Anthony Fabian is an award-winning director of feature films, documentaries, commercials and shorts.

His most recent feature film, shot in Budapest, London and Paris, is an adaptation of Paul Gallico’s much-loved novella, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, starring Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Jason Isaacs, Anna Chancellor, Rose Williams, Alba Baptista and Lucas Bravo. His co-producers are Xavier Marchand, Guillaume Benski and Philippe Carcassonne and the film was eleased worldwide by Focus Features and Universal International Pictures in July 2022. It has so far won two prizes and has been nominated for several more, including a Golden Globe for Lesley Manville as Best Actress.

Born in San Francisco, California, he grew up in Mexico City, Paris, and London before graduating from UCLA's Film & Television School in 1986. He then settled in London, where he is based.

His first feature, Skin, was shot in and around Johannesburg from September to November 2007 and co-produced with Margaret Matheson (Bard Entertainments, UK) and Genevieve Hofmeyr (Moonlighting Films, RSA). It stars Sophie Okonedo (Oscar®-nominee for Hotel Rwanda and Golden Globe nominee for Tsunami, The Aftermath) Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano), Alice Krige (Chariots of Fire, Star Trek), Tony Kgoroge (Hotel Rwanda, Hijack Stories) and newcomer Ella Ramangwane.

Skin was a People's Choice Award Finalist at the Toronto Film Festival (2008), and went on to win twenty-two international awards, including the Santa Barbara Film Festival (Audience Award) Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival (Audience and Jury Awards), AFI Dallas Film Festival (Audience Award), Palm Beach Film Festival (Jury Award, Best Film), Bordeaux Cinema Science Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Best Film), the United Nations Time For Peace Award (Voted by 21 UN Abassadors), Amnesty International Humanitarian Award (Italy), Griffon Environmental Award (Giffoni Film Festival, Italy) and the Orange Film Prize at the Ability Media International Awards. It was also nominated for a British Independent Film Award (Best Actress), an Ivor Novello (Best Score) and an NAACP award (Best Foreign Film).

His second feature film, Louder Than Words, was shot in Connecticut in 2012 and is based on true events. The film stars David Duchovny, Hope Davis and Timothy Hutton, and tells the poignant story of John and Brenda Fareri, grieving parents who were inspired by the unexpected death of their young daughter to build a world class children's hospital. It premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival in October 2013 and was released in the US in August 2014. Rex Reed in the New York Observer called it: "A feel-good film with an infectious sense of inspiration... directed with flair and sensitivity by Anthony Fabian".

His promotional films for the British Tourist Board feature Dev Patel, Judi Dench, Twiggy, Rupert Everett, Luke Evans, Colin Montgomerie, Boris Becker, Lennox Lewis, Jamie Oliver and Matt Smith.

He is also producer/director of an eight-part interview series narrated by Sue MacGregor called British Legends of Stage and Screen (2012), featuring Derek Jacobi, Claire Bloom, Michael Gambon, Diana Rigg, Michael York, Glenda Jackson, Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen, co-produced with John Dunworth and Executive Producer Sandy Lieberson. The series was broadcast in the UK on Sky Arts HD.

Anthony shot Bach & Variations, a half-hour drama, in 1994. The film won a British Council Travel Award, and he was invited to give talks and attend festivals around the world.

Candy, his first 35mm short, was completed in 1998. The film stars Lone Madsen, Brooke Kinsella, Oliver Tobias and Miriam Margolyes, and has been seen by festival audiences worldwide. It was aired by FilmFour in the UK and is represented internationally by AtomFilms.

Jean, starring Susannah York, Gyuri Sarossy and Nicholas Clay, won both the Audience and Jury Prizes in the Planet Out Short Movie Awards, presented at the Director's Guild of America in Los Angeles in 2000, as well as Best Short Film at the Barcelona International Film Festival in 2001. The film has won several British Council Travel Awards and has been screened at over thirty festivals around the world.

His last short, Prick (6 minutes, 2006) stars Mark Gillis, Rachel Pickup, Mark Wakeling and Susannah York.

Anthony's first documentary, Township Opera, (2001) features emerging talent from South Africa. It was the first program to be transmitted solo on BBC 4 and was shortlisted for a One World Media Award. His second hour-long documentary for BBC 4, Harmony in Hanoi, is a fresh look at contemporary Vietnam through the eyes of its musicians. It premiered at BAFTA and was broadcast in March 2003.

In the summer of 2004, Anthony Fabian produced and directed a documentary, While the Music Lasts, about Batignano, a quirky festival in southern Tuscany which has launched the careers of some of the most successful British artists working in opera today.

His also made a documentary for Majestic Media and Sky Television called Embracing the Tiger, which charts the history, philosophy, practice and popularity of Tai Chi. It is the first documentary every to be made exclusively about this martial art.

Anthony's film career has led to work as Music Supervisor on a number of feature films, including Restoration, Goldeneye, Schubert and Hilary and Jackie.

His filmography includes profiles of performers Luciano Pavarotti, Cecilia Bartoli, Joshua Bell, Angela Gheorghiu, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Renée Fleming, Christophe Rousset, Olli Mustonen, Richard Egarr, and composer John Tavener.

Advanced Directors' Course, British Theatre Association, Graduated with Distinction, 1988

BA in Film/TV, University of California, Los Angeles (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude), 1986

Producing/Directing

MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS (112 minutes, feature) Focus Features 2021, starring Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Rose Williams, Jason Isaacs, Anna Chancellor.

GOOD HOPE (91 minutes, feature documentary) Moonlighting Films in Association with Elysian Films, 2020, featuring Siya Kolisi, Thuli Madonsela.

FREEZE-FRAME (17 minutes, short) ShortsTV in association with Elysian Films, 2014, starring Tian Yuan and Freddie Fox. 

LOUDER THAN WORDS (93 minutes, feature) Identity Pictures, USA, 2014, starring David Duchovny, Hope Davis, Ben Rosenfield, Morgan Griffin, Adelaide Kane and Timothy Hutton.

VOICE OF A GENERATION (HD, TV Series, 47 minutes x 8) Elysian Films/Voice Producions Ltd., UK, 2011.

VISITBRITAIN (35mm, HD and Super 8, Promotional Series, various durations x 10) Elysian Films, UK, 2010/11. 

SKIN (35mm, 1 hour 45 minutes, feature) Elysian Films, Bard Entertainments, Moonlighting Films, UK/SA co-production, 2008.

EMBRACING THE TIGER (HDCAM, 59 minutes, documentary) Majestic Media/Sky, 2006.

WHILE THE MUSIC LASTS (DVCAM, 59 minutes, documentary) Elysian Films, 2005.

PRICK (DVCAM/35mm, 6 minutes, drama) Elysian Films, UK, 2004.

HARMONY IN HANOI (DVCAM, 59 minutes, documentary) Elysian Films/BBC 4, 2003.

TOWNSHIP OPERA (DVCAM, 59 minutes, documentary) Elysian Films/SABC/BBC, 2002.

TOTAL ECLIPSE (DVCAM, 10 mimutes, promo) Elysian Films/Harmonia Mundi, UK, 2001. 

JEAN (35mm, 10 minutes, drama) Elysian Films, UK, 2000.

CANDY (35mm, 14 minutes, drama) Elysian Films, UK, 1999.

RENEE FLEMING: The Beautiful Voice (Super-16mm, 9 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, France, 1998.

ANGELA GHEORGHIU: My World (Beta/Super-16mm, 12 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK/France, 1998.

IL TURCO IN ITALIA (Digi-Beta, 15 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, Italy/UK, 1997-98.

LA DANSA (Digi-Beta, 3 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, Italy/UK, 1997.

PAVAROTTI’S GREATEST HITS (Digi-Beta, 7 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, Italy/UK, 1997.

CHRISTOPHE ROUSSET: Scarlatti, Rameau, Marin Marais (Super-16mm, 15 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, France, 1997.

CECILIA BARTOLI: Chant d’Amour (Super-16mm, 30 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK, 1996. 

ANGELA GHEORGHIU: ‘Ebben?’ from La Wally (Super-16mm, 12 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK, 1996.

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET: Debussy Préludes (Super-16mm, 12 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK, 1995.

JOSHUA BELL: Tambourin chinois (Super-16mm, 8 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK, 1995.

OLLI MUSTONEN: Visions Fugitives (Super-16mm, 11 minutes, promo) Decca Records/Elysian Films, UK, 1995.

BACH & VARIATIONS (Super-16mm, 30 minutes, drama). Elysian Films, UK, 1994.

Screenwriting

MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS (Feature) with Carroll Cartwright, Keith Thompson and Olivia Hetreed.

SKIN (Feature) with Helen Crawley and Jessie Keyt. Elysian Films/Bard Ents., UK, 2007.

Music Supervision

HILARY & JACKIE (Feature) Director: Anand Tucker, Sony/Oxford Film Company, UK, 1998.

SCHUBERT (One-hour drama) Director: Peter Webber, Oxford Television/Channel 4, UK, 1997.

GOLDENEYE (James Bond - Feature) Director: Martin Campbell, Eon Productions, UK, 1995.

RESTORATION (Feature) Director: Mike Hoffman, Miramax/Oxford Film Company, UK, 1995.

A PIN FOR THE BUTTERFLY (Feature) Director: Hannah Kodicek, Skreba, UK/Czech Republic, 1993.

Opera Work

ORFEO ED EURIDICE (Gluck), Director, Scottish Opera, UK, 1993.

IL TROVATORE, JULIUS CAESAR, LA BOHEME, Staff Director, Scottish Opera, UK, 1992-93.

THE QUEEN OF SPADES, Assistant Director, Glyndebourne Festival. Director: Graham Vick, UK, 1992.

DON GIOVANNI, Associate Director, English Touring Opera. Director: Stephen Medcalf, UK, 1992.

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Assistant Director, DGOS Opera Ireland. Director: John Lloyd Davies, Eire, 1991.

LA FINTA GIARDINIERA, Assistant Director, Opera North.  Director: Tim Albery, UK, 1991.

TOSCA (Zeffirelli production), Russian Interpreter, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, UK, 1991.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR and THE MERRY WIDOW (Revivals), Co-Director, Opera 80, UK, 1990.

Awards for Skin

Film Festivals

Santa Barbara (Audience Award)

Los Angeles Pan African (Audience and Jury Awards)

AFI Dallas (Audience Award)

Palm Beach (Jury Award, Best Film)

Rochester High Falls (Audience Award)

Tri-Continental, Africa/Asia/Latin America (Audience Award)

Mediterrante (Bari), Italy (Best Film)

Giffoni, Italy (Griffon Environmental Award)

Bahamas (Rising Star Award, Sophie Okonedo)

Bordeaux Cinema Science (Grand Jury Prize)

Afrika Film Festival, Leuven, Belgium (Audience Award)

Belize International Film Festival (Audience Award)

Tbilisi Film Festival, Georgia (Human Rights and Peace Award)

Other Prizes

Accolade Award For Excellence (Original Score, Hélène Muddiman)

United Nations Time For Peace Award (Voted by 21 UN Abassadors)

Amnesty International Humanitarian Award (Italy)

Orange Film Prize, Ability Media International Awards

MAE Moseac Award for Best Independent Film

MAE Moseac Award for Best Actress (Sophie Okonedo)

Moondance, USA (Best Score, Hélène Muddiman)

South African Film and Video Awards (SAFTAS) (Best Cinematographer, Feature Film
, Dewald Aukema and Jonathan Partridge)

Nominations

British Independent Film Award (Best Actress, Sophie Okonedo)

NAACP Image Awards (Outstanding Foreign Film and Best Actress, Sophie Okonedo)

Black Reel Awards (Best Actress, Sophie Okonedo)

Political Film Society (Best Film)

World Soundtrack Awards (Discovery of the year 2010, Hélène Muddiman)

Ivor Novello Awards (Best Score 2010, Hélène Muddiman)

Short Film Awards

Best Short Film Prize for Jean, Barcelona International Film Festival, 2001.

First Prize, IFILM Short Movie Awards for Jean, presented at the Director’s Guild in Los Angeles, 2000.

British Council Travel Awards for Candy, Jean & Bach & Variations, 1994-2000.

Arts Council (Great Britain & Scotland) Opera Director's Bursary, Scottish Opera, 1992-93.

Nominations

One World Media Award for Township Opera.