Graham Fitzpatrick

Graham Fitzpatrick is a Scottish Film director and Screenwriter.

Biography

Graham Fitzpatrick was born in Edinburgh in Scotland, growing up in the City's Royston Mains housing scheme. After attending Ainslie Park High School and Broughton High School Graham secured a YTS traineeship at film workshop Pilton Video, receiving a grounding in all areas of film, both documentary and drama, working in roles across over sixty productions, from arts and charity films, to short films, to TV documentaries, in particular as an editor.

After directing several short films funded by Scottish Screen and BBC Scotland, Fitzpatrick studied screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland developing the script for his first short film as both writer and director. Entitled Mum's Birthday, the film tells the tale of Alex, a man who must overcome heartbreak to save his relationship with son Stephen on his wife's birthday.

Continuing the approach used in his previous work; the realist tradition of working with non professional actors portraying roles close to their every day lives alongside professional actors, Graham unearthed talent with Edinburgh's care homes for young people and the City's housing schemes, putting them on screen with professionals such as Tam Dean Burn. With financial backing form Creative Scotland,^[1] the film went into production in December 2009 and premiered at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh the following year.^[2] The film was a critical success, winning Best Actor and Ensemble cast awards at Hollywood Reel Film Festival and earned Fitzpatrick a nomination for the Best Writer accolade at the 2011 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards.^[3]

In 2014, Fitzpatrick released the short film Colours, a story about an incarcerated gay teenager trying to survive behind bars, this time Graham's approach to casting and writing seeing him working in Scotland's HM Prison Polmont. The story drawn from the world inside the prison, inmates took on the acting roles on screen.

The film enjoyed widespread critical acclaim both in the UK and around the world featuring in many prestigious festivals including Interfilm Berlin, Uppsala International Film Festival and Glasgow Film Festival.^[4] Prior to its screening at the London Short Film Festival, the British Film Institute included it in its top 11 films to see at the festival.^[5]

Winning the Best UK Short award at East End Film Festival, the film also received a nomination for the Best Short Film accolade at the 2014 British Academy Scotland Awards.^[6][7] Speaking about the nominations, Fitzpatrick said “We are honoured to have been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA, it is an incredible achievement for everyone involved in the film. I am personally delighted that Colours has been recognised in this way, it is a testament to the hard work put in by the entire team.”^[8]

He is currently the creative manager of Screen Education Edinburgh.^[9]

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

• Graham Fitzpatrick at the Internet Movie Database