Margy Kinmonth

Kinmonth 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's 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.[13] 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.[14]

After moving into drama in the 1990s, Kinmonth directed episodes of BBC1's Grange Hill, Casualty with Robson Green and Sophie Okenado, and Eastenders with Ross Kemp and June Brown. She then directed a biography of playwright Simon Gray in The Smoking Diaries, featuring Harold Pinter.[15]

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.[16]

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.[17] In 2008, Mariinsky Theatre celebrated the 225th anniversary of Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre and featured Valery Gergiev, Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko.[18] 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.[21]

Her recent films about the art world have included Looking for Lowry with Ian McKellen, Noel Gallagher and Paula Rego,[22] War Art with Eddie Redmayne[23] and feature documentary Royal Paintbox with Charles, Prince of Wales.[24]

• Winner, European Community Award 1981 for 'To The Western World'
• Nominated, Finalist New York Film Festival 1991 for 'Steven Berkoff
• Winner, BAFTA Best Documentary Series[25]
• Finalist, International Emmy Best Documentary, 'Naked Hollywood'
• Winner, Cable ACE Award for Best Documentary, 'Naked Hollywood'
• Winner, Chicago Film Festival Silver Hugo for Best Documentary, 'Naked Hollywood'
• Nominated, Cable Ace Comedy Special 1995 'Dawn French'
• Winner, Royal Television Society Arts Award, 2002 'The Strange World of Barry Who?'
• Nominated, Grierson Award Most Entertaining Documentary 2005 for 'Remember The Secret Policeman's Ball'
• Nominated, Rose D'Or 2005 for 'Remember The Secret Policeman's Ball?'
• Nominated, Prix Italia 2007 for 'Secret World of Haute Couture'
• Nominated, Grierson Award, Best Arts Documentary 2008 for 'Nutcracker Story'
• Winner, Creative Originality Award at the Women in Film and Television Awards, 2009
• Winner, The Likhachev Fellowship, 2017

• Margy Kinmonth at IMDb
• http://www.foxtrotfilms.com