Rhys JONES

Rhys Jones was raised in the North of England by his Irish mother and Welsh father, who both sparked his interest in cinema at an early age when they would record movies late at night on VHS and hold them hostage as a behavioural incentive. This led Rhys to enrol and study cinematography at the Northern Film School in Leeds before being accepted into the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film school as a three-time BAFTA scholarship recipient. The short films he made whilst a student in New York – BURN BRIDGE, BOUNDARIES and PALE SAINT – have been shown at festivals around the world. Since graduating, he has written and directed his first commissioned short, FATHER OF THE BRIDE, financed by BBC WALES and the BFI NETWORK, and attended talent labs such as NISI MASA European Short Pitch, BBC Films/ BFI iFeatures and BFI / BAFTA Flare LGBTQ+ Mentorship (with Wash Westmoreland as a mentor). As a Writer / Director, Rhys' style and subject matter merges elements of realism with intimate character studies to tell stories that resonate with the common struggles of identity, awareness and self-acceptance. Rhys is developing his first feature film BLACK CHURCH BAY.