Toby Amies

Toby Amies
Toby Amies
Born	Tobias Amies; 27 June 1967 (age 56); Birmingham, Warwickshire
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Film director, broadcaster, and photographer
Notable work	The Man Whose Mind Exploded

Toby Amies is a filmmaker and broadcaster who specialises in making programmes about art, music, and travel with an emphasis on fringe culture and alternative perspectives. He is best known for his feature-length documentary

Lonely Planet Six Degrees and The Rough Guides

. In addition, Toby is a widely published portrait photographer and writer.

Early life and education

Amies was brought up in Worcestershire and went to the University of Exeter in Devon and subsequently the University of Kansas, where he was awarded a scholarship in Art History. He declined the scholarship in favour of work in music TV in the UK at the Powerstation.

Career

Amies began his career on air with

MTV Europe partly thanks to work/appearances with Quentin Tarantino and Traci Lords

at MCA before moving to MTV.

Whilst at MTV Europe he worked on the programmes Alternative Nation, US Top 20, Weekend Edition, The Big Picture and was the co-creator of the programme MTV Hot which later featured Paul Tonkinson, Sara Cox and the German actor Christian Ulmen as hosts. He also worked alongside Davina McCall.

Amies later moved to

Long Island

.

Since moving back to the UK he has covered film festivals for

Lonely Planet Six Degrees and two series of The Rough Guides. In the Lonely Planet series, he teamed up with fellow British presenter Asha Gill to visit many countries. Amies presented programmes on Radio 4, BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC World Service. He occasionally podcasts on podomatic

.

He concentrates on filmmaking, regularly making films for Nowness,[1] the Tate,^[2] Christie's^[3] and music videos.^[4]

In 2022 Amies released the documentary In The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 (formerly titled Cosmic FuKc) about progressive rock band King Crimson, to coincide with the group's 50th anniversary.

References

^ "Nowness". www.nowness.com. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ Carnation lily rose
^ Guardi Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlengh
^ "Music Films by director Toby Amies".

Rough Guide Phil Star
Radio and TV The Guardian 23 May 2008
King Crimson Celebrating 20 years
King Crimson unveil trailer for new documentary

External links

[1] "Nowness". www.nowness.com. Retrieved 29 March 2023.

[2] Carnation lily rose

[3] Guardi Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlengh

[4] "Music Films by director Toby Amies".

[2]

[3]

[4]

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
Artists	MusicBrainz Photographers' Identities