Paul Cox (director)

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Paul Cox
Born
Paulus Henrique Benedictus Cox

(1940-04-16)16 April 1940
Venlo, Netherlands
Died18 June 2016(2016-06-18) (aged 76)
Occupation(s)Film director
photographer
writer

Paulus Henrique Benedictus "Paul" Cox (16 April 1940 – 18 June 2016) was an award-winning filmmaker, who was widely recognized as "Australia's most prolific film auteur".[1] "Cox's delicate films have been pockmarked with life's uncertainty. Loneliness within relationships is a staple of the Cox oeuvre, too". David Wenham states, "There is no one like Cox.... He is unique, and we need him, and people like him.... He is completely an auteur, because everything you see on the screen, and hear, has got Paul's fingerprints all over it."[1]

Life and career

Cox was born in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else (née Kuminack), a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer.[2][3] Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965, by which time he had already established a reputation as a photographer.[4] In the late 1960s Cox travelled to Papua New Guinea with Ulli Beier whose interest was indigenous poetry, drama and creative writing. In the resulting book[5] of Cox’s photographs of village life were set to poems written by Beier’s students.[6] Beier and Cox later published a book on Mirka Mora[7]

His teaching at Prahran College of Advanced Education in the 1970s with Athol Shmith and John Cato[8] influenced a number of photographers and filmmakers, including Carol Jerrems.[9] Cox collaborated with a number of screenwriters including John Clarke and Bob Ellis.

He published Reflections: An Autobiographical Journey in 1998.[10]

His film-essay The Remarkable Mr. Kaye (2005) is a portrait of his ill friend, the actor Norman Kaye, who appeared in numerous Cox films, such as Lonely Hearts (1982) and Man of Flowers (1983). In 2006 he became the Patron of the Byron Bay Film Festival.[11]

On 26 December 2009 he received a liver transplant. David Bradbury's 2012 documentary, On Borrowed Time, tells this story against the backdrop of his life and work, through interviews with Cox and his friends and colleagues.[12] Cox has also written a memoir, Tales from the Cancer Ward.[13] Rosie Igusti, a fellow transplant recipient he met there, later became his partner.[14]

Cox's last film Force of Destiny, with David Wenham and Indian actress Shahana Goswami was released in July 2015. Wenham plays a sculptor and transplant patient who falls in love with a patient he meets in the hospital ward.[1]

Cox was named in Phillip Adams' List of 100 National Treasures in April 2015.[15] On 18 June 2016, he died at the age of 76.[16]

Photography

Photography books

  • Cox, Paul (1970). Human Still Lives from Nepal. s.n. (Mentone, Vic.: Alexander Bros.)
  • Cox, Paul, & Ulli Beier (1971). Home of Man: The People of New Guinea. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson (Australia)
  • Beier, Ulli, & Paul Cox (1980). Mirka. South Melbourne, Victoria: Macmillan.

Selected exhibitions

  • 1977 Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney: Photography by Athol Shmith and Paul Cox
  • 2009 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne: Paul Cox, 6 – 29 August
  • 2011 Mars Gallery, Melbourne: Paul Cox
  • 2011 Monash Gallery of Art: Age of Aquarius: Photography of Paul Cox, 7 April – 19 June

Filmography

Features

Shorts

  • Matuta: An Early Morning Fantasy (1965) – 23 min colour film
  • Time Past (1966) – 10 min b/w film
  • The Prince Henry's Medical Team in Vietnam on YouTube (1966) – 14 min colour film
  • The Prince Henry's Story on YouTube (1968) – 17 min b/w film
  • Skindeep (1968) – 40 min drama colour 16 mm film
  • Marcel (1969) – 7 min b/w 16 mm film
  • Symphony (1969) – 12 mins film
  • Mirka (1970) – 20 mins film
  • Phyllis (1971) – 35 mins colour 16 mm film
  • The Journey (1972I) – 60 mins drama film
  • The Island (1975) – 10 min colour 16 mm film
  • Ways of Seeing (1977) – 24 min film
  • Ritual (1978) – 10 min film

Documentaries

  • Calcutta (1971) – 30 mins
  • All Set Backstage (1974) – 22 mins
  • We Are All Alone My Dear (1975) – 22 mins
  • For a Child Called Michael (1979) – 30 mins
  • The Kingdom of Nek Chand (1980) – 22 mins
  • Underdog (1980) – 53 mins
  • Death and Destiny (1984)
  • Vincent (1987)
  • The Hidden Dimension (1997) – 43 mins IMAX film
  • The Remarkable Mr. Kaye (2005)
  • Kaluapapa Heavan (2007)
  • The Dinner Party (2012)

TV

  • Paper Boy (1985) (TV)
  • Handle With Care (1985)
  • The Secret Life of Trees (1986) – 25 min TV film
  • The Gift (1988)
  • Touch Me (1993) – 30 min TV episode

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c Dow, Steve (25 April 2015). "Paul Cox: Force Of Life". The Weekly Review.
  2. ^ "Paul Cox Biography (1940-)", Film Reference.
  3. ^ "Cactus (1986)", Australian Screen.
  4. ^ Tom Ryan, "Making Silence Speak: Interview with Paul Cox", Cinema Papers, July 1977 pp. 16–19, 94.
  5. ^ Cox, Paul, & Ulli Beier (1971). Home of Man: the people of New Guinea. Thomas Nelson (Australia), Melbourne
  6. ^ Stephen Zagala (2012), "Photographing the Pacific" in S. Dupont (2012), Raskols (Postcards from the Rim), Goulburn Gallery, Goulburn Regional Gallery, 20 September - 20 October.
  7. ^ Beier, Ulli, & Paul Cox (1980). Mirka. South Melbourne, Victoria: Macmillan.
  8. ^ About whom Cox co-edited a biography Cox, Paul (ed.); Gracey, Bryan (ed.) (2013), John Cato: Retrospective, Melbourne: Victoria Wilkinson Publishing, ISBN 978-1-922178-09-1 {{citation}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ King, Natalie, 1966- & Heide Museum of Modern Art (2010). Up Close: Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and William Yang. Heide Museum of Modern Art: Schwartz Media, Melbourne.
  10. ^ Cox, Paul; Cox, Paul, 1941 (1998), Reflections: An autobiographical journey, Currency Press, ISBN 978-0-86819-549-0{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "About Byron Bay Film Festival".
  12. ^ Margaret Burin and Joanne Shoebridge, "On borrowed time: David Bradbury shares intimate portrait of friend and filmmaker", ABC, 13 June, 2013.
  13. ^ Cox, Paul (2011), Tales from the Cancer Ward, Transit Lounge, ISBN 978-0-9808462-3-2
  14. ^ Philippa Hawker, "Comebacks", The Age, 16 April 2011, Life&Style, p. 12.
  15. ^ Adams, Phillip. "National Living Treasures-I've Got Another List". The Australian. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  16. ^ "Paul Cox, Australian film maker and frequent collaborator with David Wenham, dies age 76", The Guardian, 19 June 2016.
  17. ^ "1991 Human Rights Medal and Awards". Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  18. ^ "Berlinale: 1994 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-06-12.

External links