Kinmonth has received numerous awards for her work, including the BAFTA for Best Documentary Series, the Royal Television Society Arts Award and the Creative Originality Award at the Women in Film and Television Awards.[10]
She is the founding director of independent film company Foxtrot Films Ltd.[11]
Kinmonth’s most recent project is the feature documentary Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War (2022), released by Dartmouth Films. This is the first major feature film to be made about Eric Ravilious, artist who was killed in a plane crash over Iceland in 1942.[12][13]
Early life and education
Kinmonth was born to Kathleen (née Godfrey; 1922–2015) and her first husband, John Bernard Kinmonth (1916–1982). Kathleen was a daughter of John Henry Godfrey, a Royal Navy intelligence officer on whom Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss "M".[14][15]
Kinmonth spent her early career as a producer and director of television and radio commercials. She worked for Wasey Campbell Ewald, part of The Interpublic Group of Companies and at the Central Office of Information. She then moved to Granada TV in Manchester, where she started to research, write and direct current affairs programmes.
In 2017, to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Kinmonth directed the feature documentary Revolution: New Art for a New World about the artists of the Revolution, which premiered at the Louvre in Paris and was shown theatrically in 34 countries.[1]
The film had its World Premiere at the Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria in 2022, and its UK Premiere at Curzon Mayfair in 2022. It won the Best Documentary Campaign at the Big Screen Awards 2022, and Best Documentary Film at La Femme International Film Festival. It was nominated at The Master of Art Film Festival in 2022. It is a Finalist at the Dallas Independent Film Festival 2023.
Kinmonth is the Granddaughter of Admiral John Henry Godfrey, (10 July 1888 – 29 August 1970) an officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. She has given several talks and written articles raising awareness of his life and work.
In 2016, Kinmonth delivered a talk titled "Very Special Admiral"[24] about Admiral Godfrey, immortalised as “M” in the James Bond books written by Ian Fleming, his wartime assistant. The event was held at Wilmington, Folkington and Milton Street Village Club, Sussex in 2016, in the village where Godfrey lived from 1948 to 1980. The talk featured readings from his unpublished memoirs, previously unseen family photos, along with official wartime portraits by Cecil Beaton and society photographer Dorothy Wilding.