Spotlight On... Julian Richards Born: July 31, 1968 Newport, Gwent, Wales. A writer/director on the brink of genuine international acclaim, Julian Richards is one to watch. BFF2004 is delighted to place him In the Spotlight. BFF 2004 Julian Richards Screenings Masterclass: Troubleshooting With Julian Richards The Last Horror Movie + Bad Company Darklands + Pirates Silent Cry + Queen Sacifice Julian Richards Biography A multi award-winning filmmaker, Julian Richards began directing while still a child, helming The Curse of Cormac – a Super-8 epic that took two years to complete. During his teens he made three other Super-8 horror shorts and, as a student at Bournemouth Film School, directed a trilogy of films that would eventually form a package known as Tales from Wales. In 1990 he joined the National Film School but almost immediately was invited to make In with the Rent for the Wales Playhouse series. During the early 1990s he moved to Los Angeles where he was employed by Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks to adapt the Chris Westwood novel Calling All Monsters. The screenplay has yet to make it to the screen. After television experience on Brookside Richards made his feature film debut with Darklands, a brooding tale of underground paganism in contemporary Wales. A firm festival favourite winning several awards including the Méliès Award for Best European Fantasy at the 1997 Fantasporto Festival in Portugal, the picture was picked up for distribution by Metrodome. Richards followed up Darklands with the urban thriller Silent Cry. Last year he unveiled his latest feature: the independent shocker The Last Horror Movie. Impressively shot on digital video, The Last Horror Movie embodies everything that a low-budget indie film should be and has already gathered a considerable head of steam following several festival screenings. At the 2003 Raindance Film Festival it picked up the award for Best UK Feature to add another gong to Richards’ groaning mantelpiece. Filmography 1978 The Curse of Cormac (short) (& prod, scr, ed) 1981 The Girl that Cried Wolf (short) (& prod, scr, ed) 1982 Evil Inspirations (short) (& prod, scr, ed) 1986 Not for the Nervous (short) (& prod, scr, ed) 1986 Time (short) (& prod, scr, ed) 1987 Pirates (short) (& scr, ed) 1988 Queen Sacrifice (short) (& co-prod, co-scr,) 1990 Wales Playhouse: In with the Rent (TV, short) 1992 Bad Company (short) (& co-prod, co-scr) 1993 The Making of Slaughter of the Innocents (doc, short) (& prod) 1994 Calling All Monsters (unproduced screenplay) 1994 A Mutter of Voices (TV doc, short) 1995 Brookside (TV, 12 episodes) 1997 Darklands (& scr) 2001 Silent Cry 2003 The Last Horror Movie (& exec prod)   Bradford Film Festival is an event organised by the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television. Copyright NMPFT 2004. All rights reserved.