Name Tom Lawes | ||
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Tom lawes makes the film the last projectionist
Tom Lawes (born 1 August 1971) is an English film director, music composer, and entrepreneur. He is best known for renovating the oldest working cinema in the UK Electric Cinema, Birmingham and the award-winning documentary The Last Projectionist.
Contents
- Tom lawes makes the film the last projectionist
- Blues Guitar Jam
- Career
- Filmography
- Awards
- Other Work
- Personal life
- References

Blues Guitar Jam
Career

Lawes was born in Birmingham, England. He went to Handsworth Grammar School Initially Lawes worked as a roadie for the rock band Gunfire Dance. Then, aged 19, Lawes starting making no-budget horror films shot on camcorder. In 1993, aged 22, he was hired by the BBC to compose the soundtrack to the BBC comedy drama, All Quiet On The Preston Front.

in 2004 Lawes bought and renovated the derelict Electric Cinema, Birmingham, the oldest working cinema in the country, needed a total refurbishment to restore it to its Art Deco prime which Lawes carefully undertook after extensive research prior to re-opening for business again in 2004.
Lawes is also the musical director of The Electric Cinema Film Orchestra, the UK's first in-house film orchestra.
In 2009, the centenary year of the cinema, Lawes was congratulated in the House of Commons for his work in restoring the cinema In 2011 Lawes directed and produced the feature length documentary The Last Projectionist, a film charting the history of independent cinema in the UK. The film was named BBC Radio 5Live's Film of The Week by Mark Kermode. The film won awards, including 'Best Documentary' at the Cambridge Film Festival. In 2010 the British Film Institute selected The Last Projectionist to be included in its permanent archive collection Lawes has also directed a series of short documentaries Southside Stories which in 2012 won two Royal Television Society (Midlands) Award for Best Promotional Programme and Best Craft. Most recently he has written and directed the short film 3 Sides of the Coin.
Filmography
Awards
Other Work
Personal life
In 2009 Lawes married Suzie Norton. The couple have a daughter and a son