FILM

Brief History

I didn’t start making films until a chance encounter with a film producer on the tube thrust me into the heady world of screenwriting. Here’s what I’ve made since…

2020

GANEF (Short Film - Writer-Director, Producer/Dumbfounded Films)

Oscar Qualified for Live Action Short Category (2022) - watch here

1962. A little girl, spooked by a dark tale from her mother's wartime past, starts to believe her adored cleaner is a thief.

“a quite magical telling of second generation Holocaust survivor’s grief and emotion [seen] in a very special way through the eyes of a child.” [UK Jewish Film Festival Jury citation, Special Mention BAFTA qualifying UKJFF20]

Cast: Lydia Wilson, Sophie McShera, Izabella Dziewanska

Official Selection at 35 International Film Festivals, including:

6 Oscar Qualifying Festivals (all 2020, unless otherwise stated): LA Shorts, Hollyshorts, Tirana International, Manhattan Short (2021), Chicago Children’s & Flicker’s Roving Eye.

BAFTA & BIFA-Qualifying Bolton (2021) & Norwich Film Festival ; BAFTA-Qualifying UK Jewish Film Festival; BIFA Qualifying Shortest Nights and Manchester Film Festival (2021)

Awards/Nominations

Winner, Best UK Short, Nottingham International Film Festival

Winner, Best UK Short, New Renaissance Film Festival (London)

Special Mention for Best Short Film at UK Jewish Film Festival 2020

Awards Shortlisted, LA Shorts International 2020

Finalist & Best Actress Nomination (Sophie McShera) at Manhattan Short 2021

Best Director and Best Short Nominations at Madrid Independent Film Festival

2019

MAKING NOISE QUIETLY (Feature Film - co-screenwriter)

I adapted the third story in an adaptation of Robert Holman’s play, a triptych exploring the aftermath of war on the lives of ordinary British people across the 20th Century. (First two stories adapted by Robert Holman and Nick Drake).

Directed by Dominic Dromgoole, produced by Open Palm Films, released in UK cinemas by Verve Pictures.

“…a powerful little fable about love, cruelty and emotional learning…a Hansel and Gretel tale with twists, textures and…toxicity.” **** Financial Times

“…toes a provocative line, discussing what makes and becomes of trauma, rage and cycles of violence, and whether it’s even possible to heal it.” Little White Lies

Cast: Deborah Findlay, Trystan Gravelle, Orton O’Brien, Matthew Tennyson, Luke Thompson, Barbara Marten, Geoffrey Streatfeild

2016

NEWBORN (Short Film – Writer/Director)

Adapted from Henry VIII by Shakespeare and commissioned as part of Shakespeare’s Globe’s Complete Walk mega-celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th deathiversary. The film, shot on location at Hampton Court, was projected for 24 hours on a massive screen on the South Bank and subsequently played on various platforms, including the BBC, across the world.

Cast: Danny Sapani, Pauline McLynn, David Calder

Producers: BFI and Shakespeare’s Globe

Shot on location at Hampton Court Palace, London.

Presented as part of Complete Walk celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary. Also broadcast on BBC. 

CLEOPATRA (Short Film – Writer/Director) A

Adapted from Antony & Cleopatra by Shakespeare, and part of the same mega-celebration as Newborn, I had the ridiculous privilege of shooting it at the Red Pyramid in Giza, Cairo (they rented it for the day’s shoot!). Check it out in all its glory on the website here.

Cast: Eleanor Matsuura, Katy Stephens

Producers: BFI and Shakespeare’s Globe

Shot on location at the Red Pyramid, Giza, Cairo.

Presented as part of Complete Walk celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary. Also broadcast on BBC.

2008-10

THE CONSTANT WIFE & THE CIRCLE
Screenwriter, feature screenplay adaptations of plays by Somerset Maugham. The Constant Wife got a subsequent rewrite by the great Jonathan Lynn (he directed My Cousin Vinny and knows a thing or two).

In development.

Producers: Joe Abrams*/Brilliant Films, London

*yup, he’s the producer I met on the tube.