Sean Ellis

Few directors proved their prowess behind the camera with so few movies under their belt as British director Sean Ellis, who received widespread critical acclaim with his first two features, "Cashback" and "Metro Manila." Born in 1970 in Brighton, England, Ellis was initially a fashion photographer but felt the commercial nature of magazine shoots was too creatively restricting. Ellis found a more fulfilling vocation as a film director and made the switch around the early 2000s. His first film, the short "Left Turn," was written and directed by himself. Ellis took the experience he learned with "Left Turn" to polish his next short film, "Cashback" (2004). Written, directed and produced by Ellis, "Cashback" told the story of a man capable of stopping time, and proved a hit with critics and film festivals, claiming the Best Narrative Short in the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival and a nomination for Best Short Film, Live Action at the 78th Academy Awards. Emboldened by the short film's success, Ellis expanded "Cashback" and turned it into his first feature length film in 2006. An avid world traveler, Ellis vacationed in the Philippines at the insistence of one his close friends. Awed at the rampant dissemination of firearms in the country, Ellis was inspired to make a film within the Philippines' urban jungle. The result was "Metro Manila" (2013), which told the story of an impoverished Filipino family of rice farmers unwittingly drawn into the corrupt, seedy underworld of the Philippines' capital. "Metro Manila" made its international debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema - Dramatic. The film received tons of buzz and accolades from several film festivals and was nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.