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PAUL
HILLS
Director
Paul was
born in London in 1969 and moved to Stevenage in 1975. It
wasn't long before he was shooting Super 8 films, becoming
by the age of 15 a prolific maker of short films.
After
leaving school he immediately began making music videos for
local bands. Over the following years he shot numerous pop
promos culminating in 1987 with the 60 minute concert video
" The Legendary Laurel Aitken live at Gaz's Rockin' Blues".
Paul went
on to make another four more short films before producing,
in 1990, Danny Cannon's "Play Dead" at the National
Film and Television School. When the 55 minute film was screened
on Channel Four it received an audience of 3 million - the
highest ever achieved by a U.K. student film. Danny Cannon
later remade "Play Dead" as the feature film "The
Young Americans".
In January
1991 Paul made for the meagre budget of £12,000, his
first feature film, "The Frontline" . Upon its release
in 1993, it received much acclaim;
"Paul
Hills does not so much create a hell on the screen as show
exactly the kind of hell we live in".
Manchester Film Festival
"A
remarkable debut. Hills has undeniable talent and cares!"
Fulvue Drive in.com
"For
the money, one of the greatest film's ever made"
Screen Edge
The Frontline
was very successful at international film festivals, on video
and television around the world. Now the film is a staple
example in European film schools of 'Urban realism.'
"Boston
Kickout", Paul's award winning autobiographical 1996
feature film, was screened at over 50 international film festivals.
The film was runner up in audience votes at the London and
San Sebastian Film Festivals, the Bermuda Film Festival making
it the winner. At the Valencia Cinema Jove Film Festival it
won "Best Film" and the lead actor, John Simm "Best
Actor".
Although
a totally independent film, "Boston Kickout" went
on to be released in the cinema, on Video and DVD in nearly
every country in the world.
"Boston Kickout is an electrifying
British debut"
Empire Magazine
"A
must see"
Premiere Magazine
"Brilliant"
The Guardian
"One
of the BEST British films I've seen"
Danny Boyle
Since
1998 Paul has been successfully directing award winning commercials,
promo's and TV including the award winning "Great Escape"
commercial for Umbro and a mammoth 3 minute, £1m advert
for market leading Japanese beauty company Shiseido which
played in entire advert breaks.
In 2002
Paul produced and directed the short "f2point8"
which was completed with finance from The Film Council and
Channel 4 and then in 2003 directed his third feature film
entitled "The Poet" starring Dougray Scott, Laura
Harring and Jurgen Procnow. The film was shot in Austria,
Germany and France with a budget of €3m. Due to conflicts
between the Producer and the film's sales agent, the film
has never been released in the UK but was successfully released
in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain and Thailand.
"A
delightful film"
Schnitt Film Magazin
"…amazing,
brilliant and poetic"
Sud Deustchland Zeitung
"Absolutely
breathtaking"
Willis Portal
In
2005 Paul completed his seventeenth short film "Secrets"
and then made "Good as Gold" a documentary about
aged rockstars trying for one last comeback.
In 2009,
after two years of post-production, Paul completed his fourth
feature "Do Elephants Pray?" a spiritual tale about
an English advertising executive who is lured to a Breton
forest by a French seductress. The film was made completely
independently like "The Frontline" and "Boston
Kickout". Currently it is attending international film
festivals.
From 1996
to 2010, Paul gave his time to the New Producers Alliance
(NPA). In 1996 he was elected to the Executive Committee,
becoming Vice-Chair in 1997, then Co-Chair for three terms
in 1998, 2000 and 2007. From 1999 to 2006 Paul was a Trustee
of the organisation and from 2008 to its sad demise in 2010
was Chair of the Trustees.
Later
this year Paul will shoot his fifth feature "The Power".
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