John Goldschmidt is an award winning film director and producer, who was born in London and grew up in Vienna. Goldschmidt has both Austrian and British nationality. He studied at the Czech National Film School FAMU and at The Royal College of Art’s Department of Film and Television, where he graduated with a Master of Arts degree. Goldschmidt is resident in London.
Goldschmidt has made many documentary and fiction films for BBC TV, BBC FILMS, GRANADA TV, GRANADA FILMS, THAMES TV, CHANNEL FOUR, FILM FOUR in the UK and ZDF, WDR, NDR, ORF, SRG, FR3, RAI1, BAVARIA FILM STUDIOS, on the continent and HBO Pictures in the United States.
His productions have won and been nominations for many awards including:
THE BRITISH ACADEMY AWARD (BAFTA)
THE PRIX ITALIA RAI PRIZE - MUSIC
THE GOLDEN NYMPH - MONTE CARLO
THE CINE DEL LUCA AWARD - MONTE CARLO
FERNSEHPREIS DER OESTERREICHISCHEN VOLKSBILDUNG
SILVER HUGO – CHICAGO FILM FESTIVAL
ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY AWARD
GERMAN CINEMA OWNER’S PRIZE
THE SILVER BEAR – BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
SILVER NYMPH - MONTE CARLO (twice)
EMMY NOMINATION – DRAMA SERIES
PRIX ITALIA PRIZE – NOMINATION FOR DRAMA
CABLEACE AWARD (US) - NOMINATION
Goldschmidt’s production company Viva Films was set up originally through an output deal for fiction films with Granada in London and NDR in Hamburg. He advised the European Union on their audiovisual policy and proposed the setting up of a European Script Fund as part of the MEDIA programme. Goldschmidt has been a member of both BAFTA and European Film Prize juries. He co-wrote the original report which proposed Channel 4’s involvement in theatrical films, co-wrote The Director’s Guild of Great Britain’s report to the British government on the UK tax credit for feature film production and was a board member of Directors UK.
Goldschmidt recently Directed and Co-Produced the comedic drama DOUGH, an official UK/Hungarian Co-Production, through his company Viva Films, financed by Docler Entertainment. The film stars Jonathan Pryce, Jerome Holder, Ian Hart, Phillip Davis and Pauline Collins.
William Ivory writing about the TV Movie 'SPEND, SPEND, SPEND' in the April 2011 edition of Sight and Sound:
"if there has been a better 75 minutes on British TV ever then I'd be happy to see it"
Written by Jack Rosenthal and directed by John Goldschmidt, for which he received the BAFTA award for best single television drama.