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Peter Greenaway

Theatre Director / Film Director / Writer / Screenwriter / Actor / Cinematographer / Television Director | * 04/05/1942 (81) | Newport, Gwent, Wales (United Kingdom (UK))
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a British film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Mannerism painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the scenic composition and illumination and the contrasts of costume and nudity, nature and architecture, furniture and people, sexual pleasure and painful death. ()

Peter Greenaway, CBE (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh writer-director, painter, and video artist. Throughout the late 1960s and '70s, he produced several experimental documentary/mockumentary shorts while working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information. This early period culminated in "The Falls" (1980), a three-hour mockumentary indexing the strange effects of the VUE (the Violent Unknown Event) on 92 people whose names begin with the letters F-A-L-L. He made his dramatic feature film debut with "The Draughtsman's Contract" (1982), and throughout the 1980s directed a string of critically acclaimed and frequently controversial films: "A Zed & Two Noughts" (1985), "The Belly of an Architect" (1987), "Drowning by Numbers" (1988), and his best-known work, the vicious Thatcher-era satire "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" (1989). In the 1990s, he directed the Shakespeare adaptation "Prospero's Books" (1991), controversial religious satire "The Baby of Mâcon" (1993), erotic drama "The Pillow Book" (1996), and "8½ Women" (1999), an homage to the films of Federico Fellini, a major influence on Greenaway. In the early 2000s, Greenaway embarked on the ambitious "Tulse Luper" project, a multimedia body of historical fiction revolving around the life of the eponymous fictional hero. In addition to novels, CD-ROMs, online material, and a touring exhibition, the project spawned a trilogy of feature films: "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story" (2003), "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea" (2004), and "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish" (2004). The trilogy was followed by a fourth feature, "A Life in Suitcases" (2005), which abridges the Tulse Luper saga into a single film. Since the mid 2000s, Greenaway's film work has focused on idiosyncratic, heavily fictionalised biopics dedicated to some of his favourite artists: Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn in "Nightwatching" (2007), Dutch Baroque engraver Hendrik Goltzius in "Goltzius and the Pelican Company" (2012), Soviet Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein in "Eisenstein in Guanajuato" (2015), and Romanian-French sculptor Constantin Brâncuși in "Walking to Paris" (2022). Greenaway has lived and worked in Amsterdam since the mid 1990s. He is married to artist Saskia Boddeke, with whom he has two children. He also has two children from a previous marriage to potter Carol Greenaway.

Photo of Peter Greenaway
Most frequent genres for this person: Drama | Documentaries | History

Known for these Movies & Shows

Awards & Nominations for Peter Greenaway

Commander of The Order of The British Empire Golden Calf for Best Script Sutherland Trophy BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award Sitges Film Festival Best Director Award Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award
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Movies with Peter Greenaway as Actor(13)

as Some characters (uncredited)2023 The Wedding at Cana
as himself2018 The Greenaway Alphabet
as Himself / Public Prosecutor2008 Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!
as Self - Commentary, Dear Phone (voice)2003 Cinema16: British Short Films
as Narrator1989 Hubert Bals Handshake
as himself1989 Fear of Drowning
as Interviewer1980 The Falls
as Narrator1976 Dear Phone
as Narrator1975 Windows
as (voice)1973 H Is for House

Movies with Peter Greenaway as Crew(124)

Directing/Director2023 Lucca Mortis
Writing/Screenplay2023 Lucca Mortis
Directing/Director2023 Eisenstein in Hollywood
Writing/Screenplay2023 Eisenstein in Hollywood
Directing/Director2023 Bosch
Writing/Writer2023 Bosch
Directing/Director2023 The Food of Love
Writing/Writer2023 The Food of Love
Directing/Director2023 The Wedding at Cana
Directing/Director2023 Walking to Paris
Writing/Writer2023 Walking to Paris
Production/Producer2019 Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice
Directing/Director2017 Luther and His Legacy
Directing/Stage Director2016 Giovanna D'Arco
Directing/Director2016 Giovanna D'Arco
Directing/Director2015 Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Writing/Screenplay2015 Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Directing/Director2013 3x3D
Writing/Writer2013 3x3D
Directing/Director2012 Atomic Bombs on the Planet Earth
Directing/Director2012 Goltzius & the Pelican Company
Directing/Director2008 Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!
Writing/Screenplay2008 Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!
Directing/Director2007 Nightwatching
Writing/Writer2007 Nightwatching
Directing/Director2005 A Life in Suitcases
Writing/Writer2005 A Life in Suitcases
Directing/Director2005 Writing on Water
Writing/Writer2005 Writing on Water
Directing/Director2004 Visions of Europe
Writing/Writer2004 Visions of Europe
Directing/Director2003 The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Antwerp
Directing/Director2003 Cinema16: British Short Films
Directing/Director1999 8 ½ Women
Writing/Screenplay1999 8 ½ Women
Directing/Director1996 The Pillow Book
Editing/Editor1996 The Pillow Book
Writing/Writer1996 The Pillow Book
Directing/Director1995 Lumière and Company
Directing/Director1994 Stairs 1 Geneva
Directing/Director1993 The Baby of Mâcon
Writing/Writer1993 The Baby of Mâcon
Directing/Director1992 Darwin
Writing/Writer1992 Darwin
Directing/Director1992 Rosa
Directing/Director1992 A Walk Through Prospero's Library
Directing/Director1991 Prospero's Books
Writing/Screenplay1991 Prospero's Books
Directing/Director1991 Death in the Seine
Directing/Director1991 M Is for Man, Music and Mozart
Directing/Director1990 A TV Dante
Directing/Director1989 Hubert Bals Handshake
Directing/Director1989 Fear of Drowning
Directing/Director1988 Drowning by Numbers
Writing/Writer1988 Drowning by Numbers
Directing/Director1987 The Belly of an Architect
Writing/Writer1987 The Belly of an Architect
Directing/Director1985 A Zed & Two Noughts
Writing/Writer1985 A Zed & Two Noughts
Directing/Director1984 Making a Splash
Directing/Director1983 The Sea in Their Blood
Writing/Writer1983 The Sea in Their Blood
Directing/Director1982 The Draughtsman's Contract
Writing/Screenplay1982 The Draughtsman's Contract
Directing/Director1981 Terence Conran
Editing/Editor1981 The Pledge
Directing/Director1981 Zandra Rhodes
Writing/Screenplay1981 Zandra Rhodes
Directing/Director1980 The Falls
Editing/Editor1980 The Falls
Writing/Writer1980 The Falls
Directing/Director1980 Act of God
Camera/Director of Photography1978 Vertical Features Remake
Directing/Director1978 Vertical Features Remake
Editing/Editor1978 Vertical Features Remake
Writing/Writer1978 Vertical Features Remake
Directing/Director1976 Goole by Numbers
Writing/Writer1976 Goole by Numbers
Directing/Director1976 1-100
Writing/Writer1976 1-100
Camera/Director of Photography1976 Dear Phone
Directing/Director1976 Dear Phone
Editing/Editor1976 Dear Phone
Writing/Writer1976 Dear Phone
Directing/Director1975 Windows
Editing/Editor1975 Windows
Writing/Writer1975 Windows
Camera/Director of Photography1975 Water Wrackets
Directing/Director1975 Water Wrackets
Editing/Editor1975 Water Wrackets
Writing/Writer1975 Water Wrackets
Camera/Director of Photography1973 H Is for House
Directing/Director1973 H Is for House
Editing/Editor1973 H Is for House
Writing/Writer1973 H Is for House
Directing/Director1971 Erosion
Directing/Director1969 Intervals
Writing/Writer1969 Intervals
Directing/Director1967 5 Postcards from Capital Cities
Directing/Director1967 Revolution
Directing/Director1966 Tree
Directing/Director1966 Train
Directing/Director1962 Death of Sentiment

Additional Information

Official websites:
Full Name: Peter Greenaway
Citizenship: United Kingdom (UK)
Born: Sunday, 04/05 1942 (April) in Newport, Gwent, Wales (United Kingdom (UK)) (current age: 81 years + 359 days)
Zodiac sign: Aries (Chinese zodiac sign: Horse)
Languages: English (EN)
Educated at: Forest School, Walthamstow College of Art
Spouses (current/former): Saskia Boddeke
Other names for Peter Greenaway (nicknames, foreign languages etc.):
"피터 그리너웨이"
Peter Greenaway frequently works together with these people:
Kees Kasander (18x, Crew)
Michael Nyman (16x, Crew)
Sacha Vierny (11x, Crew)
Elmer Leupen (11x, Crew)
Sara Meerman (10x, Crew)
Chris Wyatt (10x, Crew)
Ben van Os (8x, Crew)
Colin Cantlie (6x, Cast)
Jan Roelfs (6x, Crew)
WatchPlayStream ID: PEOPLE:242410, Added: 08/07/2018, Last updated: 02/29/2024