Michael Grigsby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Grisgby
|
|
|---|---|
Michael Grigsby c. 1955
|
|
| Born | 7 June 1936 Reading, Berkshire, England
|
| Died | 12 March 2013 (aged 76) London, England
|
Michael Kenneth Christian Grigsby (born June 7, 1936 – died March 12, 2013) was a well-known English filmmaker. He specialized in making documentaries.
Over six decades, Michael Grigsby made almost 30 films. He had a special place in British documentary filmmaking. His films showed many big changes in British society from the late 1950s onwards. One critic said he had a "passionate commitment to the poetry of everyday life." This means he loved showing the beauty in everyday things.
Contents
Early Life and First Films
Michael Grigsby was born in Reading, Berkshire, England. His love for documentaries started when he was at Abingdon School. He attended this school for boys from 1949 to 1955.
While at school, he ran the film club. There, he discovered the films of John Grierson. Grierson was a pioneer in documentary filmmaking. His films had a huge impact on Michael, who was only 14 at the time. Michael even convinced his headmaster to pay for his first attempts at making documentaries.
He made his first film, Ut Proficias, in 1953. It was accepted by the British Film Institute. Another film, No Tumbled House (1955), showed what life was like for a boy in a boarding school.
Starting His Career
After leaving school, Michael Grigsby got his first job. He became a trainee assistant editor at Granada Television in Manchester. He worked with Harry Watt, who had helped direct the famous short film Night Mail (1936).
Watt soon left, and Grigsby was offered a job as a studio cameraman. He found this job quite boring. However, it allowed him to buy his own 16mm Bolex camera.
He then teamed up with other unhappy colleagues from Granada. They formed a filmmaking group called Unit Five Seven. In his spare time, he spent several years filming and editing Enginemen. This short film was about people working in a place where trains were kept.
A film critic named Lindsay Anderson heard about his project. Anderson was very impressed by the early footage. Along with filmmaker Karel Reisz, he helped Grigsby get money from the British Film Institute. This funding helped him finish Enginemen. The film was shown in March 1959 as part of the last Free Cinema program.
After these successful short films, Grigsby convinced Granada to support his work. He was finally allowed to direct his first documentary for the company, Deckie Learner (1965).
Later Work and Unique Style
Michael Grigsby's later films continued to show his main interests. He wanted to make films about everyday people. He also focused on those who were often ignored by society. He became known as a filmmaker who "gives a voice to the voiceless."
He filmed many different groups of people. These included fishermen (Deckie Learner, 1965), and people affected by the Vietnam War (I Was a Soldier, 1970). He also filmed people in Northern Ireland (Too Long a Sacrifice, 1984). He showed families struggling in Britain during the 1980s (Living on the Edge, 1987). He even filmed the community of Lockerbie ten years after a plane crash (Lockerbie, A Night Remembered, 1998). In all his films, Grigsby tried his best to let people tell their own stories.
He believed in spending a long time researching his films. Sometimes, he would spend up to six months getting to know people. This helped him earn their trust. His films often featured still shots and quiet moments. This gave people space to share their thoughts. This calm style was very different from the fast-paced films often made today.
Grigsby's documentaries have been compared to free-form jazz. He liked to work by instinct. The structure of his films often came to him only after he truly understood a place and its people. His films also had a special quality because of how he used sounds and images. He would combine natural sounds, bits of conversations, old recordings, and music. This created powerful contrasts without needing a narrator to explain everything.
He used filmmaking techniques often seen in art cinema, not just TV documentaries. Even though he covered serious topics like war and social issues, his films never tried to force a certain idea on viewers. Instead, he used documentaries to show his caring view of society's problems. He wanted viewers to feel involved and to think for themselves.
Passing on the Torch
Michael Grigsby was influenced by John Grierson's documentary movement. He was also part of the Free Cinema movement. His style became fully developed during a great time for documentary television.
Later in his career, he returned to Abingdon School. In 2003, he helped set up the Abingdon Film Unit (AFU) with Jeremy Taylor. Taylor was the school's Head of Drama. Over 30 students, aged 12 to 18, worked together. They made several short films each year with help from industry experts.
Grigsby was very proud of this new project. He saw it as his way of passing on the great British documentary tradition to new filmmakers. The Abingdon Film Unit has gained a lot of attention. Their films include Gravel & Stones (2007), about disability in Cambodia. Another film, One Foot on the Ground (2010), followed a young basketball player in Moldova.
The Unit has now made over 150 films. Many have been shown at festivals in the UK and other countries. Several have won awards.
In 2012, Grigsby's non-fiction film, We Went to War, was released. He made it with Rebekah Tolley. It was a follow-up to his 1970 film, I Was a Soldier. It revisited three Vietnam War veterans forty years after they returned home.
See also
- List of Old Abingdonians
- Abingdon Film Unit
Selective Filmography
- 1953: Ut Proficias
- 1955: No Tumbled House
- 1959: Enginemen
- 1962: Tomorrow’s Saturday
- 1965: Deckie Learner
- 1965: Pommies
- 1967: Death by Misadventure: SS Lusitania
- 1969: If the Village Dies
- 1969: Deep South
- 1969: Stones in the Park (one of 5 directors)
- 1970: I Was A Soldier
- 1971: Freshman
- 1972: Working the Land
- 1973: A Life Apart: Anxieties in a Trawling Community
- 1974: A life Underground
- 1976: Bag of Yeast
- 1976: The People’s Land
- 1979: Before the Monsoon - Roots of Violence
- 1979: Before the Monsoon - State of Emergency
- 1979: Before the Monsoon - Seeds of Democracy
- 1981: For My Working Life
- 1984: Too Long a Sacrifice
- 1987: Living on the Edge
- 1990: The Silent War
- 1990: Dear Mr Gorbachev
- 1991: The Search
- 1993: Thoi Noi
- 1994: The Time of Our Lives
- 1994: Pictures on The Piano
- 1995: Hidden Voices
- 1996: Living with the Enemy
- 1998: Lockerbie, A night Remembered
- 1998: The Score
- 1999: Billion Dollar Secret
- 2001: Solway Harvester – Lost at Sea
- 2005: Rehearsals
- 2012: We Went to War
 | William M. Jackson |
 | Juan E. Gilbert |
 | Neil deGrasse Tyson |
