Introduction
Paulus Henrique Benedictus "Paul" Cox (16 April 1940 – 18 June 2016) was a Dutch-Australian filmmaker, who has been recognized as "Australia's most prolific film auteur". "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."
Early life
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.
Career
Cox worked on the 1964 BBC TV docudrama, Culloden.
Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965, by which time he had already established a reputation as a photographer. 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 of Cox’s photographs of village life were set to poems written by Beier’s students. Beier and Cox later published a book on Mirka Mora
His teaching at Prahran College of Advanced Education in the 1970s with Athol Shmith and John Cato influenced a number of photographers and filmmakers, including Carol Jerrems. Cox collaborated with a number of screenwriters including John Clarke and Bob Ellis.
He published Reflections: An Autobiographical Journey in 1998.
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.
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. Cox has also written a memoir, Tales from the Cancer Ward. Rosie Igusti, a fellow transplant recipient he met there, later became his partner.
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. Cox attended the American premier of Force of Destiny at the Ebertfest Film Festival in Chicago, having travelled with Rosie via stops in Bangkok, Dubai, and Frankfurt in order to avert the effects of travel on their delicate health. He had been invited to speak after the screening, and did so.
Cox was named in Phillip Adams' List of 100 National Treasures in April 2015. On 18 June 2016, he died at the age of 76.
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
- Illuminations (1976)
- Inside Looking Out (1977)
- Kostas (1979)
- Lonely Hearts (1982)
- Man of Flowers (1983)
- My First Wife (1984)
- Cactus (1986)
- Island (1989)
- Golden Braid (1990)
- A Woman's Tale (1991)
- The Nun and the Bandit (1992)
- Exile (1994)
- Lust and Revenge (1996)
- Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)
- Innocence (2000)
- The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001)
- Human Touch (2004)
- Salvation (2008)
- Force Of Destiny (2015)
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 (1966) – 14 min colour film
- The Prince Henry's Story (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 (1972) – 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
- 1982 Australian Film Institute - National Film Awards - 'Lonely Hearts' - Best Film
- 1984 Vallidolid International Film Festival – Golden Spike: Man of Flowers
- 1984 AFI Award – Best Director & Best Screenplay: My First Wife
- 1986 Flanders International Film Festival – Golden Spur: My First Wife
- 1991 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Feature Film Award for A Women's Tale
- 1992 Flanders International Film Festival – Golden Spur: A Woman's Tale
- 1993 Brisbane International Film Festival – Chauvel Award: for dintiguished contribution to Australian Cinema
- 1994 44th Berlin International Film Festival – Golden Bear (nominated): Exile
- 2000 Taormina International Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize: Innocence
- 2000 Montréal World Film Festival – Grand Prix des Amériques: Innocence
- 2000 IF Awards – Best Feature Film: Innocence
- 2003 Montréal International Festival of Films on Art – Jury Prize: The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky
- 2004 Montréal World Film Festival – Grand Prix des Amériques: Human Touch