John Walsh is a filmmaker and author. He is the founder of the film company Walsh Bros. Ltd. His film work on subjects such as

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...

and social justice has received two BAFTA nominations.

Early life and education

A filmmaker from a young age, Walsh had his first

super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...

camera by the age of ten. At the age of 18 he was the youngest student accepted to the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

(LFS) in 1989. He made a film there on

stop-motion animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

filmmaker Ray Harryhausen. Walsh graduated from the LFS in 1990 or 1991, according to its blog. Walsh is a Trustee of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

Film

In 2010, Walsh stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the 2010 General Election and made the gonzo-style documentary feature film ''Tory Boy The Movie'' which was released in cinemas in 2011 and 2012. The film follows Walsh as he becomes a Conservative candidate after a lifetime of voting Labour. In the film, he claims that Sir Stuart Bell, the Labour Party's MP in Middlesbrough, is absent so often from Middlesbrough that he is an unsuitable candidate. According to Richard Moss, the political editor for BBC North East & Cumbria, "some silliness aside, it is a thought-provoking insight into the way our political system works or doesn't work on the ground." It was subsequently nominated for the Grierson Awards for "Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme". The film received a re-release in cinemas in 2015 in the lead-up to the 2015 UK General Election. The student union at Teesside University cancelled a screening of it in 2015. In 2014 Walsh's remastered version of the film '' Monarch'' was released. The original negative for the film had been lost. The film starred late Irish stage and screen actor

T. P. McKenna Thomas Patrick McKenna (7 September 1929 – 13 February 2011) was an Irish actor, born in Mullagh, County Cavan. He had an extensive stage and screen career. Career Early years Thomas Patrick McKenna was born at Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland, ...

and Jean Marsh. This subsequently led to cinema showing starting at the Tricycle Cinema.

Television

In 2010, Walsh's five part BBC series on childhood homeless ''Sofa Surfers'' was nominated for the Social Award at the Rose d'Or Awards. The BAFTA-nominated 2010 film ''My Life: Karate Kids'' tackled issues of bullying among disabled children. It was narrated by David Tennant. The Monte Carlo Golden Nymph Award nominated BBC film ''Toy Soldiers'', made in 2010 and screened in 2014, presented the point of view of the bereaved children of UK service personnel. Walsh discussed this on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme. According to the blog of the private medidcal service Dr Mortons, the film was mentioned positively by retired psychiatrist

Geraldine Walford Geraldine may refer to: People * Geraldine (name), the feminine form of the first name Gerald, with list of people thus named. * The Geraldines, Irish dynasty descended from the Anglo-Norman Gerald FitzWalter de Windsor * Geraldine of Albania, ...

, who said it had been shown in schools across the country. It was also entered for the

Foundation Prix Jeunesse Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

in 2012. Walsh's three-part Grierson Trust-nominated BBC series ''Headhunting The Homeless'' was part of the BBC's 120 most treasured programmes of the first half of 2003 in the corporation's drive to convince its critics that the licence fee should not be abolished. '' The Guardian'' described the series as "truly touching" and also chose it as their Pick of the Day. Walsh worked with charity boss Eva Hamilton again on her subsequent venture '' Key4Life'' and made a five-minute publicity film for them in December 2013 about their work with former young offenders.Key4Life: the film
Key4Life.org.u

25 July 2018 The BAFTA-nominated and New York Film Festival-winninghttp://www.newyorkfestivals.com/tvfilm/main.php?p=3,1&wp=info&id=32643
Archived
16 December 2016 Channel 4 series ''Don't Make Me Angry'' was about anger management. This ran for two series.

Walsh Bros Ltd.

Walsh founded his company in 1992. Walsh Bros Ltd. was ranked 70 in the '' Televisual Magazine'' list of the top 100

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

companies in the UK in 2012.

Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation

Walsh has been a Trustee of the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation since 2014. He first met with Ray Harryhausen in the late 1980s as a film student of the

and in 1990 wrote and directed a 15-minute documentary entitled ''Ray Harryhausen: Movement Into Life'', narrated by Tom Baker. Walsh filmed and recorded commentary tracks with Ray Harryhausen in his London home commencing 17 May 2012. Since that date recordings were made for ''Clash of The Titans'', ''Mysterious Island'', '' The 3 Worlds of Gulliver'', ''First Men in the Moon'' with Randy Cook, '' The Valley of Gwangi'' with his daughter Vanessa Harryhausen, '' One Million Years B.C.'' with

Martine Beswick Martine Beswick (born 26 September 1941) is Jamaica-born British actress and model perhaps best known for her roles in two James Bond films, '' From Russia with Love'' (1963) and '' Thunderball'' (1965), who went on to appear in several other n ...

, '' The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' with fellow Trustee Caroline Munro, ''Mighty Joe Young'' with film director John Landis and '' Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger'' with SFX artist Colin Arthur. Walsh donated the film and sound footage to the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation and they contain many new revelations by Ray on how his films were created and produced. San Diego Comic-Con announced the new Ray Harryhausen Awards which were devised by Walsh and revealed at their 2021 panel at Comic Con.

Writing and journalism

In additional to his film and TV screenplays, Walsh has written for various print and online publications on film history, politics and religion in '' The Daily Telegraph'', '' The Independent'', '' The Catholic Herald'' and '' Conservative Home''. He contributed to the Titan Books title, ''Ray Harryhausen Poster Art Book'', written by sci-fi journalist and author Richard Holliss. His first book '' Harryhausen: The Lost Movies'' was published 10 September 2019 by Titan Books. His second book, '' Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film'', was published in November 2020 by Titan Books. In 2021,

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

announced the publication of Walsh’s next book, '' Escape From New York: The Official Story of the Film'', which will be published on September 28 by Titan Books.

Books

Filmography and awards

References

External links

Walsh Bros Ltd.
official site *
Titan Books - Author Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, John Living people 20th-century British people British male writers British mass media company founders Alumni of the London Film School BBC people British documentary filmmakers Film directors from London English film producers English male screenwriters British television directors English television producers British film production company founders British male television writers Television show creators People from Greenwich Year of birth missing (living people) Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century English male writers