Felix Greene

Directing

Born: May 21, 1909

Felix Greene (21 May 1909 – 15 June 1985) was a British journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker best known for his extensive film and written reportage on China, Vietnam, Cuba, and other communist countries during the 1960s and 1970s. Educated at Sidcot School and Clare College, Cambridge, Greene began his career at the BBC in the 1930s and later worked as a correspondent and filmmaker at a time when access to many of these regions was restricted for Western journalists. Greene first visited China for the BBC in 1957 and went on to make multiple documentary films based on prolonged stays and extensive travel, including China, One Man’s China, Report from China, Tibet!, and Freedom Railway. His work combined interviews, observational footage, and on-location reporting, and was widely circulated through theatrical screenings, television broadcasts, and educational distribution. Greene’s films and books attracted both praise and criticism for their portrayal of communist societies, and his work remains an important historical record of Cold War–era documentary filmmaking.