External links
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| Founded | 2001 |
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| Headquarters | , England, United Kingdom |
| Website | warpfilms |
Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield. [1]
Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. After the death of Rob Mitchell in 2001, Beckett decided to continue with Warp Films and enlisted the expertise of Sheffield friend Mark Herbert to run the company. [1]
Warp's first film, Chris Morris' My Wrongs#8245-8249 & 117 , was shot in 2002. It won the award for Best Short Film at the 2003 BAFTA Film Awards and became the first short film DVD single in the UK market. [1]
Through the star of My Wrongs, Paddy Considine, Herbert met director Shane Meadows and asked them to generate an idea for a film. The result was Warp Films debut feature, Dead Man's Shoes , directed by Shane Meadows in 2004. [1]
Shot in 22 days on a tight budget, and produced from Warp Films' Sheffield office (at that time a shed in Herbert's garden), it earned a BAFTA nomination, was nominated for a record eight British Independent Film Awards, won the Hitchcock D'or at the Dinard Festival, and won the Southbank award for Best Film. It received strong critical acclaim and has been hailed as a landmark in British cinema. [1] It was ranked No. 27 in Empire magazines list of the best British films ever
In 2005, Warp Films produced Rubber Johnny, an experimental short and 42-page book by director Chris Cunningham, featuring music by Warp Records artist Aphex Twin. [1]
Warp Films break-out success came with Shane Meadows' This Is England in 2006, winning Best Film at the British Independent Films Awards, the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs. [1] At the same ceremony, Warp Films received its third BAFTA as Paddy Considine's directorial debut Dog Altogether won the Best Short Film award. [1] Three months after This Is England was released in cinemas, Warp's third feature film, Grow Your Own , was released.
In 2004, Robin Gutch joined Mark Herbert and Producer Barry Ryan to set up Warp X, a low-budget digital 'studio' to develop and produce films with a focus on new talent and commercial potential. [2] The first projects under the new label were Chris Waitt' s A Complete History of My Sexual Failures and Olly Blackburn's Donkey Punch , which were both launched at the Sundance International Film Festival in 2007. [3]
These were followed by Mark Tonderai' s Hush [4] Paul King's Bunny & the Bull, and Xiaolu Guo's She, a Chinese. [5] Another Warp X production was 2009 documentary All Tomorrow's Parties , covering the history of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. The film was created using footage generated by the fans and musicians attending the events themselves, on a multitude of formats including Super8, camcorder and mobile phone. In 2009, Warp films produced Exhibit A , a groundbreaking pseudo-documentary film. The film was awarded the title of 'Best UK Feature' at the Raindance Film Festival [6] and was nominated for three British Independent Film Awards. [7]
Also in 2009, Warp produced The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour by Paul King, Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee by Shane Meadows as well as a concert film Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo.
In 2010, Warp Films produced Chris Morris’s debut feature Four Lions , a satirical comedy drama following a group of homegrown Islamic terrorists from Sheffield, England. The film was nominated for two BAFTA awards and won the 'Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, director, or Producer' BAFTA award for Chris Morris. [8] Also released in 2011 was Richard Ayoade's debut feature Submarine starring Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine. The film featured original songs by Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner and won many awards worldwide, including the Best Screenplay award at the 2011 British Independent Film Awards. Richard Ayoade was nominated for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 65th British Academy Film Awards.
In 2010 Warp produced for Channel 4, Shane Meadows' This Is England '86, a continuation from the 2006 film. It achieved record viewing figures for Channel 4 and won a BAFTA for leading actress Vicky McClure.
Warp X production Kill List was released in the UK on 28 August 2011. Directed by Ben Wheatley, the film stars Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley and MyAnna Buring. It has gone on to win several awards internationally, including a British Independent Film Award for supporting actor Michael Smiley.
Tyrannosaur, also produced through Warp X, was released in 2011. Directed by Paddy Considine, it was an exploration of how love and friendship can be found in the darkest of places. Tyrannosaur stars Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan. Winning the BAFTA for 'Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, director, or Producer' for director Paddy Considine and producer Diarmid Scrimshaw. 2011 also saw the world premiere of Justin Kurzel's Snowtown.
This Is England '88, the sequel to the 2010 television series This Is England '86, aired on Channel 4 over three consecutive nights from 13 December 2011.
Warp Films continued to produce award winning features and TV from 2012 including Southcliffe by Sean Durkin, two seasons of The Midnight Beast, Berberian Sound Studio by Peter Strickland and For Those in Peril by Paul Wright. The latter would be the last production released under Warp X.
In 2015, the final sequel to This is England, This is England '90 aired, winning three BAFTA’s.
Over the next couple of years, further success would come with Shane Meadows' The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, 71' by Yann Demange The Last Panthers by Jack Thorne, Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan by Xavier Dolan and the directorial debut of Idris Elba withYardie. The Virtues by Shane Meadows released in 2019 on Channel 4 would gain five stars in The Guardian and be listed as one of the best dramas of the decade.
In 2020, Warp Films released Little Birds for Sky and in 2021, their first ever musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie, based on the musical of the same name, directed by Jonathan Butterell, which in turn was adapted from the BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 . Produced for New Regency and Film4 and released worldwide on Amazon Prime, the story follows and is based upon the true-life story of 16-year-old British schoolboy Jamie Campbell, as he overcomes prejudice and bullying, to step out of the darkness and become a drag queen.
In 2025, Warp released Adolescence on Netflix which became the most watched streaming television show in the United Kingdom in a single week and the second most watched English Language show of all time on the platform. Directed by Phillip Barantini and created/written by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, it successfully was awarded 8 Emmys including for Best Limited Series, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Writing, Directing, Cinematography and Casting. The same year, Warp released Reunion for the BBC written by Deaf writer William Mager and directed by Luke Snellin, with the majority of the cast and the crew on the series also deaf or using British Sign Language.
| Title | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Fur TV | 2008 | Chris Waitt |
| This Is England '86 | 2010 | Shane Meadows & Tom Harper |
| This is England '88 | 2011 | Shane Meadows |
| The Minor Character | 2012 | Richard Curson Smith |
| The Snipist | 2012 | Matthew Holness |
| Care | 2012 | Amanda Boyle |
| Privado | 2012 | Jim Hosking |
| The Midnight Beast | 2012 | Ben Gregor |
| Southcliffe | 2013 | Sean Durkin |
| The Midnight Beast 2 | 2014 | Al Campbell |
| This is England '90 | 2015 | Shane Meadows |
| The Last Panthers | 2015 | Johan Renck |
| Liam Williams' Valentine | 2017 | Jonathan Schey |
| The Virtues | 2019 | Shane Meadows |
| Little Birds | 2020 | Stacie Passon |
| Adolescence | 2025 | Philip Barantini |
| Reunion | 2025 | Luke Snellin |
| Title | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117 | 2002 | Chris Morris |
| Rubber Johnny | 2005 | Chris Cunningham |
| Scummy Man | 2006 | Paul Fraser |
| Dogs Mercury | 2006 | Martin Radich |
| Dog Altogether | 2007 | Paddy Considine |
| Slippin' | 2007 | Jason Nwansi |
| The Archivist | 2008 | James Lees |
| Curtains | 2009 | Julian Barratt |
| The Taxidermist | 2009 | Bert and Bertie |
| A Gun for George | 2010 | Matthew Holness |
| The Organ Grinders Monkey | 2011 | Jake and Dinos Chapman |
| Swimmer | 2012 | Lynne Ramsay |
| The Beast | 2013 | Corinna Faith |
| No Kaddish in Carmarthen | 2013 | Jesse Armstrong |
| Dr Easy | 2013 | Shynola |
| Liam and Lenka | 2014 | Michael Keillor |
| The Tale of Hillbelly | 2016 | Isaiah Saxon, Sean Hellfritsch & Daren Rabinovitch |
| Unseen | 2017 | Katie Mitchell |
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