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Sophie Black is a Midlands-based director and BAFTA-longlisted filmmaker whose work is notable for its magical-realist themes and strong use of production design. Her credits include 'A Different Place' (funded by BFI NETWORK, with festival selections including VIFF, BFI Flare, Norwich Film Festival, Flatpack Film Festival and many others), 'Night Owls' (which premiered at LSFF), and 'Lacuna' (commissioned by NFTS and Amazon Prime Video as part of their Directors Workshop).

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Sophie Black (born Sophie Elizabeth Briggs) was raised in the small Derbyshire town of Belper. She briefly moved to Surrey, where she studied at the University of Creative Arts in Farnham. She graduated with a BA (hons) in Film Production in 2010, specialising in Production Design.

After graduation, Sophie worked in the art department of numerous shorts and commercials, as well as the post-apocalyptic horror feature film 'Wasteland' (2013) by Light Films. Her production and costume design work gave her a keen eye for colours and shapes on film, as well as gaining her a strong reputation in the East Midlands film production industry.

Sophie then founded her own production company Triskelle Pictures Ltd., and produced four short films, including Neil Oseman's time-travel drama 'Stop/Eject', starring Georgina Sherrington (from ITV's The Worst Witch). Stop/Eject premiered at Raindance in 2014, before making it onto the long list for 'Best British Short Film' at the BAFTAs in 2015. She later produced 'Good Grief', featuring 'This Is England' star Vicky McClure, which premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in 2023.

Finally realising her ambitions as a director, Sophie went on to create multiple directorial shorts, frequently co-writing with the award-winning screenwriter Tommy Draper. One such work was 'Night Owls' (written as a pilot for their feature film, 'Night Owls & Early Birds') starring Emmerdale's Jonny McPherson. 'Night Owls' premiered at London Short Film Festival in 2016 before going on to win 17 awards during its festival run.

In 2017, working again with Tommy Draper, Sophie completed the fantasy musical short film 'Songbird', starring The X Factor's Janet Devlin, which was shortlisted for Creative England iShorts funding. 'Songbird' had a strong online following throughout all of its production, and the film raised over £16,000 in crowdfunding as a result of this interest. Songbird also won numerous awards across its festival run.

In 2022, Sophie directed 'A Different Place', which was funded by BFI NETWORK and The National Lottery. 'A Different Place' screened at multiple festivals around the world, including Vancouver International Film Festival, BFI Flare, Norwich Film Festival, Flatpack Film Festival and KASHISH Mumbai, as well as enjoying a limited cinema run in 2025.

She also directed the season 2 finale episode of the popular fantasy series 'Ren: The Girl With The Mark'. Her episode, entitled 'The Heretics Market' - featuring a large ensemble cast, multiple stunt sequences and VFX - was released online in Spring 2024.

Sophie's most recent film as a writer-director, 'Lacuna', was commissioned by the National Film and Television School and Amazon Prime Video as part of their Directors Workshop, through which Sophie also received weeks of intensive director training led by expert tutors at NFTS.

She was the Director's Shadow on both series 1 of 'Sanctuary: A Witches Tale' for AMC Studios & Sundance Now (working with director Justin Molotnikov) and series 2 of 'Boarders' for BBC & Studio Lambert (working with director Sarmad Masud).

Another notable credit for Sophie was the LGBT short film 'Hidden' (2018), which she wrote for director Jess O'Brien. 'Hidden' has screened at numerous film festivals across the world, including the Oscar-qualifying Seattle International Short Film Festival.

Among her accolades, Sophie won the MMBF Rising Star Award in 2017 (she was selected because of her work on 'Night Owls'), and she was accepted into the BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew scheme in both 2018 and 2019. She later became a member of Directors UK, Cinesisters, and BAFTA Connect.

In her rare spare time, Sophie has pursued her keen interest in writing by contributing guest articles to the BFI NETWORK newsletter, Gorilla Film Magazine, and Clothes on Film website, to name just three. One of her articles for Clothes on Film was even showcased by Entertainment Weekly on their website in 2013. She has been interviewed about her work on numerous occasions on BBC Radio Derby and East Midlands Today; through one such interview in 2013, she was heralded as "Belper's answer to Baz Luhrmann".

Awards

Sophie Black

IndieFEST Film Awards

Depth of Field International Film Festival Competition

Top Shorts Film Festival

Festigious International Film Festival

Los Angeles Film Awards

Out of The Can Film Festival

Beeston Film Festival

Olympus Film Festival

The Midlands Movies Awards

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