Calum Rhys

Born in 1993 in Cheltenham England and raised in the West Midlands Calum Rhys is a writerdirector who discovered his passion for filmmaking at a young age At just 11 years old Rhys began creating short films using his fathers camera marking the beginning of a lifelong journey in the world of cinema In 2010 he founded the production company Smashing UK Productions initially as a YouTube channel focused on video blogs and comedic sketches with friends during his time at school in Worcestershire As Rhys transitioned to university life in Yorkshire he continued honing his filmmaking skills by shooting short films with friends including his companys inaugural awardnominated project the psychological drama The Secret Eye where he learnt to employ guerrilla filmmaking techniques Rhyss breakthrough came with the awardwinning short war drama Our Father which premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival The film garnered 14 award nominations and 3 wins during its festival run Following this success he delved into the development of his next project Divided We Stand a World War I drama that became both a BAFTA and BIFA accredited film after its world premiere at the Izmir International Film Festival in Turkey Rhys has recently kickstarted development on his latest endeavour the firefighter drama Brigade