John Walsh (filmmaker)

Film

In 2010 John Walsh stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the 2010 General Election and made the gonzo-style documentary feature film Tory Boy The Movie which was released in cinemas in 2011 and 2012. The film follows Walsh as he becomes a Conservative candidate after a lifetime of voting Labour. In the film, he claims that Sir Stuart Bell, the Labour Party's MP in Middlesbrough, is absent so often from Middlesbrough that he is an unsuitable candidate. According to Richard Moss, a BBC film critic, "some silliness aside, it is a thought-provoking insight into the way our political system works or doesn't work on the ground." It was subsequently nominated for the Grieson Documentary award for "Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme". The film received a re-release in cinemas in 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 UK General Election. It was controversially banned in Middlesbrough where the film was set.

In 2014 John Walsh's remastered version of the film Monarch was released. The original negative for the film had been lost and was the subject of various newspaper reports. The film starred late Irish stage and screen actor T. P. McKenna and Jean Marsh. This subsequently led to cinema showing starting at the Tricycle Cinema in London.

He discussed the issues around finding the lost negatives for Monarch and other lost projects with BBC Radio 2 Janice Long

Television

In 2010 Rose d'Or nominated Walsh's five part BBC series on childhood homeless Sofa Surfers was nominated for the Social Award at the Rose d'Or Awards.

The BAFTA nominated film My Life: Karate Kids for the first time tackled issues of bullying among disabled children. It was narrated by Doctor Who actor David Tennant

The Monte Carlo TV Nominated BBC film Toy Soldiers presented the point of view of the bereaved children of UK service personnel. John discusses this on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme. The film was praised by Dr Geraldine Walford for challenging perceptions around the topic of childhood grief. "good to see this sensitive and crucially important topic being opened up for people to learn from.". Also nominated for Prix Jeunesse International Munich.

John Walsh's three part Grierson Trusts Nominated BBC series Headhunting The Homeless was part of the BBC’s 120 most treasured programmes in the corporation’s drive to convince its critics that the licence fee should not be abolished. John worked again with charity boss Eva Hamilton MBE again on her latest venture Key 4 Life and made a documentary in December 2013 about their work with former young offenders.

The BAFTA nominated and New York Festival winning Channel 4 Series Don't Make Me Angry was television's first anger management series. This ran for two series.

Walsh Bros Ltd.

John Walsh founded Walsh Bros Ltd. production company in April 1992 . Its film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice have brought many awards including two BAFTA nominations. Walsh Bros Ltd. was ranked in the Production 100, a ranking of the top 100 independent film companies in the UK, by Televisual in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Ray Harryhausen Foundation

John Walsh was made a Trustee [1] of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation in 2014. He first met with Ray Harryhausen in 1988 as a film student of the London Film School and made documentary entitled Ray Harryhausen: Movement Into Life narrated by Doctor Who actor Tom Baker.

John Walsh filmed and recorded commentary tracks with Ray Harryhausen in his London home commencing 17 May 2012. Since that date recordings were made for Clash of The Titans, Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, First Men in the Moon with Academy Awards winner Randy Cook, The Valley of Gwangi with his daughter Vanessa Harryhausen, One Million Years B.C. with Martine Beswick, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad with fellow Trustee Caroline Munro, Mighty Joe Young with film director John Landis and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger with SFX artist Colin Arthur. This last was recorded in January 2013. John Walsh donated the film and sound footage recorded entirely to the Ray Harryhausen Foundation and they contain many new revelations by Ray on how his films were created and produced.

In February 2016 The Foundation launched the The Ray Harryhausen Podcast. This included never before heard audio from Ray Harryhausen. Hosted by Collections Manager Connor Heaney and John Walsh, these were made available and broadcast via iTunes. and SoundCloud . In July 2017 the podcast series was nominated for the People's Choice Podcast Awards in the category of the Film & TV.

On 5 June 2017 it was announced that a major exhibition of Ray Harryhausen's models was to take place at the Science Museum Oklahoma. John was quoted as saying "The collection held at The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is not just artifacts of historical and cinematic importance, but is also a window into the science of photo chemical film making" . In The Oklahoman John was quoted as saying "“In recent years, we have witnessed resurgence in both stop-motion animation and the use of film. Studios have recognized both the financial savings of returning to this technique and healthy box office receipts proving audiences will to come to what had been a widely-ignored art form." Entitled "Ray Harryhausen - Mythical Menagerie" the exhibition will opened to the public from 29 July 2017. USA Today named it as “one of best museum exhibits in the U.S. this fall”

An exhibition at Tate Britain from 26 June to 19 November 2017 features work from the Harryhausen collection and short film made by John on the restoration of a painting owned by Harryhausen which influenced his work.

John was interviewed by Screem Magazine in issue 33 about the blu ray re-release of Ray Harryhausen’s The Valley of Gwangi

Public Speaking

John has spoken on many occasions about his film work with broadcasters and recently with Today BBC Radio 4 discussing his war documentary Toy Soldiers. and Monarch and ToryBoy The Movie. for BBC Radio 2 Spoken Word Session with Janice Long.

John was a keynote speaker at the Society for Animation Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University in July 2015 discussing the work of the Ray Harryhausen Foundation and plans for the centenary in 2020. The Scotsman reported on the centenary plans for the Foundation with a tour of items from the collection quoting John Walsh "As 2020 will be Ray’s centenary, we want to do a series of events counting down to this date.".

In 2016 John gave a talk commemorating Ray Harryhausen's birthday at the Cinema Museum. This included a screening of his documentary Ray Harryhausen: Movement Into Life and in August 2016 at the Starburst Magazine Film Festival.

In September 2016, John appeared at the fifth annual Cinestrange Festival in Braunschweig, Germany, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Earth vs the Flying Saucers. The film was shown in colour for the first time.

On 2 October 2016 John gave a keynote talk at Canterbury Christ Church University at their animation festival, Anifest

On 28 October 2017 John have a lecture to animation students at Staffordshire University

On 17 November John spoke at the Manchester Animation Festival

MCM London Comic Con 27 May 2017 John gave a talk for the upcoming The Barbican exhibition of science fiction entitled 'Into the Unknown' on Ray Harryhausen

Charity Work

2014 – present day. John is a Trustee of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation charity. Working with schools and colleges as well as the public to bring the work and legacy of film maker Ray Harryhausen to new audiences in the UK and around the world.

2005 – present day. John is a voting and jury member of BAFTA The British Academy for Film & Television Arts. As a jury member, John must watch the submitted films and discuss his findings with other industry professionals. Most recently he was on the animation Jury in 2015/16. He has been an active member since 2005 and often advises those looking for a career in the industry. He also gives free talks and screenings of his work to benefit others.

2015 Key4Life Charity worked closely with Eva Hamilton MBE on the launch of her new charity helping ex-offenders enter the working world. John created a film to bring the charity to public recognition. . John made his award-winning 2003 BBC documentary series Headhunting The Homeless following the break through work of Eva Hamilton’s Business Action on Homelessness project as part of Business in the Community.

2011 The Warrior Programme – worked with Eva Hamilton MBE on this charity that helped former service personal around issues of PTS and re-entering the work place.

1998 – 2001 As Vice Chair of the Directors Guild of Great Britain John helped to represent the interests of its members and co-produced Life Time Achievement Awards for both Sir Alan Parker and Stanley Kubrick.

Professional Memberships