Ellis Freeman

HAL CANTOR writes television, film, and theater. He is currently writing on the second season of GREAT ESCAPES with MORGAN FREEMAN for The History Channel. His comedy, TO HAL & BACK, was optioned by SONY PICTURES TELEVISION. He wrote on FUSION channel's acclaimed special, THE NAKED TRUTH: DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, which broke The Panama Papers story. Prior to that, his drama pilot, MOUTHPIECE, was bought by FOX TELEVISION STUDIOS. He wrote THE LAKE EFFECT, a one-hour drama pilot for SHOWTIME, developed with Emmy-winning director Scott Winant. Hal also sold the drama pilot, TWILIGHT, to SONY PICTURES TELEVISION. In features, he developed a comedy with John Davis Productions.

 

Hal’s had multiple plays produced. His one-man show, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ANXIOUS, debuted at London's Camden Fringe. CUBICLES,which he wrote & directed in Los Angeles, garnered 7 Valley Theater League nominations including Best Play, Best Writing and Best Director. He's currently adapting his play, THE BONUS ROUND, into a musical with a UK composer.

 

On the teaching front, Hal has developed and presented courses at New York Film Academy, London Film School, Met Film School: Berlin & London, Raindance: Berlin, aFilm International in Barcelona, and the Northwest Film Center in Portland.  He also represented Met Film School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in collaboration with PINEWOOD STUDIOS. 

 

Fleur Whitlock is an art director and production designer with over 30 years' experience at all levels of the film and TV industry. Her most recent credits include THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD, EPISODES, and the Channel 4 drama ADULT MATERIAL. She has also worked on a host of well-respected TV series such as INSPECTOR MORSE, LOVE HURTS, KAVANAGH QC, THE LAKES, RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES and POIROT. She designed over 40 episodes of the popular police series THE BILL.

Fleur has worked around the world on a variety of productions including the BBC drama documentary series DISCOVERING ANCIENT EGYPT filmed entirely on location in Egypt and KROD MANDOON & THE FLAMING SWORD OF FIRE shot in Budapest for Comedy Central. Perhaps her most challenging foreign assignment was to design a domestically produced soap opera in Kazakhstan (PEREKRESTOK) modelled on the BBC’s ‘EastEnders’!

Her feature film experience is extensive and includes such diverse productions as CHURCHILL: THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS directed by Comic Strip creator Peter Richardson, LOVE & DEATH ON LONG ISLAND (starring John Hurt & Jason Priestly), an adaptation of HEIDI (starring Max von Sydow) shot in Slovenia and the epic 10,000BC directed by Roland Emmerich filmed in South Africa and Namibia. As Supervising Art Director on THE LIBERTINE (starring Jonny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich) she was responsible for the recreation of a 17th Century Restoration theatre and many period sets on location.

In recent years, Fleur has collaborated with Grenville Horner on adaptations of OLIVER TWIST and WUTHERING HEIGHTS for the BBC directed by Coky Giedroyc; comedy series REV and EPISODES (starring Matt Le Blanc); drama series JEKYLL written by Stephen Moffat and Kay Mellor’s contemporary drama THE SYNDICATE. Fleur and Grenville co-designed HARRY HILL: THE MOVIE, a surreal and anarchic road trip with comedian Harry Hill and his pet hamster...

Other projects couldn’t be more varied: a pilot for AMC about an 18th Century surgeon (KNIFEMAN), a feature length drama for BBC about the televising of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 (THE EICHMANN SHOW), the dramatised biography of comedian Lenny Henry set in 1970s Birmingham (DANNY & THE HUMAN ZOO) and the two-part original drama MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT scripted by novelist Patrick Gale. Most recently, she designed the Gaelic language drama BANNAN for BBC Alba.

Fleur regularly runs Production Design modules at the London Film School and has taught technical drawing at Wimbledon School of Art. In 2014, she was one of the ‘experts’ taking part in the first Art Department Masterclass workshops held in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Zillah is a Welsh/English writer, director and artist. Her short fiction film STAYING / AROS MAE won the Grand Jury Prize at Premiers Plans Angers Film Festival and Special Mention at Encounters Film Festival in 2021, and screened internationally including Palm Springs ShortFest. Her short film ALLOWED premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival, won the Jury's Stellar Award at Thomas Edison Film Festival and was listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize in 2022. She is currently developing her first fiction feature film with Sixteen Films and Ffilm Cymru Wales.

Zillah trained at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) before working as a cinematographer, then as a director. Her debut as a director SMALL PROTESTS was nominated for a Grierson Award and won the Current Short Cuts Vimeo Award and Best Short Documentary at the London Independent Film Festival. As a cinematographer, her feature films include ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival.

She was a winner of the British Journal of Photography (BJP) International Photography Award in 2022 and also won in the BJP Edition 365 Awards in 2021 and International Photography Awards in 2020. She won the National Museum Wales Purchase Prize in 2022. For her writing, she has won the Wordsworth Trust Prize, a Creative Wales Award and a Literature Matters Award from the Royal Society of Literature. Zillah has taught at the NFTS and several other institutions as well as the LFS.

Tim Fywell is one of the most accomplished directors of drama working in UK television today. The range of his work extends from GRANTCHESTER (2014, 2016 & 2017) to HAPPY VALLEY (2014); from MASTERS OF SEX (2013) to DRACULA (2014); from CRACKER (1994, To Be a Somebody, with Robert Carlyle) to MADAME BOVARY (2000, adapted by Heidi Thomas); from Sarah Waters’ AFFINITY (2008, adapted by Andrew Davies) to THE TURN OF THE SCREW (2009, adapted by Sandy Welch); plus SILENT WITNESS, WAKING THE DEAD, THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY, DCI BANKS, LEWIS and WODEHOUSE IN EXILE (TV Movie, 2013).

Tim’s feature credits include I CAPTURE THE CASTLE (2003) with Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Rose Byrne and Tara Fitzgerald, and THE ICE PRINCESS (2005) with Michelle Trachtenberg, Joan Cusack and Kim Cattrall. Tim studied English at Cambridge University and began his professional career directing in fringe theatre before moving on to the West End.

Some of his theatrical credits include: LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (Playhouse Theatre); SKIRMISHES (Hampstead Theatre); RED SATURDAY (Royal Court); THE MOTHER COUNTRY (Riverside Studios); HITTINGTOWN (Bush Theatre); NO HAND SIGNALS (National Theatre), which he wrote and directed; I MADE IT MA TOP OF THE WORLD which he devised and directed at the Royal Court, and SPRING AWAKENING (Royal Court). 

MIA BAYS is an Oscar winning twice BAFTA nominated creative producer working across fiction and docs, with a proven track record of launching careers with over 25 years experience in film on over 50 features.

She started her career in independent exhibition, distribution and sales, working on films such as Ang Lee’s THE WEDDING BANQUET and selling films such as Ian McKellen’s RICHARD III.

Mia has produced since 2004 – her first was SIX SHOOTER the Oscar winning film by Martin McDonagh, acclaimed music doc SCOTT WALKER 30 CENTURY MAN featuring David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn by Stephen Kijak, with whom she also completed BACKSTREET BOYS – SHOW EM WHAT YOURE MADE OF which premiered Jan-July 2015 worldwide on over 1500 screens and went to No1 on iTunes in N.America.

From 2007-14 Mia made 8 micro budget features as Creative Producer for the acclaimed Film London BBC Films Microwave scheme, including one of the most acclaimed UK debuts of 2008, SHIFTY by Eran Creevy which won Best Script at Stockholm Film Festival and garnered a BAFTA nomination for Best Debut 2010, and LILTING starring Ben Whishaw which opened Sundance Film Fest 2014 World Dramatic section and sold to over 16 territories inc Scandinavia and North America (Strand) and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Debut 2015.

Mia now runs Birds Eye View Film are a film agency and film agitator marketing films by women to audiences to effect industry change. with a growth plan for 2017-2020 building on their 25k+ reach on social media channels and heavy hitting board and reach in the industry to make it a significant impact on the industry and audience by marketing films by women through training, events and promotions.

www.miafilms.co.uk   

info@miafilms.co.uk 

www.birds-eye-view.co.uk @birdseyeviewff

Josh Appignanesi is a filmmaker whose work spans fiction, documentary and the space in-between. His six feature films were released theatrically in over thirty territories and online in over a hundred, with his work gaining festival Competition slots at Tribeca, Rotterdam, Cannes/ACID, Berlin and Sheffield, awards at London, Edinburgh, Turin, Kodak and BIFA and BAFTA nominations.

As director his features include acclaimed docufictions HUSBAND (2022) and the surrealist psychothriller and “feminist odyssey” FEMALE HUMAN ANIMAL (2018), the Wellcome-funded parenting documentary THE NEW MAN (2016), ethno-religious comedy THE INFIDEL (2010) scripted with David Baddiel, and religious psychodrama SONG OF SONGS (2006). He also co-wrote US rom-com ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME starring Sarah Jessica Parker.

Most recently, climate documentary MY EXTINCTION (2023) released in over 60 UK cinemas and screened at COP28.

He has directed talent including Tom Hiddleston, John Malkovich, David Tennant, Archie Panjabi, Omid Djalili, Claudia Jessie, Miranda Hart, and Richard Schiff, and collaborated with artist Martin Creed. Cultural figures like Zadie Smith, Mark Rylance, Hisham Matar, Slavoj Zizek, Chloe Aridjis, and John Berger appearing in his films, often playing ‘versions of themselves.’

Widely reviewed, with interviews on BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio, and in The Times, The Observer and The Guardian, his work has been shown on BBC TV, Channel 4, MUBI, and BFIPlayer. Funders have included BFI, BBC Films, Channel4, Film London, Arts Council England, WellcomeTrust, and AHRC.

He teaches internationally and is Associate Professor at Roehampton University.

ACCLAIM FOR MY EXTINCTION
“Skewers middle-class attitudes to impending apocalypse” – Catherine Bray, THE GUARDIAN
"Jaunty, funny film-making" - Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
''Reminds us working together is empowering'' - Susie Orbach, THE OBSERVER
“My Extinction is about the limits of language to address imminent catastrophe, but also the necessity of finding words to describe what’s happening, to tell stories that will convince and move and make a difference.” Lauren Elkin, ARTFORUM
“If you feel you should be doing more to limit climate change but never seem to get round to it, this British documentary will speak to you” - Ed Potton, SUNDAY TIMES
“… confronts the imperfect nature of being a climate activist” - Henry Bird, TIMES ENVIRONMENT NEWSLETTER
“An excellent look into the step-by-step process of realising and understanding climate change and its impact on everyday people” - Mae Trumata, THE UPCOMING
“Is Josh Appignanesi transforming into the next great documentarian? My Extinction reads like the opening chapters of an unfinished novel from an intellectual-turned-radical: heavy sociopolitical context, rich character development and instructions for the path forward. Essential viewing.” Quinn Hough, VAGUE VISAGES

ACCLAIM FOR HUSBAND
"Complex, subtle... A rich new seam of autofictional docucomedy." Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
"Pointed, self-reflexive critique of a modern marriage... peppered with insight." Ben Nicholson, SIGHT & SOUND
"Genre-defying Freudian docudrama... I couldn't take my eyes off it." Josh Glancy, SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE
"Discomforting, hilarious portrayal of the reactionary feelings that stubbornly endure in supposedly reconstructed relationships." JEWISH CHRONICLE
"Jostles into the burning house of heterosexuality without any desire to extinguish the flames." LITTLE WHITE LIES
"Deeply watchable... documents the fragility of the male spirit." DIRTY MOVIES
"Husband is in equal part hilarious, painful to watch and moving, replete (as it is) with middle-class/middle-age neuroses, hang-ups and anxieties, topped with a good dollop of love and affection." BUSINESS DOC EUROPE

ACCLAIM FOR FEMALE HUMAN ANIMAL
“Near-uncategorisable. It punctures the pretentiousness of the art world-- and it's a triumph.” Charlie Phillips, THE OBSERVER
“The most original film of 2018, and possibly the creepiest.” Jason Solomons, BBC LONDON
"Remarkable... A thrillingly strange adventure." Mark Kermode, BFIPlayer
“Unnerving, riveting, and mesmerising.... The unity of Appignanesi’s brilliant cinematic vision and Aridjis’ compelling and vulnerable performance makes Female Human Animal resonate.” Hannah Clugston, LITTLE WHITE LIES
“Boldy defies categorisation. Darkly fascinating and surprisingly funny.” Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, METRO
"A feminist odyssey" Erik Morse, ARTFORUM
“Like a micro-budget Don’t Look Now crossed with a rogue episode of The South Bank Show, and all the better for that.” Ed Potton, THE TIMES
“Understands its place in cinema history… The aesthetic of uncertainty perfectly underscores the suspense of the film’s action” Kate Webb, The TLS
“An unearthly adventure... Female Human Animal breaks open a genre and emerges as something entirely new." Sabina Stent, THE F-WORD
“Sui Generis… You’ve got to admire Appignanesi’s total disregard for marketability” THE GUARDIAN
“Appignanesi & Aridjis' extraordinary hybrid documentary fuses surrealism and reality.. A remarkable & surprising portrait.” Kaleem Aftab, CINEUROPA
"What a truly remarkable film." Mike Pinnington, THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE
“Deliriously experimental.. Strange and illuminating.” Dave Calhoun, TIME OUT
“Social Surrealism… Moves between scenes of quiet profundity and sincerity into a kind of schlock horror.” Jennifer Higgie, FRIEZE
“Beguiling hybrid… less a profile than a tribute to the feral spirit in which Carrington lived and worked.” RADIO TIMES
"Dazzling… A living work of art that leads us to the conclusion that we must not hand over our our female human animal to some 'half-arsed male'.” DIRTY MOVIES

ACCLAIM FOR THE NEW MAN
“Lovely, personal and abjectly honest… Very funny and poignant.” Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
"Very, very moving and revealing.. told with great honesty and love" Mark Kermode, BBC5, Top 5 Pick
“Moving, insightful and beautifully crafted.” David Calhoun, TIME OUT

ACCLAIM FOR THE INFIDEL

“Cracking, joyful and instructive, the film is certain to be the summer’s funniest film. Appignanesi jumps, in one beautifully executed move, to join the front rank of new British directors. His timing is perfect, his feel for the rhythm of moral action is bracing, and I hope he goes on to make a ton of interesting movies." —Andrew O’Hagan, THE EVENING STANDARD

"Startlingly, for this second project, [Appignanesi] shifts gear for something more confrontational and taboo-busting... a broad comedy that gleefully and repeatedly stamps on the tender toes of liberal correctness." —Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN

"Baddiel's script is well served by an excellent cast, and the director, Josh Appignanesi, whose only previous feature was a deadly serious look at an Orthodox Jewish family... has directed with a light touch." —Philip French, THE OBSERVER

"A terrific odd couple: there’s a real bromantic spark between Djalili and Schiff... a perfectly pitched buddy dynamic." —TIME OUT

"Great laughs in this sweet comedy…. Djalili is delightful." —THE NEW YORK TIMES

"It’s very funny; even metaphysical... Sight gags abound." —VARIETY

"The two leads make a terrific comic team, with Djalili’s deadpan style of physical humor perfectly complementing Schiff’s hilarious, fast-paced wisecracking." —HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

ACCLAIM FOR SONG OF SONGS
"A cinematic milestone… a challenging, unashamedly intellectual rigour to it. In both style and content, the film reveals a distinctive and bold new voice in British cinema." THE OBSERVER
"A daringly original debut." Wendy Ide, THE TIMES
"A powerful and confident work and shows that Appignanesi is seriously committed to cultivating a real cinematic language." Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
UK Agent: Matthew Bates at Sayle Screen
www.joshappignanesi.com