Pinny Grylls
"Pinny Grylls is an award winning filmmaker and ethnographer. In 2002 she co-founded Bird’s Eye View Film Festival to promote female directors in the industry. Her 2008 short documentary ‘Peter and Ben’ won awards at festivals, including Aspen, IDFA, LSFF, and SXSW. Using her closely observed humorous style she has made documentaries for National Theatre/BBC (The Hour, Bear Who Went to War), Channel 4 (Who Do You Think You Were?, 3 Min Wonders), Arts Council/ Dante or Die (Skin Hunger) and The Royal Opera House (Becoming Zerlina, The Real Billy), The Guardian (Thank you Women). She was contributing director to Hackney based documentary feature The Street directed by Zed Nelson - which was nominated for a 2020 Grierson Award. Her commercials include British Gas, Aldi and Dove.
In 2022 she was awarded the BFI Development fund for her first feature Hear My Voice, about an young opera singer and his relationship with his deaf father. Its a musical comedy!
Her debut feature documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, co-directed with partner Sam Crane tells the story of his attempt to stage a full production of Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto. It is shot entirely inside the game and will premier at SXSW in 2024. Pinny is deaf/ Hard of Hearing and lives in East London.
