Amanda Eliasch

Early life

Amanda Eliasch was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where her father Anthony Cave Brown worked as a reporter for the Daily Mail. He later wrote several books on espionage and World War 11. She returned to England when she was 6 weeks old, and was brought up by her grandfather, film director Sidney Gilliat, who encouraged her with artistic pursuits. She is a graduate of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.

Work

Her first major black and white photographic exhibition was 'Three Way Mirror', held in London in 1999 at The Cork Street Gallery. Her photography work often consists of glossy fashion-shoot images and black and white nudes. In November 2001 she exhibited a series of photographic contact sheets in a London exhibition, at The Proud Gallery, called 'Peep'. Her early work was given a review in British Journal of Photography. Her portraits of 47 British artists were published (with text by Gemma De Cruz) in British artists at work in 2003, and were chosen by both Publishers Weekly and Art Monthly for their lists of seasonal highlights; the collection was also published in French as Artistes contemporains: Londres. From this book Eliasch started her own collection through photographing and entertaining many artists including Tracey Emin and Polly Morgan in her St Tropez home. According to photographer Bob Carlos Clarke, she served ostrich eggs for breakfast.

Her photographs have appeared in Made by Indians (2007), a book on Indian contemporary art curated by Fabrice Bouret, and Made by Brazilians (2014), a book on Brazilian contemporary art curated by Fabrice Bouret.

In 2008, Chipmunka Publishing published her book of poetry, Cloak & Dagger Butterfly. Based on the book and a letter she wrote to her father, Eliasch produced a theatrical production As I like it at London's Chelsea Theatre in July 2011; later that year it was transferred to the Macha Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2010 she published Sins of a Butterfly, a poetry collection. During the Summer of 2011 Eliasch produced the Rebel Show of James Franco at the Venice Film Festival with Liberatum

Eliasch exhibited artworks in July 2011 at the Leadapron Gallery, Los Angeles. Called Peccadillos, the exhibits were neon sculptures inspired by cartoons of her committing the seven deadly sins, drawn by her friend Kay Saatchi. The exhibition later transferred to the Doyle Devere Gallery in Notting Hill Gate, London.

The same year, Eliasch worked as a film director and writer, making a "jarringly frank" documentary drama The Gun, the Cake and the Butterfly, which contained the line: "When a woman confronts her loneliness she is free." It was based on her book and the theatrical production. In 2013 it won the Lena Wertmuller prize for best Documentary Drama and was screened at the Ischia International Film and Music Festival and the Bel Air Film Festival, Los Angeles, where she won best edit and best documentary made by a woman. The film has reportedly been called 'shockingly frank' by critics. She was presented with 'The Most Imaginative Documentary Film Award' at the 11th Annual Ischia Global Festival in June 2013. It received an honorary award for the 'Most Imaginative Documentary' at the New York City International Film Festival. She was named Best Female Director at the Burbank Film Festival and won the most exceptional documentary award at the La Jolla Indie Fest.

In 2014 she was producer of The Vortex by Noël Coward at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. 2016 March, Eliasch spoke about Women's Rights for The Women in Creativity Series for Liberatum at the St Martin's Lane Hotel in London, in honour of Courtney Love; she also confronted her doppelganger who was using her name to gate crash parties. 2016 Her work appeared in Desire Magazine The Laboratory Collective.

Since 2008, Eliasch has also worked as the fashion editor for Genlux Magazine in Los Angeles.

Early 2017 Eliasch joined forces with artists Barrington and Inesa De La Roche and formed a company called The Missfits for Unofficial Review which is social media based interviewing people of interest. The writes also for her own blog "Rats Tails" since 2008

Personal life

Eliasch was married to Johan Eliasch, chairman of Head, from 1988 to 2006; the couple has two sons, Charles and Jack. Eliasch has publicly defended her friend Charles Saatchi during his divorce proceedings with Nigella Lawson. She has been linked romantically with Sir Tim Rice since 2008 and plastic surgeon Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh.

In 2013 she featured on Nicky Haslam's album Midnight Matinee. That year the writer Katie Glass from the Sunday Times said she looked "like Marilyn Monroe dressed as a gothic Japanese schoolgirl".

Her current London residence and studio is in Cheyne Walk, where her art collection is on display, including pieces by Michael Ayrton and Oriel Harwood, a white elephant by Marc Quinn and Jake and Dinos Chapman. She divides her time between London and Los Angeles, and also has a home in Paris.

Eliasch sponsors the British Film Institute as part of the Directors Cut programme, and The Elephant Family. In 2016 she supported The Evening Standard Film Awards for best screenplay in memory of her great grandfather George Gilliat, editor of the Evening Standard in 1930, and his son the screen writer Sidney Gilliat.