Stewart Sparke

Stewart Sparke is an Independent Filmmaker from Yorkshire, UK. Stewart has a BA in Film and Television Production from York St. John University and an MA in Directing Film and Television at Bournemouth University. After graduating University he worked in a variety of roles on a number of film and television productions including the BBC's Blue Peter and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Later in 2012, he co-founded the film and animation production company Glass Cannon, through which Stewart directed a number of independent short films. Containment was shortlisted for the Horror Channel's 2014 Shortcuts to Hell 2 competition and was included in the Horror Anthology Feature film. Later that year, Stewart directed the First World War short film Loss and Legacy which earned a Royal Television Society award nomination. In 2015, Stewart co-founded the production company Dark Rift Films with frequent collaborator Paul Butler. The Creature Below was the production company's first feature film and premiered at Frightfest London in 2016, securing physical & digital distribution in ten territories and even a theatrical release in Asia. Self financed by Stewart & Paul with a budget of only £12,000 and shot over just fourteen days, the film proved critically and commercially successful. In 2017 the duo launched a Kickstarter campaign for their second horror feature Book of Monsters which became the third most funded horror film in the UK on the crowd-funding platform. Stewart is now working with Paul to develop a commercially viable slate of genre feature films, seeking to bring their experience in producing big ideas on small budgets, to a larger audience.