Jesse Daniel Lawrence

Before becoming a film maker, Jesse read Modern History at Oxford University. He then trained as a director at the NFTS. His graduation film Runt won Best Film at Brest International Short Film Festival, Best Film at Bologna Festival of Film Schools, Special Jury Prize at Taipei Golden Lion Film Festival and Special Mentions at Ludwigsburg and Aix-en-Provence.

 

More recently, Jesse wrote and directed half hour BFI drama If You Can Hear Me - about an eleven-year-old boy coming to terms with his discovery of a death by suicide - distributed by 7 Palms Entertainment, and Gonella Productions who are also distributing several of Jesse’s other short films.  Jesse also recently directed Change Step - about an armed forces veteran struggling to adjust to civilian life - commissioned by Forces Connect South West. 

 

Other fiction credits include Take Five - five shorts about adolescence and mental health commissioned by the Charley Waller Memorial Trust; Isaac - about a young man finding forgiveness for the day he failed to save his brother from drowning; and Shoplifting, Fight and MDMA - three shorts commissioned by Somerset Youth Offending Team to help deter young people from offending. 

 

Documentary credits include shorts series A Special Place - profiling artists, segments of which have screened at Liverpool Lift Off, St Albans, Edindocs, Purbeck, HELD and been nominated for an American Online Film Award; Wonderlooper - about artist Di Mainstone transforming Sunderland's Northern Spire bridge into a giant instrument; and (as Editor) Last Words - feature length documentary about the Battle of Arnhem as told by surviving veterans, directed by Roger Chapman. 

 

Current projects include developing feature film - Sargasso Dreams - for which Jesse wrote the John Brabourne Award funded screenplay, and this - The Light Inside - made in association with The Victoria Wood Foundation and Bath Mind.