Tom Lawes
Tom Lawes (born 1 August 1971) is an English film director, music composer, and entrepreneur. He is best known for renovating the oldest working cinema in the UK Electric Cinema, Birmingham and the award-winning documentary The Last Projectionist.
Career
Lawes was born in Birmingham, England. He went to Handsworth Grammar School[1] Initially Lawes worked as a roadie for the rock band Gunfire Dance.[2][3] Then, aged 19, Lawes starting making no-budget horror films shot on camcorder.[4] In 1993, aged 22, he was hired by the BBC to compose the soundtrack to the BBC comedy drama, All Quiet On The Preston Front.[5]
in 2004 Lawes bought and renovated the derelict Electric Cinema, Birmingham, the oldest working cinema in the country,[6] needed a total refurbishment to restore it to its Art Deco prime which Lawes carefully undertook after extensive research [7] prior to re-opening for business again in 2004.[7]
Lawes is also the musical director of The Electric Cinema Film Orchestra, the UK's first in-house film orchestra.[8]
In 2009, the centenary year of the cinema,[6] Lawes was congratulated in the House of Commons for his work in restoring the cinema [9] In 2011 Lawes directed and produced the feature length documentary The Last Projectionist, a film charting the history of independent cinema in the UK. The film was named BBC Radio 5Live's Film of The Week by Mark Kermode.[10] The film won awards, including 'Best Documentary' at the Cambridge Film Festival.[11] In 2010 the British Film Institute selected The Last Projectionist to be included in its permanent archive collection [12] Lawes has also directed a series of short documentaries Southside Stories which in 2012 won two Royal Television Society (Midlands) Award for Best Promotional Programme and Best Craft.[13] Most recently he has written and directed the short film 3 Sides of the Coin.
Filmography
- 2014 3 Sides of The Coin - Director, Editor, Cinematographer and Composer
- 2011 The Last Projectionist - Director, Editor, Cinematographer and Composer[12]
- 1998 Demagogue - Director
Awards
- 1998 Festival of Fantastic Films, Best Independent Feature Film Demagogue
- 2005 O2/Arena Magazine UK Entrepreneur of the Year (Regional Winner and National Finalist)[14]
- 2008 Creative Business Awards, Outstanding Business Development[15]
- 2009 Birmingham Power 50[15]
- 2011 ITN Distribution Film Festival New York, Best Documentary The Last Projectionist[11]
- 2011 Take One Awards, Best Documentary The Last Projectionist
- 2012 Royal Television Society (Midlands), Best Production Craft Skills[13]
- 2012 Royal Television Society (Midlands), Best Promotional Programme Southside Stories[13]
Other Work
- Southside Business Improvement District - Board Director[16]
- Shock and Gore Film Festival - Chair[17]
- BBC WM - Film Critic[18]
Personal life
In 2009 Lawes married Suzie Norton.[2][3] The couple have a daughter and a son [1]
External links
- www.theelectric.co.uk
- www.electricflix.com
References
- ^ a b Graham Young (15 June 2012). "Film: It's life through a lens for Tom Lawes". birminghammail.
- ^ a b http://markpurcell.co.uk/tom-suzie-electric
- ^ a b Graham Young (15 December 2009). "One hundred years of the Electric Cinema". birminghampost.
- ^ http://www.kolektomagazine.com/HTMLFiles/FilmArticles/TheElectricCinema.html
- ^ "THE PRESTON FRONT PAGE: Series 1". demon.co.uk.
- ^ a b "BBC News - Electric cinema celebrates its centenary". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ a b "BBC - Birmingham Features - Electric Cinema to re-open". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2007/04/10/electric_cinema_orchestra_feature.shtml
- ^ "Early day motion 304". UK Parliament.
- ^ http://blogs.birminghammail.co.uk/megamovies/2012/06/the-last-projectionist---mark.html [dead link]
- ^ a b http://www.penwithfilmsociety.co.uk/last-projectionist-0
- ^ a b "The Last Projectionist (2011)". BFI.
- ^ a b c "Awards -- Midlands". rts.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ a b birminghampost Administrator. "No.34 Tom Lawes". birminghampost.
- ^ "Southside BID Board". southsidebid.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-06-25.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ "How to programme a film festival: update three « Catherine Bray". archive.today. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25.
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