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Graham Hughes (director)

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This article is about the Scottish film director Graham Hughes. For the British adventurer of the same name, see Graham Hughes.
Graham Hughes
Born
Glasgow, Scotland
OccupationFilm director
Years active2011–present
Notable work
  • Death of a Vlogger
  • A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide
  • Falling for Fitzgerald
  • The Big Slick

Graham Hughes is a Scottish film director. He is possibly best known for his directorial work on the film A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide.[1]

Life and career

Born in Kirkintilloch, Hughes graduated in 2009 from Stirling University with a degree in Film and Media studies.[2] Together with childhood friends Graeme McGeagh and Keith Grantham, Hughes began writing what would become his first film The Big Slick. The feature-length comedy film, which also starred the trio in acting roles, tells the story of six young guys whose efforts to spend a quiet night in, quickly spiral out of control.[3] The film was a critical success and was chosen to open the 2012 Loch Ness film festival.[4] In March 2011, it was announced that Hughes, McGeagh and Grantham had been nominated for a British Academy Scotland New Talent Award for best achievement in writing. Hosted by Kaye Adams, the 2011 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards took place at the Glasgow Film Theatre on 11 March and despite strong competition, the trio struck gold by taking home the Best Writing accolade.[5][6]

Following the success of The Big Slick, Hughes was invited to co-produce the short romantic comedy Falling for Fitzgerald by Amy Hawes. The film centres around Melanie (played by Lynn Murray) in her pursuit over her unobtainable best friend, Fitzgerald. Actress Lynn Murray went on to pick up the Best Acting Performance accolade at the 2012 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards.[7][8]

In late 2012, Hughes reunited with McGeagh and Grantham to pen their next feature film, A Practical Guide to A Spectacular Suicide. The film, starring McGeagh in the leading role, tells the story of Tom, a troubled man whose string of suicide attempts leads him to plan what he dubs will be his own 'spectacular suicide'. After failing to secure funding from the Scottish arts body Creative Scotland[9] the trio turned to the public and sourced the budget for the film through a crowd funding channel. Raising over £3000 for the production,[10] filming began in 2013 and was completed in just 13 days. The film was released in 2014 and quickly became an international hit. On the festival circuit, the film had its American premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival in California,[11] and in the UK the film was shown for the first time at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where Hughes was nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film.[12][13] The film was further decorated with 2 nominations at the 2014 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards for Best Film and for Best Acting Performance for Graeme McGeagh.[14][15] In September 2014, Hughes was invited as a special guest to take part in the British & Irish Film season at the Ciné Utopia in Limpertsberg, Luxembourg.[16]

In 2018, Hughes began work on his third feature film, supernatural horror Death of a Vlogger[17]. The film was completed early 2019 and premiered at FrightFest London[18] in summer of that year. The film went on to be long-listed for a BIFA Discovery award[19]. In March 2020, Death of a Vlogger was programmed for an encore FrightFest screening[20], as part of their strand at Glasgow Film Festival, the first time for this to happen in the festivals history. The film has been received positively from audiences and critics, with Rafael Motamayor of /Film giving it 9 out of 10 and calling it "A twisted story of warped perceptions, megalomania, the victims in the middle of media manipulation and our own obsession with online cruelty that results in a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded genre."[21]

Filmography

Year Film Credited as Notes
Director Writer Producer Editor Actor Role
2011 The Big Slick Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Alex Directorial Debut
Falling for Fitzgerald Yes Co Producer
2014 A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide Yes Yes Yes Yes
Epic Wrap Battle Yes Yes Yes
2015 Christmas Eve of the Dead Yes Yes Yes Yes Zombie #4
2019 Death of a Vlogger Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Graham
2020 On the Moon Yes Yes Yes Yes

Awards

Year Nominated Work Awards Category Result
2011 The Big Slick British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards Best Writer
(Shared with Graeme McGeagh and Keith Grantham) 		Won
2014 A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards Best Film Nominated
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival New Vision Award (Director) Nominated
Edinburgh International Film Festival Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film Nominated
2019 Death of a Vlogger Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival[22] Love Horror Award Won
BIFA Discovery Award[23] Long-listed

References

  1. ^ British Film Council Listing
  2. ^ Evening Times Article on Hughes
  3. ^ Scotsman Article on BAFTA Nominees
  4. ^ Movie Scramble Article: Loch Ness Film Festival 2012
  5. ^ GFT Article: BAFTA IN SCOTLAND NEW TALENT AWARD WINNERS Archived 2014-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Bafta Scotland: 2011 New Talent Award Winners
  7. ^ British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards Full List of Winners & Nominations 2012
  8. ^ Scottish Dram Training Network: 'BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award Winners'
  9. ^ STV Article: 'Edinburgh Film Festival: A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide'
  10. ^ "Films Sponsume Page". Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  11. ^ Cinequest Festival Film Page
  12. ^ Edinburgh Festival Film Page
  13. ^ Edinburgh Reporter Article
  14. ^ British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards Full List of Winners & Nominations 2014
  15. ^ Skinny Magazine Article on 2014 Nominations
  16. ^ Luxembourg Chronicle Article on Hughes
  17. ^ Death of a Vlogger, retrieved 2020-05-09
  18. ^ "ARROW VIDEO FRIGHTFEST | DEATH OF A VLOGGER". frightfest.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  19. ^ Dalton2019-10-22T08:04:00+01:00, Ben. "BIFA reveals longlist for 2019 Discovery award (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 2020-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "FRIGHTFEST GLASGOW 2020 | DEATH OF A VLOGGER". frightfest.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  21. ^ "'Death of a Vlogger' Review: 'Paranormal Activity' for the YouTube Generation [FrightFest 2019]". /Film. 2019-08-30. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  22. ^ "Graham Hughes". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  23. ^ "BIFA Raindance Discovery Award Long List 2019". BIFA · British Independent Film Awards. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
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