Biography

Born in Oxford in 1960, brought up in Birmingham, trained at Liverpool Art School and the Royal College of Art, Jonathan has worked as a filmmaker since leaving college in 1985. Having worked as a freelance director at several London animation companies, he jointly set up a production company called Sherbet with producer Jonathan Bairstow in 1996. The company became very successful and as a result he found it increasingly difficult to devote enough time to his personal work. In 2003 he left Sherbet as a partner and set up Hodgson Films. He lives in Kentish Town and when not making films or spending time with his family, he plays guitar in a band called Freak Flag.

Work

Most of his work is in the area of 2D animation although he often works with live-action. His films fall somewhere between documentary and experimental animation, as a rule they avoid conventional narrative, being largely based on observation and personal experience. His short films have won many international awards, including a BAFTA (2000) for Best Short Animation. He has directed dozens of television commercials and has created motion graphics for several television series. Recent productions include Forest Murmurs; a short film about Epping Forest funded by Film London’s LAFVA scheme and graphics for a documentary series about global warming for HBO. Sherbet continues to represent him as a commercials director. He also teaches from time to time, is a mentor for the Channel 4 MESH scheme and an external assessor for the Graphic Design department at Norwich School of Art.

For more information www.hodgsonfilms.com

Links

www.sherbet.co.uk
www.animateonline.org
www.filmlondon.org.uk