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]

  • www.theelectric.co.uk
  • www.electricflix.com

References

  1. 1 2 Graham Young (15 June 2012). "Film: It's life through a lens for Tom Lawes". birminghammail.
  2. 1 2 http://markpurcell.co.uk/tom-suzie-electric
  3. 1 2 Graham Young (15 December 2009). "One hundred years of the Electric Cinema". birminghampost.
  4. ↑ http://www.kolektomagazine.com/HTMLFiles/FilmArticles/TheElectricCinema.html
  5. ↑ "THE PRESTON FRONT PAGE: Series 1". demon.co.uk.
  6. 1 2 "BBC News - Electric cinema celebrates its centenary". bbc.co.uk.
  7. 1 2 "BBC - Birmingham Features - Electric Cinema to re-open". bbc.co.uk.
  8. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2007/04/10/electric_cinema_orchestra_feature.shtml
  9. ↑ "Early day motion 304". UK Parliament.
  10. ↑ http://blogs.birminghammail.co.uk/megamovies/2012/06/the-last-projectionist---mark.html
  11. 1 2 http://www.penwithfilmsociety.co.uk/last-projectionist-0
  12. 1 2 "The Last Projectionist (2011)". BFI.
  13. 1 2 3 "Awards -- Midlands". rts.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19.
  14. ↑ birminghampost Administrator (17 May 2005). "Tom in the picture with award". birminghampost.
  15. 1 2 birminghampost Administrator. "No.34 Tom Lawes". birminghampost.
  16. ↑ "Southside BID Board". southsidebid.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-06-25.
  17. ↑ "Shock and Gore 2012 : About Us". theelectric.co.uk.
  18. ↑ "How to programme a film festival: update three « Catherine Bray". archive.today. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25.
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