 |
John Deery | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Birkenhead, Merseyside, England |
| Education | Drama Studio London |
| Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Notable work | Conspiracy of Silence, Underground Ernie, Fat Friends |
| Television | BBC, ITV |
| Awards | See below |
John Deery is a British-Irish award-winning film and television drama director, screenwriter and producer.
Born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, across the River Mersey from Liverpool, he was brought up in County Donegal and Birkenhead. His parents and family are all from Donegal and has dual citizenship in Ireland and the UK. Like many other directors, he started out as an actor, training at the Drama Studio London. In between acting jobs, he was a runner on commercials with some of the UK's top commercial directors. He then became an assistant director before attending the National Film & Television School's Short Course Unit for Directors.
One of Deery's other passions is politics. He worked extensively with the film and commercials director, Hugh Hudson, during the Labour Party General Election campaign of 1992. After graduating from the National Film and Television School in 1996, Deery was commissioned by Peter Mandelson to write and direct a film for the Labour Party called The Road to the Manifesto which launched Labour's 1997 General Election campaign. [1] The film was a success, not only for its political message, but also for its theme song, "Things Can Only Get Better", which went on to become Labour's Election anthem. Deery made many other films for the Labour Party as well as films for trade unions, charities and multi-national companies including PwC, Unilever, Andersen Consulting, NHS, Accenture and many more. [2]
Coming from an Irish-Catholic background, Deery believed that enforced celibacy was a 'time bomb waiting to go off' in the Catholic Church and began researching his first feature film, Conspiracy of Silence , which he wrote and directed. Cast includes: Academy Award-winner Brenda Fricker, Hugh Bonneville, Chris O'Dowd, John Lynch, Jonathan Forbes, Jason Barry, Sean McGinley, Fintan McKeown, Jim Norton and Hugh Quarshie.
The screenplay was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab in Utah and won the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award presented to Deery at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. The film won many international awards including the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures' Freedom of Expression Award in 2004, which it shared with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ . [3] Deery was also nominated for Best Film Director at the Irish Film & Television Academy Awards in 2003. [4]
The film was screened at many film festivals in 2003 in Competition and/or Official Selection including Taormina (Italy), Rome, Moscow, Opening Night film at the Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland, Montreal Film Festival, Hamburg Film Festival, Warsaw Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award, Dinard Festival of British Cinema, France, and the American Film Institute (AFI) Festival in Los Angeles. [5] [6]
The film was also screened in September 2010, two days before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK, at the Odeon West End in London's Leicester Square, where it formed the backdrop to a public debate about priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church. Speakers included the Bishop of Nottingham, comedian Frank Skinner and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. [7]
Conspiracy of Silence was re-launched at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2014 by a new US boutique sales company, Angel Grace Films, headed by Michael Fister. [8] [9] It was digitally remastered in 2023 and re-released on VOD and streaming services, including Amazon Prime and Apple TV worldwide by Bohemia Media. [10]
Since Conspiracy of Silence, Deery has also directed several big dramas for television including If I Had You, a 2-hour single film for ITV1, starring Sarah Parish and Paul McGann which was screened in 2006. He also directed two 90-minute specials of the hit UK comedy/drama series, Fat Friends starring James Corden, Ruth Jones and Alison Steadman.
Alongside his film and television drama career, Deery founded Joella Productions in 2002, an animation production company which created Underground Ernie. Underground Ernie is a children's CGI animation series, based around a fictional underground railway service called 'International Station' which is run by station supervisor, Ernie, played by Gary Linekar. It aired on BBC Cbeebies and BBC Two in the UK between June 2006 and December 2009 and achieved some of the highest viewing figures for the channel. [11]
Deery has developed a film slate for his own production company Joejack Entertainment, including a feature film drama called 'The Rock Pile' set in Jerusalem, which he is producing with Cherie Blair. [12]
| Year(s) | Title | Role(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Conspiracy of Silence | Director, Writer & Producer | Theatrical film (digital release in 2023) |
| 2004 | Fat Friends | Director | 2 episodes of television series:
|
| 2005 | The Brief | Director | 1 episode of television series
|
| 2006 | If I Had You | Director | Television film |
| 2007 | Underground Ernie | Executive Producer | 26-part children's series
|
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Hartley-Merrill | International Screenwriting Award | Conspiracy of Silence | Won |
| 2001 | Sundance Screenwriters' Lab | Fellowship | Conspiracy of Silence | Won |
| 2003 | Dinard British Film Festival | Golden Hitchcock | Conspiracy of Silence | Nominated |
| 2003 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Film Director | Conspiracy of Silence | Nominated |
| 2003 | Warsaw International Film Festival | Special Mention | Conspiracy of Silence | Won |
| 2004 | National Board of Review | Freedom of Expression Award | Conspiracy of Silence | Won |
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. His accolades include an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Olivier Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours, and was given Freedom of the City in his native Belfast in 2018. In 2020, he was ranked in 20th place on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic My Left Foot (1989). She also appeared in films such as The Field (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004) and Albert Nobbs (2011).
Sir Stephen Arthur Frears is a British director and producer of film and television, often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply-drawn characters. He has received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named Frears among the 100 most influential people in British culture. In 2009, he received the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He received a knighthood in 2023 for his contributions to the film and television industries.
Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams, known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015. His performance on the show earned him a nomination at the Golden Globes and two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, as well as three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He reprised his role in the feature films, Downton Abbey (2019), and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). He also appeared in the films Notting Hill (1999), Iris (2001), The Monuments Men (2014), and the Paddington films (2014–present).
Hugh O'Conor is an Irish actor, writer, director, and photographer. In 2020, he was listed as number 49 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Watermelon is a 2003 television film directed by Kieron J. Walsh and starring Anna Friel, Jamie Draven, Ciarán McMenamin, Sean McGinley, and Brenda Fricker. It was released on 16 April 2003 on channel ITV. The screenplay is by Colin Bateman. The film is inspired by the novel of the same name by Marian Keyes. It is a lighthearted Irish drama following the troubles of a young couple when he finds out his beloved is carrying another man’s baby.
Peter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector, The Promise, Wolf Hall and The State.
John Crowley is an Irish film and theatre director. He is best known for the films Brooklyn (2015) and his debut feature, Intermission (2003), for which he won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Director. He is a brother of the designer Bob Crowley.
Conspiracy of Silence is a British drama film set in Ireland and inspired by real events. The film challenges celibacy and its implication for the Catholic Church in the 21st century.
Seán McGinley is an Irish actor. He has appeared in about 80 films and television series.
Suri Krishnamma is a British film director and writer best known for feature films A Man of No Importance, New Year's Day and Dark Tourist and television dramas A Respectable Trade and The Cazalets. He has a number of festival awards, including 3 BAFTA nominations.
John Hay is an English film director, writer and producer.
The Kerry Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, during October / November. The Kerry Film Festival is funded by Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland, the Arts Council as well as having corporate sponsorship.
The Silence is a British television crime drama, first broadcast on BBC One in 2010, which follows the story of a young deaf girl who witnesses a murder. The series was broadcast between 12–15 July 2010. The drama stars deaf actress Genevieve Barr in her first major role following her successful screen debut in Channel 4's The Amazing Dermot, alongside Dervla Kirwan, Gina McKee, Hugh Bonneville and Douglas Henshall. The series was also directed by Dearbhla Walsh. The series, produced by Company Pictures, was filmed in Dublin, but set in Bristol.
John Goldschmidt is a British-Austrian film director and producer. Goldschmidt was born in London, but grew up in Vienna leaving at the age of 16 to return to London. Goldschmidt has both Austrian and British nationality. He studied at the Czech National Film School 'FAMU' and at The Royal College of Art's Department of Film and Television, where he graduated in 1968 with a Master of Arts degree.
Jonathan Forbes is an Irish actor.
Resurrection Man is a 1998 Irish extreme horror period drama film, set specifically in Northern Ireland, directed by Marc Evans with a screenplay written by Eoin McNamee based on his novel of the same name. The story is loosely based on the real-life "Shankill Butchers", an Ulster loyalist gang in 1970s Belfast who conducted random killings of Catholic civilians until their leader, Lenny Murphy, was assassinated by a Provisional IRA hit squad.
Maeve Murphy is an Irish director-screenwriter. In 2011, as director for her short film Sushi, she won the Sub-ti short film competition, co-judged by Venice Days, Venice Film Festival. In 2020, the Irish Times listed Murphy's Silent Grace as no 38 in their 50 Best Irish Films Ever Made.
Gemma-Leah Devereux is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Liza Minnelli in the biographical drama film Judy (2019) opposite Renée Zellweger, and Lady Fitzgerald in the fourth and final season of the television series The Tudors (2010).
Kenneth Charles Loach is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialism are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and labour rights.