Who are we?
Emily McDonald, Director
Emily McDonald is an award winning Director based in London, UK. Her work focuses on uncovering honest and unique stories within society that challenge our cultural ideas.
When Emily pursued a career as a director, it was with the singular goal of making documentaries. She left home and school at 16 with no intention of working in film until she took an admin role at Weiden + Kennedy. It was from their office that she borrowed a camera to make her first documentary short, ‘The Pitch’, about a man named Tim who was sleeping rough in London. That was in 2017 and since then Emily continues to apply that pure, human approach to every piece of work she does.
Her ability to form relationships and get people to open up on camera is a rare skill that now sees her working between the UK and USA. She has lent her moving style of storytelling to brands like Nike, Lego, Facebook, Google and more, and is now ready to focus on making her first feature length documentary with your help.
Emily has received recognition for both her documentary and commercial work with numerous awards that include a Best Documentary Short at BFI Film Festival and a Gold Young Director’s Award at Cannes.
Her documentaries have screened at the BFI London Film Festival as well as the Flare Film Festival where she was selected as one of six emerging LGBT filmmakers..
Henry Lockyer, Director of Photography
Henry Lockyer is a London based DOP with an incredible talent for capturing honest documentary footage with cinematic flair.
Henry always does so much more than just shoot what is happening. He is a lover of cinema and has strong ideas on how to make even the most basic scene look more picturesque—a skill he has applied to beautiful documentaries for BBC and Vice.
Not only is Henry's style a perfect fit for this film, he is also very comfortable in a documentary setting and his work has taken him from a military training camp in Israel to infiltrating Neo-Nazi groups in America. As an added bonus, Henry's background is in lighting which is of great advantage as most documentary crews don't have the luxury of a Gaffer.
Pavillion Works, Production Partner
Content production company Pavilion Works and its offshoot film and TV studio Pavilion Works Originals were quick to jump on board to help get this film off the ground. With four released films and one nearing completion, PWO is more than equipped to supply us with the production resources we need.
Having the backing of a production company so early on means we are accountable for meeting deadlines and can streamline our pre and post-production timelines.