Nick Higgins

Executive ProducerDirectorProducer

Nick Higgins is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, academic and curator. He is the founder and programme leader of the Masters Filmmaking degree at the University of the West of Scotland where he is the Director of the Creative Media Academy and Professor in Screen Practice. His most recent documentary production, Colours of the Alphabet was translated into 30 languages and digitally released across Africa on the Afridocs platform. Previous productions include the BAFTA Scotland nominated mass participation documentary, We Are Northern Lights and the multi-director, The New Ten Commandments with contributions from Tilda Swinton, Marc Cousins and Irvine Welsh. His films have been broadcast on the BBC, STV, Al Jazeera, SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), ZDF (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), VPRO (the Netherlands) and have picked up awards at film festivals internationally. Over the last couple of years Nick has also produced several interactive documentaries on the uws.io web platform and in 2017 he directed and produced his first 360 virtual reality documentary. Since then Nick has co-curated the Virtual Reality programme at the Glasgow Short Film Festival (2017 & 2019) and was the executive producer on the KristallPalast interactive VR experience produced with the award-winning ISO digital design studio. Prior to joining UWS, Professor Higgins was a senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh where founded the Trans-disciplinary Documentary Film Phd programme and the MA in Media, Culture and Practice. He is a regular contributor to BAFTA Scotland and Royal Television Society film and television juries and has previously been a member of the documentary jury at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He sits on the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities executive and the Independent Producers Scotland board.

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Birthday

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Also Known As (male)

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actor

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producer

19 Works

director

23 Works

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other

2 Works

The Organist

At his father’s funeral, a young man wrestles with his impulses with the arrival of a last minute replacement organist.

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Dealing With My Mother

All Patsy Miller has ever wanted is the quiet life - but from a turbulent childhood to getting squandered out of her rights by governments and the rich elite, she has been hindered at every point.

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2024

I Called Her Lexi

The exploration of a long distance relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic using an assemblage of archival footage.

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2024

Aisles

Two employees at a library navigate through a mundane shift until one of them begins to act out.

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2024

And So It Was

Having recently faced the loss of her sister, Norah MacRae - the longest serving Post Office worker in Scottish history - begins to reflect on what’s to come in her remaining years from the wee shop attached to her house.

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2023

Salesmen

A young struggling, directionless salesman stumbles across a new-fangled religious movement while desperately trying to make a sale.

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2023

Straight Girl

"Straight Girl" paints a colourful, three-dimensional portrait of Leeds-based electronic musician Remy Enceladus, also known as Straight Girl. Through the close relationship that develops between Remy and the camera, the line between home life and stage persona blur; forming an intimate exploration of identity, feminism, mental health, sexuality and gender - ultimately amalgamating into a visually explosive finale of acceptance, freedom and expression.

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2023

InsoMania

A young woman who struggles to sleep, decides to go outside in a desperate attempt to tire herself out. While losing track of the border between dream and reality.

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2022

Fight the Tower

A dark comedy short film. As the days and nights in lockdown start to merge, Gerry’s paranoia increases as a 5g tower is due to be switched on in his local area. Spurred on by his fellow conspiracy theorist friend Rosie, Gerry must overcome his agoraphobia and take down the tower.

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2021

Veronique

Veronique is a social realist drama picturing a day in the life of a teenage girl and her mentally ill mother. How does the mother’s borderline personality disorder affect their relationship and how does it feel for a teenage girl to be the person in charge?

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2021

My Sunshine

When three siblings are reunited at their mother's vigil, Judy confronts her brothers' expectations.

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2021

House of Light

House of Light is an intimate portrait of one family’s daily life when forced to remain together in their apartment in Dhaka, Bangladesh during the Covid-19 health crisis. Filmed by the director on his mobile phone during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the documentary transcends the quotidian and illuminates the every day with moments of aesthetic simplicity and ultimately, the spiritual sublime.

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2020

UFO

After years of estrangement, two brothers encounter their father living in a mysterious Scottish community.

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2020

Look Up

A superstitious widow looks at the stars every night in the hope of understanding her late husband's last words to her. Meanwhile a homeless man discovers some interesting items discarded in a bin.

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2019

Mister Swolo

Facing a problematic creative block, Harrison embarks on a journey to Glen Coe with his best friend in order to reignite his artistic imagination.

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2019

Colours of the Alphabet

It is estimated that 40% of the world’s population lack the opportunity to be educated in their own language. In Colours of the Alphabet we get an insight into the challenges this poses as we follow a group of first graders in Zambia – a country with 72 local languages where education is primarily offered in English.

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2016

We Are Northern Lights

How do you capture the essence of Scotland in just one film? You invite people from all across the country to submit their unique visions in a mass participation project and combine them into a poignant, thrilling, moving, and often very funny impressionistic self portrait of contemporary Scotland.

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2013

The New Ten Commandments

The film was produced by Nick Higgins from Lansdowne Productions and Noémie Mendelle from the Scottish Documentary Institute and has 10 film-chapter directors for each of the 10 chapters of the film. The film's unifying theme is human rights in Scotland with each chapter illustrating one of the "New Ten Commandments" - 10 articles chosen from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 10 film chapters of The New Ten Commandments 1. The Right to Freedom of Assembly - Dir, David Graham Scott 2. The Right not to be enslaved - Dir, Nick Higgins 3. The Right to a fair trial - Dir, Sana Bilgrami 4. The Right to freedom of expression - Dir, Doug Aubrey 5. The Right to life - Dir, Kenny Glenaan 6. The Right to liberty - Dir, Irvine Welsh & Mark Cousins 7. The Right not to be tortured - Dir, Douglas Gordon 8. The Right to asylum - Dir, Anna Jones 9. The Right to privacy - Dir, Alice Nelson 10. The Right to freedom of thought - Dir, Mark Cousins & Tilda Swinton.

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2008

No A Basher

A documentary following retiree Frank Dorrans, and his love for the Scottish hills, which he can no longer climb.

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