Paul Blinkhorn

Paul is an award-winning filmmaker from Bolton. His film work has screened at festivals in France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the United States as well as at the Academy Award qualifying Tirana International Film Festival in Albania.

In 2020 his short comedy script 'The Man at the Bottom of the Garden' made the final 50 of the BBC Writersroom InterConnected competition out of almost 7,000 submissions. Paul has since directed the short (featuring Denise Black, Paul Bradley and Clare Calbraith), which was produced by Karen Newman of Hidden Door Production. The short recently saw Paul shortlisted as a director for the British Comedy Guide Talent Awards - judged by a panel including industry figures from Sky Studios and Hat Trick Productions.

His short HAND TO HAND COMBAT, made to raise awareness of domestic abuse and featuring a cast of 45 women screened at the BAFTA-Qualifying Bolton Film Festival in September 2021.

He is currently part of the FLEX programme with Screen Yorkshire and SIGN Talent Development and Set Access: A UK Film Talent Development Programme from Creative Access and Guy Ritchie, which supports under-represented talent in film.

In 2020 he was part of Creative England’s IDEATE programme, Open Horizons #2 with Northern Film + Media (funded by the Film and TV Charity) and Widening the Lens with Encounters Film Festival (funded by ScreenSkills). He holds an MA in Theatre Directing from East 15 (supported by an AHRC grant) and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors’ Lab, New York, Directors UK and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.

In Jan 2019 he was runner-up in THE PITCH with his short film project THE END; developed with film and television puppeteer Julia Frost (Netflix’s THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE). He’s hoping to go into production with the short in the next 12-months. 

His website is: https://www.paulblinkhorn.com/

His twitter handle is: https://twitter.com/pwblinkhorn