STUART URBAN

A film-maker since 1982, Stuart has made highly regarded, award winning popular TV drama and movies that have sold around the world, winning him two British Academy (and other) awards.  At 13, Stuart had his first film shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The Virus of War was a thirty-minute 16mm drama. After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, with a first in Modern History, Stuart worked as writer, director and producer. His first feature-length BBC drama, ‘An Ungentlemanly Act’ starring Ian Richardson and Bob Peck, won a BAFTA as Best Single Drama and many international awards.  From 1994-95, Urban directed ‘Our Friends in the North’ starring Daniel Craig, the most successful drama for 15 years on BBC2, which won him another BAFTA for Best Drama Serial. In 1995, he wrote the $6 million HBO/BBC film ‘Deadly Voyage’ that won Silver Nymph for Best Screenplay at Monte Carlo and proved one of HBO’s most popular movies of the year. Since 1997 through his company Cyclops Vision, he wrote, produced and directed cult comedy ‘Preaching to the Perverted’, ; Against the War', 'Revelation', Tovarisch I Am Not Dead', 'May I Kill U?'  In 2014, Urban optioned Deric Henderson's nonfiction book, Let This Be Our Secret, which he adapted as screenwriter and executive produced for Hat Trick Productions and ITV. It is a four hour drama, starring James Nesbitt as double murderer Colin Howell. It was filmed in Northern Ireland in late 2015 under the title The Secret and is due for transmission in 2016..  He has also directed TV series such as 'The Bill', 'Bergerac', 'The Good Guys' and factual television, for example BBC’s ‘Panorama

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ALAN JAY

Educated at Westminster School and University College Oxford, Alan graduated in Engineering Science. During this time he produced and released the feature film ‘Mouche’.

After University he spent two years studying accountancy before entering publishing, computing and the early Internet.  

In 1994 he founded the Internet Movie Database (www.IMDb.com) and took it from a text-based database to a commercial Internet enterprise and top 50 internet site. He sold the company to Amazon.com in May 1998.

Since 2000 Alan has worked with Stuart Urban to develop a number of film projects, including ‘Revelation’, before joining him at Cyclops Vision Ltd and executive producing ‘Tovarisch’, ‘I am Not Dead’ and ‘My Unbeatable Uncle’.

In 2001 Alan set up Digital Spy Limited (www.digitalspy.co.uk), now the largest independent Entertainment news site in the UK and also runs one of the world’s largest forum based communities.  Digital Spy reaches over 4 million unique visitors in the UK. Alan sold Digital Spy to Hachette in 2008.

At present Alan is the Director of the Sport Mole and on the board of a number of internet startups along with his film work.

ROSA RUSSO

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ROSA RUSSO is an award winning producer. She started her career as First AD and Casting Director working with Giuseppe Gaudino, Vittorio De Seta, Giuseppe Rocca and many others.

In 2005 she moved to London where she has been working with Cyclops Vision as Head of Production and is a shareholder of Webra Multimedia.

Her credits as producer include the feature films, "La Vita degli Altri" (Audience Award at the York Film Festival),  “Capo Nord” (Spirit Award, Brooklyn IFF’  Silver Star, 36° Houston World Festival – Silver Palm at Valencia), "Non Con Un Bang" (Venice Film Festival), "Borges and I” by Emily Harris and Yoni Bentovim" (Best NoBudget feature Film LIFF – Best Fiction Film ITVZOn 2011), "May I Kill U?"

She has also produced many documentaries: "Dust", "A Love Story in 4 and ½ Chapters", the RAI documentary series "The Underground of Rome" and "European Capitals", "My Unbeatable Uncle", "Bulaq", "Merqana".

Her directorial debut documentary "Everyday But Sunday" won the Unicef Award at the OETI 2010 and toured the main European festivals. She has received the devolopment funding from Media programme for her latest project, the feature documentary "ONEGIRL".