Biography

Jonathan made his first film in 1980 aged 14. An ambitious 8mm / 16mm stop-motion remake of The Battle of Hoth based on the snow battle of The Empire Strikes Back. Requiring 3 classrooms, several tons of bicarbonate of soda, with help from classmates, teachers and the headmaster to bring it all together. It was this that ignited his passion for special effects, story telling and film making, and figuring out how to rally support to overcome barriers and achieve the impossible. But it was his family's wish that Jonathan continue his education with engineering and computer science, ultimately leading to a 30 year career in technology across Europe, Asia and USA. However, his passion for storytelling and film making never died and he's made more than 6 short films in UK, Rome, The Netherlands and Belgium between 1996 and 2024, unwhittingly earning him his first festival award in '97.

In 2018, Jonathan decided it was time to return to his passion, full time. Initially founding Shouting Sound & Motion Productions in Soho, London, and then co-founding Chichester FilmMakers in 2023. He has since made a number of presentation shorts, and in 2024 led the making of the multi-award winning short film, The Barn (2024) which attracted support from the local community, Paramount Pictures UK, and the BAFTA / Oscar winning Kate Winslet. He has since gone on to work closely with the local community to develop and make more short films and embark on a series of feature films slated for 2025 - 2028 with Chichester Filmmakers C.I.C - a non-profit group of professional industry film crew and award winning production staff, supporting local talent and skills development and creating community led film productions (from script development, through production, to post-production and distribution), supported by a number of well known organisations and charities, such as the Mission Impossible editorial team, WildIndie Films, Chichester International Film Festival, and the truly talented and award-winning Kate Winslet.

Known for his passion for adventure / thriller / action genres, Jonathan has a knack for weaving intricate stories and plots in to his films, often leading the audience on wild and mysterious adventures.

Jonathan is a multi-award winner of Best Director for The Barn in 2024, with additional team wins for Best Indie Short Film, Best Narrative, Best Producer, Best Production, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, 1st place winners medal for Best Audience award, Best Costume, Best Art Director, and Best Actor.

Although a passionate admirer and follower of the early days of many of the sci-fi / fantasy styled films of the late 1970's and 1980's, such as Superman, E.T, Star Wars and Jason and the Argonauts, his film making passion was first sparked when he saw George Lucas' 2nd Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. From then on, he was hooked. The never-done-before special effects grabbed his imagination and he began his journey in to film making, albeit more as a hobby until 2016, when he left behind his 30 year engineering and tech career behind him and turned to film and scoring full-time.

When not producing or directing film productions, Jonathan is often found collaborating with the team at Chichester Filmmakers and Old Chapel Productions to develop new productions and funding opportunities to make films and develop film making opportunities within the local community.

He has worked with and supported a plethora of film projects, musicians and composers worldwide over the years, and supported a number of award winning productions including various theatrical fringe productions in London and Rome, occassionally working with the legendary Anthony Minghella.

For more about how Jonathan got started in film, please check out the Trivia section.

- IMDb mini biography by: Jonathan Brooker