James Newton studied for a Fine Art Degree with a specialism in documentary photography but always felt that in a photograph you never really get a true impressio of the subject - that perhaps the moment you caught wasn't honest. This led hom to become interested in documentary, where he felt he could give a voice to the subject and thus enable the audience to draw their own conclusions. After graduating he went to live in Japan and curated several successful exhibitions of his photography. Upon his return to the Uk he embarked on a documentary about his family and gained a broader experience in filmmaking through working for Granada. This parallel experience led him to the documentary direction course at the NFTS, from where his graduation film HOMELESS ME went to win numerous awards and screen in wordwide festivals including Sheffield Doc/fest and Sapporo.

Since then James has won a development deal with BBC Factual, for a film about young boys in Premiere League football academies, as well as directing two series of 3 Minute Wonder for Cannel 4. Mot recently James has completed THE SPACE YOU LEAVE for the Scottish Documentary Institute's "Bridging The Gap" scheme and a short looking at the responsibility of documentary filmmakers ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL