James Cleave
Directing
Biography
James Cleave is a London-based Writer-Director and Associate Member of Directors UK, whose work explores human connection through realistic, dialogue-driven drama, often with a sharp thread of humour running through the discomfort. His short films have collectively earned 21 awards, 30 nominations, and 31 Official Selections across national and international film festivals. His debut sci-fi drama Sometime Else, which screened at the BAFTA Cymru-qualifying Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, was described by UK Film Review as sitting "amongst any of Charlie Brooker's best and darkest [Black Mirror] episodes." His BIFA-Qualified comedy-drama MAFIA was praised by Film Carnage for its "clean edge" and "intimate and focused" directorial style. His latest comedy-drama SELF+TAPE is currently on its festival run following its premiere at BIFA-qualifying Unrestricted View Film Festival. A third-culture kid born in the UK and raised in Limassol, Cyprus, James has over 15 years of industry experience across 86 productions within the AD department, including serving as Kenneth Branagh's on-set Director's Assistant on A Haunting In Venice and on-set Cast Assistant on A Thomas Crown Affair, with further credits on Cinderella, RED 2, Black Mirror, and the BAFTA-winning Pride, to name a few. Outside of his AD career, he has produced close to 100 non-broadcast productions, managing end-to-end delivery across animation, post-production, and multi-language packages, writing and directing a number of them, earning 24 international awards including the WorldMediaFestival's intermedia-globe Grand Award. He is currently developing his first feature film.
Known For
A therapist attempts to navigate a young man's toxic relationship issues with his ex-girlfriend using state-of-the-art virtual reality technology. But is his memory reliable?
Sometime Else
Trapped in a sex trafficking network, Baby’s guilt over her complicity compels her to save someone else’s future.
Baby
Four friends reunite for a dinner where old tensions resurface. By the end of the night one of them is dead. The three surviving guests don't know what happened, yet the contradictions between their testimonies reveal an unsettling truth.
Dog's Dinner
A comedy drama that follows a wine-fuelled family as they play a post-dinner round of Mafia, a playful game (supposedly), of murder and deceit that soon spirals out of control as embarrassing secrets are revealed and uncomfortable truths are exposed that could change the family dynamic forever.
MAFIA
Three actors audition for the same career-defining lead role in a major British romcom, all from the discomfort of their own homes.