Peter Greenaway
Directing
Peter Greenaway, CBE (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh writer-director, painter, and video artist based in Amsterdam. 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" (TBD). 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.
Known for
Directing80
movieThe Missing Nail
2019
Director
movieLuther and His Legacy
2017
Director
movieGiovanna D'Arco
2016
Stage Director, Director
movie3x3D
2013
Director
movieThe Wedding at Cana
2009
Director
movieNightwatching
2007
Director
moviePeopling The Palaces
2007
Director
movieVisions of Europe
2004
Director
movieThe European Showerbath
2004
Director
movieThe Man in the Bath
2001
Director
movieThe Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama
1999
Director, Stage Director
movie8 ½ Women
1999
Director
movieIn the Dark
1996
Director
movieLumière & Company
1995
Director
movieThe Pillow Book
1995
Director
movieStairs 1 Geneva
1994
Director
movieThe Baby of Mâcon
1993
Director
movieDarwin
1992
Director
movieRosa
1992
Director
movieProspero's Books
1991
Director
tvA TV Dante
1990
Director
movieA TV Dante
1990
Director
movieDeath in the Seine
1989
Director
movieFear of Drowning
1989
Director
movieDrowning by Numbers
1988
Director
movieA Zed & Two Noughts
1985
Director
movieMaking a Splash
1984
Director
movieThe Sea in Their Blood
1983
Director
movieThe Falls
1982
Director
movieZandra Rhodes
1981
Director
movieTerence Conran
1981
Director
movieThe Exile
1981
Director
movieAct of God
1980
Director
movieLeeds Castle
1979
Director
movieA Walk Through H
1978
Director
movieWater Wrackets
1978
Director
movieEddie Kidd
1978
Director
movieGoole by Numbers
1976
Director
movie1-100
1976
Director
movieDear Phone
1976
Director
movieSavile Row
1976
Director
movieWindows
1974
Director
movieIntervals
1973
Director
movieH Is for House
1973
Director
Erosion
1971
Director
Revolution
1968
Director
Train
1966
Director
Tree
1966
Director
movieWalking to Paris
Director
Bosch
Director
movieTower Stories
Director
Writing47
movieBlondi
2025
Writer
movieEisenstein in Guanajuato
2015
Screenplay
movie3x3D
2013
Writer
movieRembrandt's J'Accuse...!
2008
Screenplay
movieNightwatching
2007
Writer
movie8 ½ Women
1999
Screenplay
movieThe Pillow Book
1995
Writer
movieDarwin
1992
Writer
movieProspero's Books
1991
Screenplay
movieThe Draughtsman's Contract
1982
Screenplay
movieThe Falls
1982
Writer
movieZandra Rhodes
1981
Screenplay
movieWater Wrackets
1978
Writer
movie1-100
1976
Writer
movieDear Phone
1976
Writer
movieWindows
1974
Writer
movieH Is for House
1973
Writer
movieIntervals
1973
Writer
movieWalking to Paris
Writer
movieTower Stories
Writer
Bosch
Writer
Acting21
movieThe Missing Nail
2019
(voice)
movieThe Greenaway Alphabet
2018
Peter Greenaway
movieThe Wedding at Cana
2009
Some characters (uncredited)
movieRembrandt's J'Accuse...!
2008
Himself / Public Prosecutor
movieCinema16: British Short Films
2003
Self - Commentary, Dear Phone (voice)
movie8 ½ Women
1999
(uncredited)
movieFear of Drowning
1989
Himself
movieThe Falls
1982
Interviewer
movieDear Phone
1976
Narrator
movieWindows
1974
Narrator
movieH Is for House
1973
(voice)
Editing11
movieThe Pillow Book
1995
Editor
movieThe Falls
1982
Editor
movieThe Pledge
1982
Editor
movieWater Wrackets
1978
Editor
movieEddie Kidd
1978
Editor
movieDear Phone
1976
Editor
movieWindows
1974
Editor
movieH Is for House
1973
Editor
Camera4
movieVertical Features Remake
1978
Director of Photography
movieWater Wrackets
1978
Director of Photography
movieDear Phone
1976
Director of Photography
movieH Is for House
1973
Director of Photography
Crew1
movieA Walk Through H
1978
Scenic Artist