James Walker (born 19 June 1979) is a British writer and filmmaker. He lives in London and studied at Radley College and Trinity College, Cambridge University where he read English and received a 1st Class Honors Degree. He is a director of Magma Pictures [1] and the Young Film Academy. [2] His first feature film Blooded, had a UK cinema release on 1 April 2011 and was released on the UK DVD market. [3] Blooded caused a great deal of controversy at the time of the film's release, promotional viral videos were removed from video sharing websites following action by animal rights protesters. [4]
Directing credits
Into Swans
(Short film: 15 mins, 16mm) Drama (2004).
One Small Leap
(Short film: 3 mins, 16mm) Comedy (2002).
[5]
Taboo
(Short film: 30 mins, BetaSP) Thriller (1998).
[6]
Gemini
(Theatre) Produced ADC Theatre, Cambridge (2000).
On the Breast of a Woman
(Theatre) Produced ADC Theatre, Cambridge (2001).
[7]
Writing credits
Blooded
(Feature film) Thriller (2011).
[8]
Proving Mr Jennings
(Theatre) Winner, King's Cross New Writing Award (2004).
[9]
Into Swans
(Short film) Drama (2003).
One Small Leap
(Short film) Comedy (2002).
[5]
On The Breast of a Woman
(Theatre) Drama. Produced Queens’ Theatre, Cambridge (2001).
[7]
Born to be Wild
(Theatre) Produced C Venues, Edinburgh Festival (2000).
[10]
Broadcast on BBC World Service, December (2000).
[10]
Gemini
(Theatre) Produced ADC Theatre, Cambridge (2000).
Awards
Film
Winner, Best UK Short, Raindance 2003.
Winner, Cocotte-Minute Prix, Brest European Short Film Festival 2003. [11]
HTV Award, Brief Encounters 2002. [12]
Best Director, Capalbio International Film Festival 2003. [11]
F.I.C.E Award, Capalbio International Film Festival 2003.
Runner-up, Aprille Award, Milan Film Festival 2002.
Theater
Winner, King’s Cross New Writing Award, 2004. [13]
Nominated for London Writers Award, 2002.
Winner, BATS New Writing Award, 2000.
Selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus, 2003. [14]
Blooded critical response
The film's topic has provoked reactions from parties on both side of the hunting debate in the UK. [15] In promoting the film, its makers originally asserted that it was a re-creation of an actual event that occurred after the enactment of the 2005 hunting ban in England, [16] maintaining that the film, rather than trying to make any political points, only investigates "the nature of extremism" in any form, [17] and "encourages debate". [18] The Evening Standard wrote that the film "caused outrage after graphic scenes showing activists attacking five deer-stalkers were posted on the internet, in a viral publicity campaign." [18] The Independent noted the film's controversial stance, and that as the film's asserted protagonists were a group of extreme animal activists, it generated "much chatter on the interweb" after clips appeared on Youtube. They wrote however, "it all has the whiff of a clever publicity stunt". [16] This is a stance echoed in many other online reviews with suggestions that it is a mockumentary that leaves the viewer with [sic] "no doubt that it is fabricated". [15] The List classed it as an example of a "fantastic piece of filmmaking that shows what is achievable if you get creative within your budget". [19]
References
- ^ "Blooded". Archived from the original on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ "Home". Young Film Academy.
- ^ "Celebrating UK Film". Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ^ Moore-Bridger, Benedict; Widdup, Ellen; Parsons, Rob (22 March 2011). "Oh deer... heiress tells of 'harrowing' film role as the quarry of hunt extremists". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 26 March 2011.
- ^ a b "One Small Leap". 20 November 2002 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Taboo". 28 June 1997 – via IMDb.
- ^ a b "Brenda Cottis". www.bawds.org. Archived from the original on 29 January 2003.
- ^ "Blooded". 18 March 2011 – via IMDb.
- ^ "The Stage review of Proving Mr. Jennings".
- ^ a b "Foreign Shorts 2003". cinemainvisibile.it. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011.
- ^ a b "One Small Leap - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "Hunting the hunters". Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ "James Walker wins Courtyard prize for new writing - The Courtyard". www.thecourtyard.org.uk.
- ^ "Berlinale Talent Campus". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
- ^ a b "The Week UK: The Latest News, Opinion, Sport, People & Business". The Week UK.
- ^ a b "Matthew Bell: The IoS Diary". 6 March 2011. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ "Grass Roots – Blooded | Blog | littlewhitelies.co.uk". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Oh deer... Heiress tells of 'harrowing' film role as the quarry of hunt extremists | News". Archived from the original on 26 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ^ "DVD: Phenomena, The Beyond, Senseless, Blooded, Skyline, Primal, Island of Death". The List. 24 March 2011.
External links
- James Walker at IMDb