Hugo Max is a British-Austrian filmmaker, musician and painter. 

His short films have been curated in programmes at the Austrian Filmmuseum, Modern Art Oxford and London’s Close-Up Cinema. He was selected for the BaseCamp Residency at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival. 

Max performs live improvised scores to silent films on solo viola. He regularly soundtracks screenings at London’s Prince Charles Cinema and Picturehouse Cinemas. Frequently touring the UK, his performances have captivated audiences at venues including London’s BFI Southbank, Bo’ness’ Hippodrome and Oxford’s Ultimate Picture Palace. Max has been interviewed on scoring silent cinema for BBC Radio’s The Arts Mix and Meet the Maker programmes and has contributed articles to The Strad and Little White Lies. He has lectured on improvisation and multidisciplinary practice at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Immersed in the intersection between mediums, Max has devised musical performances in conversation with his films and paintings installed at Oxford’s Fusion Arts, London’s Phoenix Cinema and Atlas Cinema. He curated a triptych of multidisciplinary concerts at the Holywell Music Room between 2022 - 24 and enjoys performing as a chamber musician and concertmaster, appearing with Echo Ensemble and the Oxford Baroque Players at such venues as the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room and St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. 

Following his musical studies at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music JD, Max read Fine Art at Magdalen College, Oxford and studied filmmaking at the Friedl Kubelka School for Independent Film, Vienna.

Max’s books include Kosher Giraffe Trilogy (2024), The Dissonance Book (2023) and The Stanley Series (2020).