James Rogan

James Rogan is an award-winning producer/writer/director best known for his international documentaries, his acclaimed short film The Open Doors (2004) with Michael Sheen and his breakthrough feature Dead Bolt Dead (1999). James started working in film through the Children's Film Unit where he worked on the films Willie's War (1994) and Nightshade (1995) for Channel 4 in the camera department. At 16, he was Director of Photography of The Gingerbread House (1996). When he left school he made his breakthrough feature Dead Bolt Dead (1999), which led to The Times newspaper selecting him as a "Great British Hope". A Fulbright Scholarship took him to the NYU Graduate Film Program, where he made the short film, The Walk, starring Jamie Hector, and the documentary Grave Business about a gravestone saleswoman in Queens. He returned to the UK, where he made The Open Doors (2004) with Michael Sheen. Highly acclaimed, it was selected to open a retrospective of the Best British Short Films of the last 20 years at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. James was then commissioned by Eric Abraham to write his next feature, San Cristobal. Inspired by James' time spent in a small Spanish village in the Marina Alta, it tells the story of one man's struggle to repopulate his village with homeless people. His research took him to Madrid where he started the Britdoc documentary El loco de la Catedral (2009) (The Madman and the Cathedral) about the extraordinary story of Justo Gallego Martinez, a former monk who has spent the last 50 years building a cathedral in his hometown. Filmed over 5 years, it is now featured by Channel 4 as "one of 16 short documentaries to see before you make one". At the same time, he was building a career in television, helping to create and direct the first series of 60 Minute Makeover (2004) for Granada. The huge success of the series saw it go on to run for over 200 episodes. His relationship with Granada also produced the documentary series Warship, a six part observational documentary about life aboard a Royal Navy aircraft carrier on deployment to the Arabian Gulf. A chance encounter with Executive Producer Phil Craig sent him back to the US to make the BBC Storyville/Sundance Channel documentary Blog Wars (2006) covering the growing influence of political bloggers in America. The film was screened all over the world and became something of a cult phenomenon in Russia, where it continues to be screened regularly today. James also contributed the experimental short documentary, Gypsy Cab (2010) to the Russian portmanteau feature documentary Cinetrain. James went on to make two more international co-productions with BBC Storyville, this time working with the renowned Executive Producer Roger Graef. The Trouble with Pirates tells the story of Somali Piracy from the point of view of a Somali exile, a hostage, a negotiator and the Royal Navy. Amnesty! When They Are All Free traces the story of Amnesty International through its 50 years up to its present day involvement in Haiti, Egypt and the homophobic scandals of Uganda.