"Photographically James has something of the Martin Parr about him but as a documentarian he also has an enormous appetite and gift for exploring the human condition through the lens. The result in the Town Hall series helped create a very real tale of survival, politics and power” The Observer
James Newton is a award winning director who makes bold and distinctive films with captivating storytelling, emotion, humour, and pathos. With two BAFTA nominations in 2016 (Best Factual series and best Director - Factual), His BBC2 film, The Detectives was described as “Brilliant”, By The Independent, “Essential viewing” By The Guardian, In 2019 James won his first BAFTA for his BBC2 film Gun No6 and in 2021 won a BAFTA, EMMY and Royal Television Society Award with the Netflix’s series The Surgeon’s cut. This year he won a BAFTA Craft award for best factual Director and was nominated for Best Single Documentary BAFTA for his film Grenfell: The Untold Story
His talent and passion for documentary cinematography was first recognised with a Kodak commercials award in 2006 and after winning a David Lean Scholarship, James graduated from the National Film and Television School in 2007 with an MA in documentary.