Gerald Fox

Gerald Fox (born 14 July 1963 in South Africa) is a prolific filmmaker, producer and visual artist whose career has spanned more than three decades and crossed continents, broadcast platforms and museum spaces. Educated at Harrow School before moving to Oxford University, where he directed a short film based on Samuel Johnson’s story The Fountains, Fox later broadened his academic palette at Harvard, a path that laid the groundwork for an itinerant creative life that took him from the UK to South Africa and the United States. In 1989 he entered the professional arena with ITV’s iconic The South Bank Show, quickly establishing a reputation for marrying rigorous documentary storytelling with an artist’s eye for visual nuance. Over the ensuing years he produced and directed a string of acclaimed arts documentaries, including the BAFTA‑winning The Fundamental Gilbert and George (1996‑97), a vivid exploration of the enigmatic British artist duo, and a nuanced portrait of sculptor Claes Oldenburg that revealed the scale and whimsy of his oversized installations. His subject range is extraordinary, covering composers such as Thomas Adès, photographers like Robert Frank, musicians Janine Jansen and George Michael, and cultural icons from Warren Beatty to the legendary Nelson Mandela, whose childhood was depicted in the SABC‑2 film Mandela: The World That Made Him (2012). Fox’s work has not only aired on Sky Arts, BBC and Channel 4 but has also been screened theatrically at Curzon, Picturehouse and independent cinemas across the UK and US, and exhibited in esteemed institutions such as the Tate, the Royal Academy, the Met, MoMA, the National Gallery of Art (Washington), the Uffizi and Centre Pompidou. Parallel to his filmic pursuits, he creates moving‑image installations; projects like Living London (2008) at the Zabludowicz Collection, the six‑screen Favela Descending (2008) and Venice in Venice (2009) demonstrate his commitment to immersive, multi‑screen experiences that blend documentary rigor with artistic abstraction. Recognised for his contributions to the arts, Fox earned a BAFTA, the Grierson Award, the RTS Best Arts Film prize and the Golden Prague Czech Television Award, among many others. A dedicated philanthropist, he served as a BFI Member Governor (2018‑2022) and, together with his sister Jacqueline Fox, received the Inyathelo Award for International Philanthropy in South Africa in 2012. Through decades of innovative storytelling, cross‑disciplinary collaborations and charitable work, Gerald Fox continues to shape contemporary visual culture while championing the intersection of art, film and social consciousness.