Thomas Russell
Directing
Biography
Thomas Russell is an American screenwriter, director and teacher based in Provo, Utah. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production from Brigham Young University. In 1988, he briefly worked as a writer and videographer for the Bill Nelson Media Group in California. In 1989, he joined the McAtee & Associates Advertising Agency as a Copywriter and was promoted to a Senior Copywriter position the next year. He held the potision of Creative Director at McAtee from 1990 until his departure in December 1993. He joined CMJ Media in 1993 as an owner and was a Managing Parner from 1997 to 2000.
Known For
For Robbing the Dead is a story of compassion - compassion toward those who may seem the least deserving of Christian love. It follows the story of Henry Heath, a law officer in 1862 Salt Lake City. Heath finds himself responsible for the well-being of a prisoner whom he despises - an impoverished French immigrant named Jean Baptiste who is convicted of robbing the graves of the recently deceased. Baptiste is exiled to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. With no one willing to look after this man, Henry Heath becomes Baptiste's sole defense against the hostile isolation of Antelope Island and the contempt of an entire community. Through his somewhat reluctant service, Heath's heart softens and his own sorrows find relief.
Redemption: For Robbing the Dead
A troubled psychiatrist goes in search of five schizophrenics who have escaped from a local mental institution. Infiltrating their makeshift mountain outpost, the doctor comes face to face with his own fears, limitations, and forsaken hopes as he becomes acquainted with the patients and their humorously poignant struggles.
Mr. Dungbeetle
A Mexican immigrant family struggles to assimilate into their new home in the United States.
En Tierra Ajena y Desconocida
The earliest movies were divided between exotic faraway places and cinema's ground zero, the family film in the domestic space. This documentary turns from commerce and industry to consider the intensity, trouble and tenderness of the first and best kind of film: the home movie.