Harry Lighton (born 20 October 1992) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

film director and screenwriter, whose feature directorial debut ''

Pillion A pillion is a secondary pad, cushion, or seat behind the main seat or saddle on a motorcycle or moped. A passenger in this seat is said to "ride pillion". The word is derived from the Scottish Gaelic for "little rug", ''pillean'', from the Latin ...

'' premiered in 2025. Originally from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, he began making short films while studying literature at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. His most noted short film, ''Wren Boys'' (2017), received a

British Academy Film Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

nomination for Best Short Film at the

71st British Academy Film Awards The 71st British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 18 February 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2017. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Televi ...

, and a

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

nomination for Best British Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards 2017. ''Pillion'' premiered in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

program at the

2025 Cannes Film Festival The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2025. French actress Juliette Binoche served as jury president for the main competition. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

, where Lighton won the award for Best Screenplay in the program.Orlando Parfitt
"Chile’s ‘The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo’ wins top Un Certain Regard award at 2025 Cannes Film Festival"
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'', 23 May 2025.

Filmography

*''Knitlab: XY'' - 2016 *''Sunday Morning Coming Down'' - 2016 *''Look at Me'' - 2017 *''Wren Boys'' - 2017 *''Leash'' - 2018 *''Pompeii'' - 2019 *''

'' - 2025

References

External links

* 1992 births 21st-century English screenwriters 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English LGBTQ people English film directors English male screenwriters English LGBTQ screenwriters British LGBTQ film directors Living people Writers from Portsmouth Alumni of the University of Oxford {{UK-film-director-stub