Tom Kingsley


Tom Kingsley is an English film director. He is best known for co-directing Black Pond, a 2011 feature film starring Chris Langham and Simon Amstell. He first made his name directing music videos and adverts. He was shortlisted for Best New Director at the 2010 Music Video Awards, and his work has been nominated for the 2012 BAFTAs, the 2011 British Independent Film Awards, the Guardian First Film Award, the Evening Standard Film Awards, and the Raindance Film Festival.

Education

Kingsley was educated at Eton College, a boarding independent school for boys in Eton in Berkshire, followed by Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied English, and was a member of the comedy group Footlights, directing the Footlights Revue "Wham Bam" at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe.

Life and career

Kingsley made his first feature-length film when he was 12 years old - a 70-minute James Bond spoof called Black Eye. In 2008, he joined Blink, the Soho-based production company, after sending them a DVD containing several of his short films. Following a short apprenticeship, he began directing music videos and commercials. Kingsley's work was well received in the industry press and led to his being shortlisted for the Best New Director prize at the 2010 Music Video Awards.
In summer 2009, Kingsley travelled with his long-time collaborator, Will Sharpe, to Japan to direct "Cockroach", a 30-minute short. Buoyed by the experience, in early 2010 the pair began work on a feature-length film: Black Pond, which was shot in August of that year, on a tiny £25,000 budget. Released in November 2011, Black Pond received overwhelmingly positive reviews, though it initially attracted controversy because of the casting of Chris Langham. The film sold out every night of its limited London run, and was shortlisted for a BAFTA, two Evening Standard film awards, a British Independent Film Award, and at the Raindance Film Festival. It received a four-star rating from The Times, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, The List, and Little White Lies. The Independent called it "a funny and very well-observed low budget British movie". It was listed as a film of the year in the New Statesman and the Financial Times.
The film led to Kingsley and Sharpe being nominated for Outstanding Debut at the Baftas, and Kingsley as Most Promising Newcomer at the Evening Standard Film Awards.

Filmography

Feature films