Julian Richards (director)


Julian Richards is a Welsh film director. He is associated with the Cool Cymru era of culture and arts in Wales.

Biography

Early life

Julian Richards was born in Newport, South Wales, where his father owned DIY retail store Handiland. Inspired by his uncle Rex Richards Hollywood acting career, Julian decided to become a film director and produced several short films on super 8 mm including The Curse of Cormac, Gang War, Evil Inspirations and The Girl That Cried Wolf which was broadcast by the BBC in the "16 and Up Video Showcase".

Education

In Newport, Julian attended St Julian's Comprehensive School and Gwent College of Higher Education where he studied Art & Design Foundation. In 1985 he attended the film school at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art where he directed two Super 8 mm shorts "Time" and "Infanticide" and two 16 mm shorts Pirates and Queen Sacrifice. Pirates won The Starting Out Award at the Celtic Media Festival 1988 and Queen Sacrifice won the Thames Television Award for Best Fiction Film at the BP Expo–British Short Film Festival 1990 before being broadcast on Screenplay Firsts.
In 1988, Richards attended the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, where he was invited to direct In with the Rent for BBC Wales and A Week in the Life a documentary about a cattle drover for S4C. In 1992, Richards graduated the NFTS with the 16 mm short Bad Company, broadcast on ITV Wales and selected to screen at AFI Fest in Los Angeles.

Directing career

In 1992, Richards moved to Los Angeles where he worked for Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment directing an EPK for Slaughter of the Innocents starring Scott Glenn and adapted Chris Westwood's novel Calling All Monsters for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment at Universal Studios. In 1994 he returned to the UK to direct A Mutter of Voices for BBC2 and twelve episodes of the Channel 4 soap Brookside, including the body under the patio episodes.
In 1996, he wrote and directed his debut feature film Darklands, a brooding tale of underground paganism starring Jon Finch, Craig Fairbrass and Rowena King. A festival favourite winning several awards including the Melies D'Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 1997, Darklands was picked up for distribution by Pathé. The film forms part of the cultural era in Wales identified as Cool Cymru. Richards followed up with Silent Cry starring Emily Woof, Douglas Henshall, Frank Finlay, Kevin Whately, Clive Russell and Craig Kelly, an urban thriller which received its UK premiere on Channel 5.
In 2003, Richards expanded into film production, establishing Prolific Films through which he produced and directed the micro-budget shocker The Last Horror Movie which won sixteen awards including Best UK Feature at Raindance Film Festival and the Melies D'Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 2005. This video diary of a serial killer was theatrically released in the US by Fangoria and in the UK by Tartan Films.
In 2006 Richards produced and directed coming-of-age thriller Summer Scars which won two BAFTA Cymru awards and was nominated for Best Film. Summer Scars was released in North America by TLA Releasing and in the UK by Soda Pictures. In 2008, Richards directed Charles Dickens's England featuring Sir Derek Jacobi, a documentary about the life of the 19th century author, which received a theatrical release in the UK by Guerilla Films before being broadcast by Sky Television. In 2011 Richards directed Shiver, a psychological horror starring Danielle Harris, John Jarratt, Casper Van Dien and Rae Dawn Chong, which was released in North America by Image Entertainment.
Richards is also founder of a film sales company, Jinga Films.

Filmography