From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jamie Thraves (born James Thraves, 1969) is a British film writer and director.
Thraves studied art at Hull University in 1989 and here he began making his early short films. His graduation film Scratch, made in 1991, went on to win numerous awards at short film festivals around the world. He made another award winning film under the BFI New Directors scheme, The Take-Out (1993). He then joined the Royal College Of Art, where he made another award winning film, The Hackney Downs (1994). After leaving the RCA he joined Oil Factory, a leading music video company. There he made his groundbreaking video for Radiohead for their song Just, where a man lies on the pavement and is confronted by an angry crowd. The video used subtitles as in a foreign movie and has perplexed and infuriated fans for years. Thraves made one more short film, his most successful to date - I Just Want To Kiss You (1997), starring Martin Freeman predating his role as Tim in Ricky Gervais's The Office, won the Fox Searchlight Award for Best Short Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1998.
Thraves made his first feature, The Low Down (2000), with Film 4. It starred Aidan Gillen, Kate Ashfield and Dean Lennox Kelly. The film was named among the "neglected masterpieces" of film history by The Observer in its rundown of 50 Lost Movie Classics.[citation needed] Thraves has continued to make music videos for such artists as The Verve, Blur and Coldplay. His video for Coldplay's The Scientist won three Moon Men at the 2003 VMA'S in the US, including Best Direction and Breakthrough Video.
His second feature, The Cry of The Owl (2009), with BBC Films starred Paddy Considine and Julia Stiles. It was based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith.
His third feature film, Treacle Jr. (2010), reunited him with Aidan Gillen. At the film's world premiere at the 21st Dinard British Film Festival it won the Hitchcock D'Or - Grand Jury Prize. Thraves reportedly remortgaged his house to make the film. Treacle Jr. had its UK Premiere at the 54th BFI London Film Festival. Time Out said of Treacle Jr.: "Funny, touching and gritty, this coolly rendered observation on need and rejection really is a Brit drama to shout about".
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