John Bridcut is an award-winning film maker, with a string of varied documentaries to his name, ranging from politics to contemporary history to the arts. Much of his recent work has been with his own company, Crux Productions, but he also works as a freelance director and producer for other production companies.
He has also published two books on Benjamin Britten, and lectures on music, broadcasting and current affairs.
His latest film is Rostropovich: the Genius of the Cello, which received its premiere at the 2011 Aldeburgh Festival and has recently won the Vaclav Havel Foundation Award at the Golden Prague Television Festival (presented, right, by Tana Fischerova, Foundation Trustee). The Prince and the Composer, a film about Hubert Parry by the Prince of Wales, was screened on BBC Four earlier in the year, and was shown on BBC Two on Christmas Day.
His ground-breaking Britten's Children was one of several Bridcut music films included in BBC Four's current season about British composers.
NEWS
'Britten's Children' repeated on BBC Four
New film on Delius in his anniversary year
Rostropovich wins in Prague
Elgar film nominated for Grierson Award
Parry film shown on BBC Two on Christmas Day
The acclaimed documentary by Prince Charles, The Prince and the Composer, received its first screening on BBC Two on Christmas Day. HRH The Prince of Wales described Sir Hubert Parry as "one of the great under-rated, under-appreciated British composers". His most famous tune Jerusalem has obscured much of the other music he wrote, including five symphonies, major choral works and unaccompanied partsongs. After its first transmission on BBC Four in the summer, this documentary was hailed as breaking "just about every rule of documentary making... Yet I was completely smitten by it." (Sunday Telegraph)
Rostropovich film 'a towering model of its kind'
After its premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival last June, John Bridcut's latest film Rostropovich: the Genius of the Cello has now been shown on BBC Four. Nobody in history has done more for the cello than 'Slava' Rostropovich, and this film traces his extraordinary career through the dying days of the Soviet Union. At first Moscow's darling, then its pariah, Rostropovich propelled the cello from the concert platform to the world stage. This film features interviews with his family, colleagues and former pupils, as well as previously unseen footage from the premiere of Britten's Cello Symphony in Moscow in 1964, and was described by David Nice of www.theartsdesk.com as 'a towering model of its kind'.
Pocket Guide only just fits in the pocket
The Faber Pocket Guide to Britten has attracted enthusiastic reviews since it was published in November 2010. Intended for both enthusiasts and musical explorers, it covers the nooks and crannies of Benjamin Britten's life and music which other books often overlook, with chapters on his cars, his pets, his homes, his ailments. There is a year-by-year account of his life, and a piece-by-piece account of all his music, capped with collections of witty, affectionate, sometimes cruel quotes: 'What They Said About Britten', and 'What Britten Said About Them'. At 440 pages, it is a bit of a tight squeeze into the average pocket.
Documentaries across the world
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| Meeting Nelson Mandela in Swaziland in 1990 for Donald Woods's 'Return of the Native' | Meeting Robert Mugabe in Harare in 1998 for David Dimbleby's series, 'Rebellion!' | Meeting Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail in 2000, for 'HIllary's New York Adventure' |
Author of Impartiality Report for BBC Trust
In 2007, the newly-constituted BBC Trust published a report on 'safeguarding impartiality in the 21st century'. Written by John Bridcut with the help of a steering group from inside and outside the BBC, it was entitled From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel. Its main contentions were:
- impartiality should reflect all shades of opinion, rather than merely diametrically-opposing views
- impartiality should apply across every part of the BBC's output, not just news and current affairs
- impartiality will not necessarily be found on the centre ground
- impartiality often presents opportunities as well as challenges.