BEN PICKERING

DIRECTING

Ben's first foray into movie-making came in 1995, when at just 16 he produced and starred in his very first feature, the coming-of-age drama 'Backstreet'. Two years later he produced and starred in the low-budget gangster thriller 'Tragic Irony'.

Made on 16mm for just £6,000 and a cross between 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Shallow Grave', it took a sideswipe at the seedier side of Nineties Britain. After making his directorial debut with the pilot for docudrama series 'How To Get Away With Murder', Ben stepped back from the film industry to read Politics at Swansea University, getting to the final year of a PhD on the European Union and even running for the UK Parliament before returning to his first love, film. In 2009 he produced the 35mm short 'Beached' in conjunction with The London Film School.