Roger Arthur Graef OBE (18 April 1936 – 2 March 2022) was an American-born British documentary filmmaker and theatre director. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962, where he began a career producing documentary films investigating previously closed institutions, including Government ministries and court buildings.

Early life

Graef was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and started directing plays at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, staging the New England premiere of

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassic ...

and

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

's opera ''

The Mother of Us All ''The Mother of Us All'' is a two-act opera composed by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Thomson and Stein met in 1945 to begin the writing process, almost twenty years after their first collaborative project, the opera ''Four Sain ...

'' in 1956, and the premiere of

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...

's ''Brother to Dragons'' in 1957. He directed 24 plays in theatres along the East Coast, and was chosen by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

for its new TV drama directors' program. He directed two network dramas for CBS, including ''The Seven who were Hanged'', a one-hour special adapted and produced by

Robert Herridge Robert Herridge (January 12, 1914 - August 14, 1981),
''

from the

Leonid Andreyev Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian litera ...

novel of the same name.

Career in Britain

Graef moved to Britain in 1962 and directed

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

' ''

Period of Adjustment ''Period of Adjustment'' is a 1960 play by Tennessee Williams that was adapted in the film version of 1962. Both the stage and film versions are set on Christmas Eve and tell the gentle, light-hearted story of two couples, one newlywed and the ...

'' at the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

and

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

in the West End of London. His first film was ''One of Them is Brett'' for the Society of Thalidomide Children, to demonstrate to headteachers of primary schools that the physical handicaps of the children did not stop them from being active mentally. It won the Silver Dragon Prize in Krakow,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and was broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, CBC, and ''

ABC Scope ABC Scope was a public affairs program that appeared on the ABC television network from November 11, 1964 to March 2, 1968, hosted by Howard K. Smith, the future anchor of the ABC Evening News. News reporters Louis Rukeyser, Frank Reynolds and ...

'' in the U.S., as well as being added to medical school curricula. Graef commented in a BBC interview in 2014 that "nobody had ever seen them as people, they had only seen them as cases and it entered medical school curricula immediately because doctors had never seen them at home".BBC Radio 4 '' Front Row'' radio interview with Roger Graef broadcast 19:15hrs, 13 June 2014. Graef's film ''The Life and Times of John Huston, Esq'' for the BBC, CBC, and NET in the US, was one of the first documentary co-productions for television. He subsequently produced the 13-part series ''Who Is'' on artists, architects, writers, and composers for BBC, CBC, NET, and

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

, also directing the episodes on

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of Cr ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

, and

Maurice Bejart Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

. In 1968, he made a film called ''Why Save

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

?'' (BBC/BR/NET), about the poor state of the city's defences against flooding. His 1970 film ''In the Name of Allah: the life cycle of a Muslim community'' (filmed in

Fez, Morocco Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès, Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the List of cities in Morocco, second largest city i ...

) for BBC/BR/NET was the first long documentary on

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

shown in the West. Working with his collaborator cameraman Charles Stewart, Graef made the first "fly-on-the wall" purely observational series ''The Space between Words'' in 1972 for the BBC and PBS, including ''Politics'', the first documentary filmed inside the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, and ''Diplomacy'', the first unstaged film inside the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. Graef then made a series of films for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

with unprecedented access to various institutions. Working with

Norma Percy Norma Percy is an American-born, documentary film maker and producer. The documentaries she has produced in collaboration with Brian Lapping have covered many of the crises of the 20th Century. In 2010, she was awarded the Orwell Prize Special ...

and

Brian Lapping Brian Michael Lapping CBE (born 13 September 1937) is an English journalist, television producer and historian. Lapping is also the chairman and founding member of Brook Lapping, a television and radio production company focussed on the producti ...

, he made the first film inside the UK Government: ''State of the Nation: A Law in the Making'', and in 1976 the first film inside the European Union: ''Inside the Brussels HQ''. His three-part series ''Decision'' followed top-level decision-making inside

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

, Hammersmith Council, and British Steel. The steel film was adapted as a short course by

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

s. His 1978 series ''Decision; British Communism'' followed the evolution of a manifesto over several years. It won the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Award for Best Current Affairs Documentary. In 1973, Graef became a member of the board of the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

(ICA) in London, and founded and chaired its Architectural Forum. He also became a part-time tutor at the Architectural Association. In 1975, he was appointed to the Development Control Review of Planning Law, chaired by

George Dobry George Leon Severyn Dobry (1 November 1918 – 14 March 2018) was a Polish-British barrister and judge. Dobry was born and raised in Warsaw. He was educated in Edinburgh and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He took silk in 1969 and was appoint ...

, and he chaired the Sub-Group on Public Involvement in Planning. He promoted the early publication of planning officers' recommendations for approval or refusal of applications before the meeting, which is now standard practice. He was also on the three-man Inquiry into Control of Demolition. In 1976, he was made a member of the board of London Transport. He subsequently co-designed the London Bus Map with Andrew Holmes. His BBC film, ''Is this the Way to Save a City?'' co-directed by

Mike Dibb Mike Dibb (born Wharfedale, Bradford, West Yorkshire, 29 April 1940) is an English documentary filmmaker. In almost half a century of making films mainly for television – on subjects including cinema, literature, art, jazz, sport and popular cu ...

for '' Omnibus'', delayed the redevelopment of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. Together with

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

, he made a film for ''Arena'' which revealed that a Grade II listed building was demolished every day during Save Britain's Heritage Year. In 2015 he was part of the four-person

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) Commission on the Future of Housing, chaired by

John Banham Sir John Michael Middlecott Banham (22 August 1940 – 9 August 2022) was a British businessman. He was the chairman of the major brewer Whitbread from 2000 to 2005, and also chairman of ECI Ventures and Johnson Matthey. Biography Banham w ...

. In the subsequent RIBA report ''Building the Homes and Communities Britain Needs'' he wrote the chapter on design. In 2016 he was made an Honorary Fellow of RIBA. In 1982, Graef made an observational documentary titled ''

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

'' about the

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

. The reaction to the programme's portrayal of insensitive police handling of a rape victim changed the way in which the UK police handled rape cases. In a BBC interview in 2014, Graef said, "we showed

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

he police He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

but they regarded themselves as being nice to her. First of all Thatcher talked about it in parliament, it was on CBS news in America and also in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and other places. Our film came after three very controversial rape cases the week before and the police quietly changed the way they handled rape". He directed the films/TV specials of the first three

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

comedy galas in 1976, 1977, and 1979 - the last of which was the first '' Secret Policeman's Ball'' film. In 1984 he co-produced the first

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

with

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

, and ''Look at the State We're In'' (BBC), a series of short satirical films on constitutional reform, with

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two men acted together in a ...

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

, and

Anthony Sher Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and ...

. In 2005 he produced ''Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball'' for

BBC Arena ''Arena'' is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC since 1 October 1975. Voted by TV executives in ''Broadcast'' magazine as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has produced over six hu ...

, directed by

Margy Kinmonth Margy Kinmonth is a British film director and producer. Covering a wide range of genres, her award-winning films include feature documentaries '' Revolution: New Art for a New World'', '' Hermitage Revealed'', '' Royal Paintbox'' with King Charles ...

. In 2015 he and

James Rogan James Edward Rogan (born August 21, 1957) is an American judge of the Superior Court of California, adjunct law professor, author and former Member of the United States House of Representatives from California. He also formerly served as United S ...

made ''Monty Python: the Meaning of Live'', for

uktv UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...

following the final stage performances at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

with archive of their earlier stage work. In 2016 It was shown at the

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...

and Toronto Documentary Festivals. Graef became a UK citizen in 1995. He was a trustee and then a patron of the

Koestler Trust Koestler Arts (formerly The Koestler Trust) is a charity which helps ex-offenders, secure patients and detainees in the UK to express themselves creatively. It promotes the arts in prisons, secure hospitals, immigration centres and in the commun ...

for art in prisons, the

Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust The Forward Trust is a British charity that helps people with drug and alcohol dependence. Previously known as RAPt (the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust), it was relaunched in 2017 as Forward Trust after merging with Blue Sky organ ...

, the Irene Taylor Trust for Music in Prisons, the Voice of the Child in Care, Who Cares? Trust and

Prisoners Abroad Prisoners Abroad is a UK-registered human rights and welfare charity which supports British citizens who are imprisoned overseas. It also works with ex-prisoners returning to the UK and family members and friends of those detained. The organisat ...

, a charity which supports Britons imprisoned outside the UK. He was a patron of the Mulberry Bush School in Oxfordshire, the subject of

Kim Longinotto Kim Longinotto ( Sally Anne Longinotto-Landseer; born 8 February 1948, London) is a British documentary film maker, well-known for making films that highlight the plight of female victims of oppression or discrimination. Longinotto has made mo ...

's ''Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go'' for Films of Record. He was a patron of the charity Compassion In Care, which campaigns on abuse of the elderly. As a criminologist, he made more than 30 films on police and criminal justice issues, including ''Police'', ''Operation Carter'', ''In Search of Law and Order UK'' (Channel 4) and ''In Search of Law and Order - USA'' (PBS and Channel 4) on positive ways to address youth offending, which influenced the National Youth Justice Board. ''Police 2001'' (BBC) looked at how policing had changed since his 1982 series, and ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

: Rape on Trial'' looked at how much had changed in the handling of rape since his 1982 film. His 1987 fiction film ''Closing Ranks'' (ITV/Zenith) about domestic violence in the police was used in training for many years. Since 1995 he has been a Visiting Fellow and then Visiting Professor at the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Since 2001, he has been a member of the Independent Advisory Group in Race for the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. He has made many films on race and policing, including ''Murder Blues'', three films following Operation Trident on black-on-black gun crime for the BBC. For

Channel Four 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 i ...

he made ''Race Against Crime'', and ''The Siege of Scotland Yard'' around the run-up and publication of the Macpherson Report into the

murder of Stephen Lawrence Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April ...

(2000). For Channel Four Dispatches, he made ''Not Black and White'' on black v Asian conflicts. And ''Ready for A Riot'' on Met training for public order disturbances following the riots around the G20 summit in London. He also made ''Searching for Madeleine'' (2007) on the mistakes of the original investigation into the

disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappeara ...

in Portugal. He has written ''Talking Blues: Police In Their Own Words'' (Harper Collins), ''Living Dangerously: young offenders in their own words'' (Harvill) and ''Why Restorative Justice''? (Gulbenkian). He broadcast regularly on Radio 4 and 5 and wrote for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'', ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', ''

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' and ''

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 2017, he was a guest on John Lloyd's radio comedy show ''The Museum of Curiosity'' alongside Phill Jupitus and Prue Leith. Graef was a founding board member of

, News International Visiting Professor of Media and Communications at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and was on the Board of Trustees of the

Media Standards Trust The Media Standards Trust is a British media think tank formed in 2006. It carries out research on issues in the media sector. It also advocates for press freedom as well as industry quality, transparency and accountability. It is a registered char ...

. He was a patron of

, a charity that supports the welfare of Britons imprisoned overseas and their families, as well as the Irene Taylor Trust for Music in Prisons. He joined the charity board of

Complicité Complicité is a American theatre company founded in 1898 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. The company is based in London and uses extreme movement to represent their work, wit ...

theatre company in 1997. He became the chair of the board and remained a trustee of the organisation until his death in 2022.

Films of Record

In 1979, Roger Graef founded Films of Record, a documentary production company that specialises in tackling difficult subjects, and securing access to previously closed institutions. Films of Record worked in association with Hatchling Productions on

Cathy Henkel Cathy Henkel is a South African documentary filmmaker who lives and works in Australia. Her works have typically focused on subjects of environmental activism, and to a lesser extent, the performing arts. Career Her career in documentary film ...

's feature-length documentary film '' The Burning Season'' (2008), which followed a young Australian entrepreneur to Indonesia on a mission to help stop deforestation and make money in the process. In the first months of 2010, Films of Record produced

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

's ''Requiem for Detroit?'' (BBC), Ricardo Pollack's three-part series on medical ethics '' Great Ormond Street (TV series)'' (BBC), and a series on family discord, ''Who Needs Fathers?'' (BBC). Other productions include ''Murder Blues'', following Operation Trident on black-on-black gun crime, the BAFTA-nominated ''Kids in Care'', a ''Panorama'' Special, ''The Trouble with Pirates'' on the impact of Somali piracy; and ''Amnesty! When They Are All Free''. Graef was Executive Producer on all these films. The company's later output includes ''The Truth About Adoption'', which was BAFTA and BAFTA Craft nominated in 2012, and the second series of ''Great Ormond Street''. Also the award winning series. Films of Record is now part of factual media group Zinc Media. Graef left the company in February 2016 and founded Roger Graef Productions. He was working as Executive Producer with Rogan Productions and 72films on a number of projects in development and production.

Personal life

Graef died from cancer on 2 March 2022, at the age of 85.

Awards and honours

In 2004 Graef was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement, the first documentary maker to receive this status. He was appointed an OBE in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to cel ...

list for services to film-making and broadcasting. In 2013 BAFTA held a tribute evening to celebrate Graef's 50th year as a filmmaker. He was awarded the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film sc ...

. In 2015 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Aldeburgh Documentary Festival. *''Requiem for Detroit?'' directed by Julien Temple for Films of Record won the

Grierson Award The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...

for Best Historical Documentary in 2010. *''Feltham Sings'', directed by Brian Hill and produced by Graef, 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 cere ...

for Best Documentary in 2004. *''Hold Me Tight Let Me Go'', directed by

and produced by Roger Graef and Richard Klein, won Best Documentary at

BRITDOC Doc Society (formerly Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and BRITDOC Foundation) is a social entrepreneurship organisation created in 2005. They have supported the production of over 60 films that have won awards . Development Initially supported by UK b ...

, Grand Jury Prize at IDFA, Amsterdam, Best Documentary Bird's Eye Festival, Best Documentary Britspotting, Berlin *''Malaria: Fever Road'' - One World Awards: Best Documentary *''Race for the Beach'' – CBA-Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Programme *''Kids in Care'' was nominated for Best Current Affairs at the 2011 BAFTA Awards; and won a

Award *''The Truth About Adoption'' was nominated for Best Current Affairs at the 2012 BAFTA Awards. The director, Clare Johns, was also nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2012 BAFTA Craft Awards *A Lifetime Achievement Award at

in June 2014.

References

External links

*

filmed interview on British Entertainment History Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Graef, Roger 1936 births 2022 deaths American documentary film directors BAFTA fellows Film directors from New York City Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Officers of the Order of the British Empire American emigrants to England British documentary film directors

Early life

Career in Britain

Films of Record

Personal life

Awards and honours

References

Further reading

External links