John Walsh (filmmaker)

John Walsh
Walsh at BAFTA Film Awards
Born	London, England
Nationality	British, Irish
Education	London Film School
Occupation	Film Director Screenwriter Film Producer
Notable work	Monarch ToryBoy The Movie Headhunting The Homeless
Website	www.walshbros.co.uk

Film Maker John Walsh was born in London and is founder of film company Walsh Bros Ltd. His film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice have brought him many awards including two BAFTA nominations. His company Walsh Bros Ltd. was ranked in the Production 100, a ranking of the top 100 independent film companies in the UK, by Televisual in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

A film maker from a young age, John had his first super-8 camera by the age of ten. At the age of 18 he was the youngest student accepted to the London Film School in 1989 where his documentary work got him was noticed with his film on stop-motion animation filmmaker Ray Harryhausen. Today John Walsh is a Trustee of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

In 2010 John Walsh stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the 2010 General Election and made the gonzo-style documentary feature film Tory Boy The Movie which was released in cinemas in 2011 and 2012. The film follows Walsh as he becomes a Conservative candidate after a lifetime of voting Labour. In the film, he claims that Sir Stuart Bell, the Labour Party's MP in Middlesbrough, is absent so often from Middlesbrough that he is an unsuitable candidate. According to Richard Moss, a BBC film critic, "some silliness aside, it is a thought-provoking insight into the way our political system works or doesn't work on the ground." It was subsequently nominated for the Grieson Documentary award for "Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme". The film received a re-release in cinemas in 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 UK General Election. It was controversially banned in Middlesbrough where the film was set.

In 2014 John Walsh's remastered version of the film Monarch was released. The original negative for the film had been lost and was the subject of various newspaper reports. The film starred late Irish stage and screen actor T. P. McKenna and Jean Marsh. This subsequently led to cinema showing starting at the Tricycle Cinema in London. He discussed the issues around finding the lost negatives for Monarch and other lost projects with BBC Radio 2 Janice Long