Simon Hartog
Encyclopedia
Simon Hartog was a British
filmmaker.
drove him back to Europe in the 1960s. He took a higher degree in politics at the LSE
and studied film-making at the Centro Sperimentale, the Italian film school. There he met his longtime companion and wife, Antonella Ibba.
His first taste of filmmaking in Britain was on Peter Watkins
' The War Game
(playing the jumpy GI who triggers the nuclear strike). He worked for a time as a producer/director for Panorama, making programmes on Ronald Reagan, the May 1968 events in Paris and censorship. But the programme's editors proved unreceptive to some of his other proposals and he soon left the BBC to go freelance.
Hartog was a founder-member of the London Film-Makers' Co-op
the key organisation in developing an independent avant-garde in 1960s Britain. He took a wide range of jobs, from researching a report on the possible nationalisation of the film industry for the industry union ACTT to helping Tony Rayns
to edit the short-lived film magazine Cinema Rising. His commitment to cinema included a passionate interest in the Third Cinema
of Africa and South America.
Whilst working at London's principal Third Cinema distributors The Other Cinema, he was offered the post as consultant to the Frelimo government on setting up a state film industry in Mozambique
. The principal result was an effective regular newsreel Kucha Kanema
On his return to the UK, he initiated and animated a collective of young feature filmmakers in Spectre Productions. They included Stephen Dwoskin
, Anna Ambrose, Vera Neubauer, Phil Mulloy and Michael Whyte and the co-operative produced several low-budget features (usually with Hartog as producer) in its 15 year existence.
Hartog was active in the Independent Filmmakers' Association pressure-group that campaigned for a genuinely independent and innovative Channel 4. The success of that campaign led him to join John Ellis (media academic)
and Keith Griffiths
in founding the production company Large Door Ltd, which made the channel's world cinema programme Visions for three years.
Just before his death he completed Beyond Citizen Kane
his film on the development of TV in Brazil, concentrating on the role of Rede Globo
. He died before the transmission of the programme and the subsequent controversies in Brazil.
As Producer
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
filmmaker.
Life: 8 February 1940 - 18 August 1992
Hartog was born in England but lived in Chicago from the age of eight, after his parents divorced. He always retained an American accent, although after many years in England as an adult, his accent was not entirely American to American ears. The risk of being drafted for the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
drove him back to Europe in the 1960s. He took a higher degree in politics at the LSE
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and studied film-making at the Centro Sperimentale, the Italian film school. There he met his longtime companion and wife, Antonella Ibba.
His first taste of filmmaking in Britain was on Peter Watkins
Peter Watkins
Peter Watkins is an English film and television director. He was born in Norbiton, Surrey, lived in Sweden, Canada and Lithuania for many years, and now lives in France. He is one of the pioneers of docudrama. His movies, pacifist and radical, strongly review the limit of classic documentary and...
' The War Game
The War Game
The War Game is a 1965 television documentary-style drama depicting the effects of nuclear war on Britain. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology series, it caused dismay within the BBC and in government and was withdrawn from television...
(playing the jumpy GI who triggers the nuclear strike). He worked for a time as a producer/director for Panorama, making programmes on Ronald Reagan, the May 1968 events in Paris and censorship. But the programme's editors proved unreceptive to some of his other proposals and he soon left the BBC to go freelance.
Hartog was a founder-member of the London Film-Makers' Co-op
London Film-Makers' Co-op
The London Film-makers' Co-op, or LFMC, was a British film-making workshop founded in 1966. It ceased to exist in 1999 when it merged with London Video Arts to form LUX....
the key organisation in developing an independent avant-garde in 1960s Britain. He took a wide range of jobs, from researching a report on the possible nationalisation of the film industry for the industry union ACTT to helping Tony Rayns
Tony Rayns
Antony Rayns is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. Much inspired in his youth by the films of Kenneth Anger, he wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin from the December 1970 issue until its demise...
to edit the short-lived film magazine Cinema Rising. His commitment to cinema included a passionate interest in the Third Cinema
Third Cinema
Third Cinema is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s-70s which decries neocolonialism, the capitalist system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money...
of Africa and South America.
Whilst working at London's principal Third Cinema distributors The Other Cinema, he was offered the post as consultant to the Frelimo government on setting up a state film industry in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
. The principal result was an effective regular newsreel Kucha Kanema
On his return to the UK, he initiated and animated a collective of young feature filmmakers in Spectre Productions. They included Stephen Dwoskin
Stephen Dwoskin
Stephen Dwoskin is an accomplished experimental filmmaker. He studied at Parsons School of Design where he was a student of De Kooning* and Josef Albers* and at New York University, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to move to London in 1964, where is he still based. He was a co-founder of the...
, Anna Ambrose, Vera Neubauer, Phil Mulloy and Michael Whyte and the co-operative produced several low-budget features (usually with Hartog as producer) in its 15 year existence.
Hartog was active in the Independent Filmmakers' Association pressure-group that campaigned for a genuinely independent and innovative Channel 4. The success of that campaign led him to join John Ellis (media academic)
John Ellis (media academic)
John Ellis is a British former TV producer and professor of media arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. Ellis studied English at the University of Cambridge 1970-3 and at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at University of Birmingham 1973-6...
and Keith Griffiths
Keith Griffiths
Keith Griffiths is a former English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.Griffiths began his playing career with Rhyl before joining hometown club Chester in the summer of 1955 along with John Devine...
in founding the production company Large Door Ltd, which made the channel's world cinema programme Visions for three years.
Just before his death he completed Beyond Citizen Kane
Beyond Citizen Kane
Beyond Citizen Kane is a British documentary film directed by Simon Hartog, produced by John Ellis, and broadcast on Channel 4.It details the dominant position of the Rede Globo media group in the Brazilian society, discussing the group's influence, power, and political connections...
his film on the development of TV in Brazil, concentrating on the role of Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
. He died before the transmission of the programme and the subsequent controversies in Brazil.
Tribute by Tony Rayns
Obituary, The Independent, 20 August 1992
Hartog was a unique figure in what passes for British film culture. He was a perennial outsider who spent most of his life dreaming up alternatives to the mainstream orthodoxies, but none the less took a serious academic interest in the political and economic structures of the film industry. He was also one of the very few British film-makers with an informed and passionate commitment to non-British cinemas, especially those of Africa, the Middle East and South America. And he was a lifelong opponent of censorship, the first British director to have a film screened in the 'Directors' Fortnight' at the Cannes Film Festival, and a consultant to the Frelimo government on setting up a state film industry in Mozambique
Filmography (selected)
As Director- Beyond Citizen KaneBeyond Citizen KaneBeyond Citizen Kane is a British documentary film directed by Simon Hartog, produced by John Ellis, and broadcast on Channel 4.It details the dominant position of the Rede Globo media group in the Brazilian society, discussing the group's influence, power, and political connections...
(1993) - Brazil: Cinema, Sex and the GeneralsBrazil: Cinema, Sex and the GeneralsBrazil: Cinema, Sex and the Generals is a documentary directed by Simon Hartog that examines Brazilian filmmakers who used the pornochanchada genre to escape censorship of their socially critical films during dictatorial rule in Brazil....
(made 1985 but censored, eventually transmitted 1995) - Nicely Offensive (George Melly interviews Dusan Makavejev)
As Producer
- Further and Particular Steve Dwoskin 1988