MICK CSÁKY - Writer, Producer, Director and Executive Producer

Mick Csáky was born in the UK in 1945 of an English mother and a Hungarian father. He was educated at Bedales School during 1951-63 after which he undertook 8 years of further education studying painting, sculpture, design, photography, film and television production. In 1971 he graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Film & Television. He entered the television industry by joining LWT's arts and entertainment magazine AQUARIUS.

To date he has produced and directed more than 100 television programmes, in addition to executive producing a further 600 - many of them international co-productions. The majority of his output has been documentary singles and series, made through the independent film and television production company Antelope, in the areas of human interest, biography, history, travel, science, culture, music and arts; with assorted performance and magazine programmes and a limited amount of drama productions. His programmes have won numerous international awards and appeared on all of the UK's terrestrial channels and played in most countries throughout the world.

Productions produced and directed by Mick Csáky

• AFRICA a documentary history series of 8 one-hours presented by Basil Davidson for Channel Four (New York TV Festival Gold award winner and International Emmy nomination 1984)
• THE MIDAS TOUCH a global economics series of 6 one-hours presented by Anthony Sampson for BBC2, TV Asahi of Japan and Channel Seven of Australia (One World Broadcasting Award 1990)
• KILLING THE DRAGON a one-hour documentary about a cure for heroin addiction in Thailand for ITV (San Francisco TV Festival Golden Gate award 1988)
• PLÁCIDO DOMINGO: A Musical Life a 90-minute biographical profile for ITV, 13/WNET and Europool
• MOZART IN TURKEY a 90-minute opera film for BBC2 (Golden Rembrandt Nombre D'Or Best Documentary award 2000)
• GEIKO GIRL a one-hour documentary for BBC2 and KBS of Japan (Arts/Humanities prize at the Chicago TV Festival 2001)
• AFRICA LIVE The Roll Back Malaria Concert a 120-minute music film for cinema, Television and DVD release worldwide.

Productions executive produced by Mick Csáky

• THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS a two-hour special for BBC, TV Asahi and A&E (US National Emmy winner 1993)
• CHASING A RAINBOW: The Life of Josephine Baker a 90-minute special for Channel Four (International Emmy award, New York TV Festival Gold award and IDA award 1986)
• REBEL MUSIC: The Life of Bob Marley for Channel Four, 13/WNET, the Experience Music Project and Télé Images
• THE PEOPLE'S PLANET a series of 6 one-hour environmental programmes co-produced with NHK of Japan for CNN and Télé Images

Independent production companies managed by Mick Csáky

• Pictures That Move (1972-81 as Chief Executive)
• Viscom (1975-81 as an Executive Director)
• Mitchell Beazley Television, an American Express company (1981-83, as Chief Executive)
• Csáky Limited (1983-95, as Chief Executive)
• Antelope (1988-90 as Executive Director and since 1990 as Chief Executive & Creative Director)

Other information

Over the years Mick Csáky has served on the Councils of the Association of Independent Producers (AIP), Independent Programme Producers Association (IPPA), Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and the Royal Television Society (RTS).

During the 1990s he was Chairman of the Film Production Committee of the Arts Council of England.

He lectures regularly about documentary film and television production and has conducted numerous Master Classes at film and television festivals.

In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Television Society "In recognition of an outstanding contribution to the furtherance of television".

He is the author of two non-fiction books: HOW DOES IT FEEL? An Exploration of the Senses published by Thames & Hudson (UK), Crown (USA) and Forum (Sweden) to accompany a documentary film of the same title; and HOW TO GET INTO TELEVISION published by Boxtree/Macmillan.

His still photographs have appeared in many books and newspapers throughout the world. His stills are held by the Hutchinson Picture Agency in London.

He is a trustee of The One World Broadcasting Trust.

He is married to the writer Jeanne Du Pasquier, with three grown-up children: Leo, Tim and Corinna.

>> Selected productions 1972-2005