Story | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV documentary |
2008 | Outback Art: The Gold Rush | Yes | No | No | TV documentary |
2008 | Mariinsky Theatre | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film |
2011 | Looking for Lowry with Ian McKellen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film |
2013 | Royal Paintbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Feature documentary |
2014 | Hermitage Revealed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Feature documentary |
2015 | War Art with Eddie Redmayne | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film |
2016 | Revolution: New Art for a New World | Yes | Yes | Yes | Feature documentary |
2022 | Eric Ravilious - Drawn to War [13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Feature documentary |
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Eric William Ravilious was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and other English landscapes, which examine English landscape and vernacular art with an off-kilter, modernist sensibility and clarity. He served as a war artist, and was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War II when the aircraft he was in was lost off Iceland.
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Edward John David "Eddie" Redmayne is an English actor. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.
The Newport Beach Film Festival(NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival began positioning itself for Oscar season.
Admiral John Henry Godfrey CB was an officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy, specialising in navigation. Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss, "M", on Godfrey.
The Theory of Everything is a 2014 biographical romantic drama film directed by James Marsh. Set at the University of Cambridge, it details the life of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. It was adapted by Anthony McCarten from the 2007 memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Hawking, which deals with her relationship with her ex-husband Stephen Hawking, his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and his success in the field of physics. The film stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, with Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, Christian McKay, Harry Lloyd, and David Thewlis featured in supporting roles. The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 7 November 2014. It had its UK premiere on 1 January 2015.
Icarus is a 2017 American documentary film by Bryan Fogel. It chronicles Fogel's exploration of the option of doping to win an amateur cycling race and happening upon a major international doping scandal when he asks for the help of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, and was awarded the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award. Netflix acquired the distribution rights and released Icarus globally on August 4, 2017. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Hermitage Revealed is a documentary film directed by Margy Kinmonth and produced by Foxtrot Films Ltd which tells the story of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg - formerly a royal palace and now one of the largest and most visited museums in the world. Holding over 3 million objects and with more curators than any other museum, the exhibits go back to Catherine the Great. Celebrating the museum's 250th anniversary in 2014, the film shows how the collection came about, how it survived revolutionary times and what makes the Hermitage Museum unique today.
War Art with Eddie Redmayne is a documentary film, written and directed by Margy Kinmonth. Produced by Foxtrot Films Ltd, it was made as part of the ITV’s Perspectives strand. Eddie Redmayne stars in this documentary which speaks on historical and contemporary war art.
Naked Hollywood is a 6 part TV series directed by Margy Kinmonth. The film includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, Barry Diller, Joe Roth, Sydney Pollack, Oliver Stone, James Brooks, Nora Ephron, Terry Gilliam and many more. The film won a British Academy Film Award for Best Factual Series.
To the Western World is a documentary film directed by Margy Kinmonth. Narrated by John Huston and starring Niall Tóibín, Patrick Laffan, Tom Hickey (actor) & Brendan Cauldwell, the film charts the journey of John Millington Synge and Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats through Connemara in 1905. The two men were sent by the Manchester Guardian to report on the 'Congested Districts', the most poverty-stricken and over populated parts of the West of Ireland. The film is the first dramatisation of the original articles, which disappeared for decades after their publication. On their journey they described the economic conditions, poverty, unemployment, dress and lie-stock.
Revolution: New Art for a New World is a feature documentary written and directed by Margy Kinmonth and produced by Foxtrot Films Ltd and Arts Alliance, starring Matthew Macfadyen, Tom Hollander, Eleanor Tomlinson, James Fleet and Daisy Bevan. The film documents the famous Russian Avant-garde artists that flourished after the October Revolution, only to be later suppressed by Joseph Stalin's regime. The documentary was filmed on location in London, Saint Petersburg and Moscow, with access to The Tretyakov Gallery, The Russian Museum, The Hermitage Museum and in co-operation with The Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Jon Shenk is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary film director and director of photography, known for his films Lead Me HomeAthlete A, An Inconvenient Sequel, Audrie & Daisy,The Island President, Lost Boys of Sudan. He is the co-founder, with his wife Bonni Cohen, of Actual Films, a documentary film company based in San Francisco, CA. He co-directed and photographed Lead Me Home which premiered in 2021 at the Telluride Film Festival, was acquired by Netflix, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2022.
Eric Ravilious - Drawn to War, written and directed by Margy Kinmonth, is the first feature film to be made about War Artist Eric Ravilious. It features the voices of Freddie Fox, Tamsin Greig, Jeremy Irons and Harriet Walter and includes contributions from Ai Weiwei, Grayson Perry, Alan Bennett and Robert Macfarlane.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 American biographical documentary film about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin. The film is produced, co-edited and directed by Laura Poitras, and tackles Goldin's life thought her advocacy during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80's, and her fight against the Sackler family for their role in the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Poitras, a long-time friend and fan, stated that "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."
The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile is an 2022 American documentary film, directed and produced by Kathlyn Horan. It follows Tanya Tucker returning to the studio to record her first album in 10 years, While I'm Livin', collaborating with Brandi Carlile.