Matters of justice have always been close to Graef’s heart. First chosing theatre as the medium through which to harness his passion for conveying important human stories he then moved into a screen career. His illustrious career in TV, began in 1964 with One Of Them Is Brett, a film commissioned by The Society for the Aid of Thalidomide Children to show head teachers of infants’ schools that children who lack limbs can still have perfectly good brains.
Graef’s other credits include In the Name of Allah – the first full-length film on Islam for Western television, as well as the first Amnesty International film, Pleasure at Her Majesty’s and BAFTA-winning experimental prison musical Feltham Sings (2002). As a director, producer and executive producer, BAFTA award-winning Roger has been responsible for more than 160 documentaries to date spanning current affairs, criminal justice, communication, business, city planning and architecture, science, comedy and the arts.
During the celebratory evening, footage of Graef’s work was shown and the filmmaker received personal tributes from colleagues and friends Michael Palin, Richard Klein, Jay Hunt, Tom Giles and many more admirers from the industry. And the filmmaker revealed what inspired him to bring difficult issues into people’s homes, whilst reflecting on his work to date and his high hopes for the future of filmmaking.
Graef also used the Tribute evening as an opportunity to outline his manifesto for the future of filmmaking. This included covering the problems that filmmakers face in the fight for ratings and urging them to “make room for failure”, because “commissioners need the time and the freedom to take more risks.”
He said: “Blurring the line between current affairs and documentaries helps to bring the human face to stories that are only summarised by the news”
Graef also made clear the importance of “letting subjects speak for themselves” and remembering that “documentaries are not fact-driven, even though they’re factual.”
