Julia is a very talented and driven documentary director. She made a powerful, intimate and important film for my Channel 4 documentary series, which eschewed the sensationalist story that could have been told and through her remarkable relationship with the subject, made a film that celebrated life, childhood and hope. Julia is a tenacious producer and a workaholic to boot.
All of Julia’s projects have a hallmark of compassion, pertinacity and a rare eye for making sometimes difficult material accessible and compelling. Her film scripts demonstrate her talent as a writer of striking material, which urgently deserves the opportunity to reach the screen.
I find mentoring emerging filmmakers very rewarding. It makes you think about how you go about your own work. It feels like an important responsibility – to try and pass on ideas, principles and techniques to a new generation. Certainly in my case, my career was helped enormously by experienced filmmakers who generously helped and encouraged me when I started out. Working with Julia has been a real pleasure. She has two fascinating projects on the go and they have developed nicely since we have started meeting. She is a very promising filmmaker with a good sense of visual storytelling.
As an established filmmaker and as MD of Century Films I have met and talked to hundreds of young and aspiring directors in the last 20 years. I would say that of all of them, Julia has impressed me most with her dogged persistence to make the films she wants to make – a certain single mindedness is a quality that all directors need.
Julia is a talented and dedicated filmmaker who refuses to compromise when she is involved in production. She is tenacious and very determined and has a seemingly endless store of enthusiasm. She’s interested in the world and has a restless energy that leads her to difficult but important subjects. Over the years I’ve also been impressed by her ability to find an interesting story that is not always the most obvious – I think this demonstrates an understanding of narrative and the way in which story telling works.”