Mike Dibb (born

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It i ...

, Bradford, West Yorkshire, 29 April 1940) is an English

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker. In almost half a century of making films mainly for television – on subjects including cinema, literature, art, jazz, sport and popular culture – "he has defined and re-defined not only the televisual art documentary genre but has been able to make moving image pieces as a form of self portraiture". Dibb has made many acclaimed films, including on

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, '' The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are i ...

Astor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fro ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, Keith Jarrett, Barbara Thompson and other notable subjects. In the words of Sukhdev Sandhu in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'': "In a career spanning almost five decades, it's possible Dibb has shaped more ideas and offered more ways of seeing than any other TV documentarian of his generation."Sukhdev Sandhu
"Ways of Seeing opened our eyes to visual culture"
''The Guardian'', 7 September 2012. Mike Dibb is the father of film director

Saul Dibb Saul Dibb (born 18 August 1968) is an English director and screenwriter. His father is the documentary maker Mike Dibb. Born in London, England, Saul Dibb is a graduate of the University of East Anglia. He is best known for co-writing and direc ...

Career

After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, with a BA (Hons) degree, Mike Dibb joined

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

in 1963. He worked as an Assistant Film Editor/Film Editor in the BBC Film Department until 1967, and then joined the Music and Arts Department. Between 1967 and 1971 he directed numerous films on a range of subjects for various BBC series, including ''The Movies'', ''Moviemakers at the NFT'', ''Canvas'', ''The Craftsmen'', ''New Release'', '' Omnibus''. In 1972 he produced a four-part series of 30-minute films called ''

Ways of Seeing ''Ways of Seeing'' is a 1972 television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. It was broadcast on BBC Two in January 1972 and adapted into a book of the same name. The series was intended as a ...

'', now regarded not only as "a landmark work of British arts broadcasting, but as a key moment in the democratisation of art education". Scripted by writer

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

, ''Ways of Seeing'' won a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

for Best Specialised Series, and was the basis of a bestselling book designed by

Richard Hollis Richard Hollis (born 1934) is a British graphic designer. He has taught at various art schools, written books, and worked as a printer, as a magazine editor and as a print-production manager. Biography Hollis was born in London and studied ...

, jointly published by the BBC and

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Beyond a Boundary ''Beyond a Boundary'' (1963) is a memoir on cricket written by the Trinidadian Marxist intellectual C. L. R. James, which he described as "neither cricket reminiscences nor autobiography". It mixes social commentary, particularly on the place of ...

'', the classic book by

, and on 23 February 1979 the BBC broadcast his film based on the 1973 book ''

The Country and the City ''The Country and the City'' is a book of cultural analysis by Raymond Williams which was first published in 1973. Origins Coming from the Welsh border, a village in the Black Mountains, Raymond Williams found that the images of rural life taught ...

'' by

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...

. In 1983, Dibb left the staff of the BBC to work independently. He joined Third Eye Productions, a company formed by several other ex-members of the BBC Music and Arts department, including

Barrie Gavin Barrie Gavin (born 10 June 1935) is a British film director. Early years Barrie Gavin was educated at St Paul's School, and studied history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1954 to 1957.'Cambridge Tripos Lists', ''Times'', 28 June ...

Peter West Peter Anthony West (12 August 1920 – 2 September 2003) was a BBC presenter and sports commentator best known for his work on the corporation's cricket, tennis and rugby coverage as well as occasionally commentating on hockey. Throughout his te ...

and Geoff Haydon. After 1986 Dibb began to make many of his films through his own company, Dibb Directions Ltd (DD). The many notable documentaries he has made include ''The Spirit of Lorca'', about poet

(in collaboration with Lorca's biographer Ian Gibson, 1986; Gold Award NY Festival of Film and TV), and ''What’s

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Playing At?'' (on the Afro-Spanish roots of Cuban music; BBC ''Arena'', 1985), ''

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

Maestro – The life and music of Astor Piazzolla'' (2005, BBC), and ''Keith Jarrett – The Art of Improvisation'' (2005,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

). With

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

in 1994 he co-directed ''Typically British'', a

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

/Channel 4 documentary on the history of

British cinema The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936, the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors D ...

. In November 2011, Dibb participated in a Masterclass in conversation with David A. Bailey as part of the International Curators Forum two-day intervention at the

Arnolfini Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...

in Bristol. His two-hour film ''The Miles Davis Story'' (DD and

Television) won the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

TV award and an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

award for arts documentary of the year 2001. Dibb's most recent film, '' Barbara Thompson: Playing Against Time'', is a 75-minute "musical-medico" documentary film "about

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

seen through the prism of music", chronicling the celebrated saxophonist's fight to keep performing despite having developed the condition. The film was first transmitted on BBC Four on 19 February 2012. His first book, ''Spellwell'' (2010, Muswell Press), written in

rhyming couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

and illustrated by

Roddy Maude-Roxby Roderick A. Maude-Roxby (born 2 April 1930) is a retired English actor. He has appeared in numerous films, such as Walt Disney's ''The Aristocats'', where he voiced the greedy butler Edgar Balthazar (his only voice role); ''Unconditional Love''; ...

, was a playful guide to the idiosyncrasies of English-language spelling. A major online retrospective of his work ''A Listening Eye'' was curated by Matthew Harle and Colm McAuliffe for the

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

in East London, running from January till March 2021.

Select filmography

* 1972: ''Ways of Seeing'' (with

, BBC; BAFTA Award 1972) * 1976: ''Beyond a Boundary'' (with

, based on his classic book of the same name about cricket; BBC '' Omnibus'') * 1976: ''Seeing Through Drawing'' (with

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

Ralph Steadman Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture ...

and others; BBC) * 1979: ''The Country and the City'' (with

, based on his classic study of English literature; BBC) * 1983: ''Classically Cuban'' (on

Alicia Alonso Alicia Alonso (born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martínez del Hoyo; 21 December 1920 – 17 October 2019) was a Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer whose company became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best ...

and

Cuban National Ballet The Cuban National Ballet ( es, Ballet Nacional de Cuba) is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company ...

; BBC) * 1984: ''C. L. R. James in conversation with Stuart Hall'' (Channel 4) * 1984: ''Memories of The Future -

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

'' (Channel 4) * 1985: ''What’s Cuba Playing At?'' (BBC ''Arena'') * 1989: ''

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

'' (BBC) * 1991: '' Elmore Leonard’s Criminal Records'' (BBC) * 1994: ''Typically British'' (with

; Channel 4/BFI) * 1995: ''The Further Adventures of

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'' (BBC ''Bookmark'') * 1996: ''A Curious Mind -

A.S. Byatt Dame Antonia Susan Duffy ( Drabble; born 24 August 1936), known professionally by her former marriage name as A. S. Byatt ( ), is an English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer. Her books have been widely translated, into more than t ...

'' (BBC ''Bookmark'') * 1996: ''The Fame and Shame of Salvador Dalí'' (with

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

biographer Ian Gibson; BBC) * 1999: ''The Beginning of

The End of the Affair ''The End of the Affair'' is a 1951 novel by British author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films (released in 1955 and 1999) that were adapted from the novel. Set in London during and just after the Second World War, the n ...

'' (exploration of the real-life background to

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

's celebrated novel; BBC) * 2001: ''The Miles Davis Story'' (Channel 4) * 2002: '' Studs Terkel'' (BBC Four profile) * 2003: ''Edward Said'' (presented by

Charles Glass Charles Glass (born November 18, 1951) is an American-British author, journalist, broadcaster and publisher specializing in the Middle East and the Second World War. He was ''ABC News'' chief Middle East correspondent from 1983 to 1993, and has ...

, BBC Four profile) * 2003: ''Steven Rose – political scientist'' (BBC Four profile) * 2004: ''

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...

: The Last Interview'' (ICA Projects) * 2004: ''Tango Maestro - The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla'' (DD/BBC) * 2005: ''Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation'' (Channel 4) * 2009: ''Personally Speaking: A Long Conversation with Stuart Hall'', interviewed by

Maya Jaggi Maya Jaggi is a British writer, literary critic , editor and cultural journalist.Maya Jaggi profi ...

* 2011: ''Barbara Thompson: Playing Against Time'' (BBC Four) * 2021: ''Painted with My Hair'' (BBC Four)

References

External links

*
Mike Dibb website.

Mike Dibb on Vimeo
* Sukhdev Sandhu
"Ways of Seeing opened our eyes to visual culture
A 1972 TV series was a British arts broadcasting landmark, but in recent celebrations the role of the director has been forgotten", ''The Guardian'', 7 September 2012. *
"The Play of Ideas: A Listening Eye - The Films of Mike Dibb"
Whitechapel Gallery, via YouTube. * Matthew Harle
"Ways of filming: Mike Dibb in profile"
''Sight and Sound'', BFI, 9 February 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dibb, Mike 1940 births Alumni of Trinity College Dublin BBC people British documentary film directors British film directors English documentary filmmakers Film people from Yorkshire Living people People from the City of Bradford International Emmy Award winners