Occupation Film maker Role Film-maker | Name Murray Grigor Years active 1967–present | |
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Movies Hand of Adam, Blast, Suilven Spring, Mackintosh Spouse Carol Colburn Grigor (m. 2011), Barbara Grigor (m. 1968–1994) Children Sarah Grigor, Phoebe Grigor Books Scotch Myths: An Exploration of Scotchness Similar People Carol Colburn Grigor, Bill Forsyth, Maurice Roeves, Maev Alexander | ||
Glasgow film festival 2012 murray grigor and david peat talk about big banana feet
William Alexander Murray Grigor OBE (born 1939) is a Scottish film maker, writer and exhibition curator who has served as director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He has made over 50 films with a focus on arts and architecture documentaries.
Contents
- Glasgow film festival 2012 murray grigor and david peat talk about big banana feet
- Murray grigor part 1 ames conference 2009
- Early life
- Career
- Appointments and awards
- Selected filmography
- References
Murray grigor part 1 ames conference 2009
Early life
Grigor was born in 1939 in Inverness, and graduated from St. Andrews University. He started his career as a film editor at the BBC which he left in 1967 to become director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He married, in 1968, Barbara Grigor, née Sternschein, a teacher of French and German, film maker, exhibition curator,and chairman of the Scottish Sculpture Trust with whom he had two daughters, Sarah, b 1970 and Phoebe, b 1972. Barbara Grigor died in1994. Grigor married Carol Colburn Grigor née Colburn in 2011.
Career
In 2008, Grigor produced seven film loops for Los Angeles' Hammer Gallery exhibition Between Earth and Heaven about the architecture of John Lautner, which coincided with the premiere of his documentary Infinite Space on the same subject.
Since the 1980s, Grigor widened his film focus to cover more international, and particularly American subjects, such as the 1986 landmark 8 part series Pride of Place with Robert A. M. Stern for the American television channel PBS. In 1997, he directed the PBS series "The Face of Russia" with James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. "Contemporary Days" on the British designers Robin and Lucienne Day for Design Onscreen of Denver Colorado, was premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February 2011. "Ever to Excel" -a feature documentary with Sir Sean Connery was funded in America to mark the 600th anniversary of the University of St Andrews for its scholarship endowment campaign, and had its British premiere at the 2012 Glasgow Film Festival. It was followed by sequel "Ever to Exceed' celebrating the achievements of St Andrews' students, scholars and alumni.
Grigor also worked as film producer and writer. Together with Barbara Grigor, he founded, in 1972, the film company Viz Ltd based in Inverkeithing, Scotland. Grigor has also written screenplays for all his films, and a number of exhibition catalogues to accompany his exhibitions. He was co-author of "The Architects' Architect" on C.R. Mackintosh with Richard Murphy and "Being a Scot" with Sir Sean Connery, published in 2008 and which is now published in 5 languages. "Beatus – The Spanish Apocalypse" on the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages on the Book of Revelation, was invited in competition to the 2015 Montréal Festival du Film sur L'Art – the 4th film Grigor has made in partnership with Hamid Shams, the American Director of Photography.
Appointments and awards
He was appointed, in 2007, as a member of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission.
Grigor is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and was the first film maker to be made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the Royal Institute of British Architects. Grigor is Visiting Professor of Film Studies at the Anglia Ruskin University, from which he received, in 2010, an Honorary Doctor of Arts.
Grigor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to architecture and the film industry.
Selected filmography
Grigor has directed the following films.