Tomas Brickhill

Last updated

Tomas Brickhill
Born
Tomas Lutuli Brickhill

(1978-03-25) 25 March 1978 (age 45)
London, England
Nationality Zimbabwean
Education Prince Edward High School
Alma mater Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, writer, musician
Years active1986–present
Parent
  • Paul Brickhill (father)

Tomas Lutuli Brickhill (born 25 March 1978) is a filmmaker, writer, and musician in Zimbabwe. [1] [2] He directed the critically acclaimed 2017 film Cook Off .

Contents

Personal life

He was born on 25 March 1978 in London, England. His father, Paul Brickhill was a former Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) soldier and war vet. Therefore, he was in exile in the UK at that time of Tomas's birth. However, soon after the Zimbabwean independence, family returned to Zimbabwe. [3] After returning, his father ran the influential arts and culture space called 'The Book Café'. After his father died in 2014, Tomas started running the Café. [4] He has three brothers: Liam, Amy and Declan. [2] He studied at Prince Edward High School, Harare from 1991 to 1996. [1]

Career

He left Zimbabwe in 1997 to move to United Kingdom and attended to Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College in 1999. [1] He studied Film and later worked in various roles trying to gain a wide range of technical experience in Surrey and graduated with Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Cinematography and Film/Video Production in 2001. Then he taught film courses for Raindance Film Festival, BBC and VMI for few years. [2]

Tomas returned to Zimbabwe in 2010, [4] and in 2013 completed his first feature as a cinematographer, Dust & Fortunes. Then in 2017, he was selected as the director of television serial Battle of the Chefs season 3. [1] Meanwhile, he taught film courses for Zimbabwe talents at Global Academy in Zimbabwe where he later became the Head of the Film Department for two years. Then he taught a short film course at the University of Zimbabwe before moving into Eswatini with filmmaking workshops. [2]

Later in 2017, he made his debut cinema direction Cook Off. [5] The film received critical acclaim and won many awards at local and international film festivals. [1] It had a sold out International Premier at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and became the first feature from Zimbabwe to be part of the Official Selection for 22 years. The film won the awards for the Best Film and Best Actress at the 2019 National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) and Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) in 2018. [2] In the film, Tomas also starred in a minor role called 'JJ'. [3] In June 2020 it became the first Zimbabwean film to be screened on Netflix, providing international media attention. [4] [6] [7] [8] It is only the second Zimbabwean film to receive international attention after Neria . [9] The film is hailed as one of the finest ever films in the Cinema of Zimbabwe after Neria and Yellow Card and opened to extremely positive response from Zimbabweans. The film is credited with shattering stereotypes of the Zimbabwean film industry which had been crippled by economic crisis and hyperinflation in the country. [10]

He also owned the Paw Paw Jam Productions, a production company specialized with African music events and filming in UK. [2] Apart from cinema, he is also a musician accompanied with the band 'Chikwata'. [3]

Filmography

YearFilmRoleGenreRef.
2017 Cook Off Director, producer, Actor: JJFilm

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Lee</span> American filmmaker (born 1957)

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.

<i>Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron</i> 2002 film directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a 2002 American animated western film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook from a screenplay by John Fusco, based on an idea by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who produced the film alongside Mireille Soria. The film combines traditional animation and computer animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsitsi Dangarembga</span> Zimbabwean author and filmmaker

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, Nervous Conditions (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC in 2018 as one of the top 100 books that have shaped the world. She has won other literary honours, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the PEN Pinter Prize. In 2020, her novel This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2022, Dangarembga was convicted in a Zimbabwe court of inciting public violence, by displaying, on a public road, a placard asking for reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sooni Taraporevala</span> Indian film director

Sooni Taraporevala is an Indian screenwriter, photographer, and filmmaker who is the screenwriter of Mississippi Masala, The Namesake and Oscar-nominated Salaam Bombay!, all directed by Mira Nair. She also adapted Rohinton Mistry's novel Such A Long Journey and wrote the films Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, her directorial debut Little Zizou, and Yeh Ballet, a Netflix original film that she wrote and directed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University for the Creative Arts</span> Arts university in southern England

The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bong Joon-ho</span> South Korean filmmaker (born 1969)

Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Edgar</span> British film director, screenwriter and producer

Justin Edgar is a British film director, screenwriter and producer.

Jose "Joey" Javier Reyes is a Filipino professor, writer, director, lyricist, and actor. He has won awards at the Gawad Urian, Metro Manila Film Festival and Filipino Star Awards for Movies for his films, which include Pahiram ng Isang Umaga, Batang PX and Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo. He also wrote the screenplay for Filipino blockbuster Four Sisters and a Wedding from which a Filipino meme featuring Bea Alonzo was sourced.

Triggerfish is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa and Galway, Ireland. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia (2012), Khumba (2013), and Seal Team (2021), as well as the work they have done on television specials created for UK producers Magic Light Pictures. In 2016, Stick Man was awarded the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In 2017, Revolting Rhymes again won the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy Festival, and was nominated for the Best Short Film (Animated) Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2019, Netflix announced that Triggerfish would produce its first African animated TV series. In 2020, Zog won the International Emmy for Best Kids Animation. In 2021, The Snail and The Whale won Best Special Production at The Annie Awards, while Triggerfish received the Mifa Animation Industry Award at Annecy for "the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.” In 2022, their third film, Seal Team, made the Netflix Top 10 Films global list for its launch week.

The Book Café is a platform for free cultural expression in Harare, Zimbabwe, since 1993. Book Cafe operates in partnership with leading cultural NGO Pamberi Trust to offer both diverse entertainment to the public at large as well as a space for artistic development – especially a platform for younger artists. book Cafe is known for its diversity of music and puts on a musical show almost everynight of the year. Almost every artist in Zimbabwe has performed at the Book Cafe.

Godwin Mawuru was a Zimbabwean director and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Arbourne</span> British film producer

Geoff Arbourne is a British film producer and founder of Inside Out Films, an independent company that specialises in film production and television production.

<i>My Octopus Teacher</i> 2020 documentary film by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed

My Octopus Teacher is a 2020 Netflix Original documentary film directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, which documents a year spent by filmmaker Craig Foster forging a relationship with a wild common octopus in a South African kelp forest. At the 93rd Academy Awards, it won the award for Best Documentary Feature.

Zimbabwe has an active film culture that includes films made in Zimbabwe during its pre- and post-colonial periods. Economic crisis and political crisis have been features of the industry. A publication from the 1980s counted 14 cinemas in Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare. According to a 1998 report only 15 percent of the population had been to a cinema. European and American films have been made on location in Zimbabwe as well as Indian films. American films are popular in Zimbabwe but face restrictions limiting their distribution.

<i>Cook Off</i> 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film by Tomas Brickhill

Cook Off is a 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film written and directed by Tomas Brickhill. Set in contemporary middle class society of Harare, the film stars Tendaiishe Chitima, Fungai Majaya and Tehn Diamond. Production of the film was constantly hit with power failures, budget constraints, anti-government protests and riots which erupted during the final stages of the Presidency of Robert Mugabe. It became the first film to be released after the Zimbabwe Mugabe era which lasted for nearly 40 years. The film also became the first Zimbabwean film to be streamed on Netflix. It received international media attention since its release on the Netflix platform in June 2020. It is only the second Zimbabwean film to receive international attention after Neria. The film is hailed as one of the finest ever films in the Cinema of Zimbabwe after Neria and Yellow Card and opened to extremely positive response from Zimbabweans. The film is credited with shattering stereotypes of the Zimbabwean film industry which had been crippled by economic crisis and hyperinflation in the country.

Tendaiishe Chitima is a Zimbabwean actress.

Steve Gukas is a Nollywood filmmaker, director and producer who believes that films should be used to address the ills of the society.

Jesesi Mungoshi is a Zimbabwean actress. She made her debut appearance in 1989, in the film titled, African Journey.

Ronald Bergan was a South African-born British writer and historian. He was contributor to The Guardian and lecturer on film and other subjects as well as the author of several books including biographies.

John Riber is an Indian-born Zimbabwean filmmaker and producer. He is best known for directing the 2000 Zimbabwean comedy drama Yellow Card.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tomas Brickhill – Director, Writer". filmfreeway. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tomas Lutuli Brickhill". pindula. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Tomas Brickhill". houseofmutapa. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Romcom 'Cook Off' has a distinctly Zimbabwean flavour". timeslive. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Zimbabwe's Cook Off: How an $8,000 romcom made it to Netflix". BBC. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Defying all odds: Zimbabwean romcom Cook Off makes Netflix debut". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "'Cook Off' Becomes First Independent Zimbabwean Film to be Acquired by Netflix". OkayAfrica. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  8. ↑ "'Cook Off' serves up Zimbabwe's Netflix film debut". www.reuters.com. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Zimbabwe's Cook Off: How an $8,000 romcom made it to Netflix". BBC News. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "Cook Off movie revives Zimbabwe's film muscle". The Chronicle. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.