Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves
Jamie Thraves
Born	James Thraves; 2 June 1969 (age 54); Romford, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Film writer and director
Years active	1989–present

Jamie Thraves (born James Thraves, 2 June 1969 in Romford, London) is a British film writer and director.^[1]

Biography

Thraves began making early short experimental films in 1989 at the University of Humberside, having previously studied illustration. His graduation film Scratch (1991) and The Take-Out (1993), a short film made under the BFI New Directors scheme, both went on to win awards at film festivals worldwide. He joined the Royal College of Art in 1993 where he made another award-winning film, The Hackney Downs (1995).^[2]

Career

After leaving the Royal College of Art he joined Oil Factory, a music video company, making his breakthrough video in 1995 for Radiohead for their song "Just" where a man played by Dorian Lough is lying on the pavement and is confronted by an angry crowd, this video garnered Thraves a lot of attention for its strong narrative structure and use of subtitles, what the man says to make the crowd lie down at the end of the video still continues to cause discussion amongst fans today. Thraves has made music videos for many artists over the years including Blur, The Verve, Radiohead, and Coldplay and more recently Jake Bugg, Sam Smith and Villagers. His video for Coldplay's "The Scientist" won three Moon Men at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards in the US, including Best Direction and Breakthrough Video.

Thraves directed the short film I Just Want To Kiss You in 1997, starring Martin Freeman which won the Fox Searchlight Award for Best Short Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1998.

Thraves made his first feature, The Low Down (2000), with Film 4. It starred Aidan Gillen, Kate Ashfield, Tobias Menzies, Dean Lennox Kelly, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. The film was named among the "neglected masterpieces" of film history by The Observer in its rundown of 50 Lost Movie Classics.^[3]

His second feature, The Cry of the Owl (2009), an international co-production with BBC Films, starred Paddy Considine and Julia Stiles. It was based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith.

His third feature film, Treacle Jr. (2010), reunited him with Aidan Gillen. At the film's world premiere at the 21st Dinard British Film Festival it won the Hitchcock D'Or - Grand Jury Prize. Thraves reportedly remortgaged his house to make the film. Treacle Jr. had its UK Premiere at the 54th BFI London Film Festival. Time Out said of Treacle Jr. "Funny, touching and gritty, this coolly rendered observation on need and rejection really is a Brit drama to shout about".^[4]

Thraves' fourth feature film, Pickups (2017), is the third to star long-term collaborator Aidan Gillen.^[5]