Tom Kingsley

Tom Kingsley
Born	(1985-11-18) 18 November 1985 London, England
Occupation(s)	Director, screenwriter
Years active	2009–present

Poster of Kingsley's 2011 feature film, Black Pond

Tom Kingsley (born 18 November 1985) is an English film director. He is best known for co-directing Black Pond, a 2011 feature film starring Chris Langham and Simon Amstell. He first made his name directing music videos and adverts. He was shortlisted for Best New Director at the 2010 Music Video Awards, and his work has been nominated for the 2012 BAFTAs, the 2011 British Independent Film Awards, the Guardian First Film Award, the Evening Standard Film Awards, and the Raindance Film Festival.

Career

In 2008, he joined Blink, the Soho-based production company, after sending them a DVD containing several of his short films. Following a short apprenticeship, he began directing music videos and commercials - most notably for Fatboy Slim, Darwin Deez, Guillemots, and phone recycling company Envirophone. Kingsley's work was well received in the industry press and led to his being shortlisted for the Best New Director prize at the 2010 Music Video Awards.

In summer 2009, Kingsley travelled with his long-time collaborator, Will Sharpe, to Japan to direct "Cockroach", a 30-minute short. Buoyed by the experience, in early 2010 the pair began work on a feature-length film: Black Pond, which was shot in August of that year, on a tiny £25,000 budget. Released in November 2011, Black Pond received overwhelmingly positive reviews, though it initially attracted controversy because of the casting of Chris Langham. The film sold out every night of its limited London run, and was shortlisted for a BAFTA, two Evening Standard film awards, a British Independent Film Award, and at the Raindance Film Festival. It received a four-star rating from The Times, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, The List, and Little White Lies. The Independent called it "a funny and very well-observed low budget British movie". It was listed as a film of the year in the New Statesman and the Financial Times.

The film led to Kingsley and Sharpe being nominated for Outstanding Debut at the Baftas, and Most Promising Newcomer at the Evening Standard Film Awards.

Kingsley and Sharpe are now working on a film adaptation of an eighteenth-century French novel.

Personal life

Kingsley was born in London, UK. He made his first feature-length film when he was 12 - a 70-minute James Bond spoof called Black Eye. He read English at Cambridge University, where he was a prominent member of the comedy group Footlights, directing the Footlights Revue "Wham Bam" at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe. It was through Footlights that Kingsley met Sharpe - then also called Tom - and Sharpe's friend Tom Williams. The three quickly formed a writing partnership, directing several Footlights shows together, and were known collectively as "the three Toms". Among other projects, the trio wrote a play called Our Darker Purpose, on which Black Pond was based. After leaving Cambridge, Kingsley was briefly the design editor of the literary London free-sheet, Notes from the Underground. He currently lives in north London. He is the nephew of Grammy-winning producer, John Shanks.

Filmography

Feature films

• The Darkest Universe (2016)
• Black Pond (2011)

Short films

• "Cockroach" (2009)
• "Rip" (2008)

Music videos

• "Get Naked" - Fatboy Slim and Riva Starr (ft. Beardyman) (2011)
• "The Basket" - Guillemots (2011)
• "Up In The Clouds" - Darwin Deez (2010)
• "I'm Alive" – Don Fardon (2010)
• "Reyerta" – Mujeres (band) (2010)
• "Careers Overseas" – Patrick Hamilton (2009)

Commercials

• Envirophone – Wonga Man

External links

• Official website
• Tom Kingsley at IMDb
• Profile on Blink website
• Video interview with Kingsley and Will Sharpe
• Q&A with Kingsley and Will Sharpe at the Raindance Festival
• Kingsley's YouTube channel