Introduction

Soho is littered with wannabe filmmakers and dreamers swinging cameras. It is difficult to escape the office for lunch without tripping over another film crew using London as a canvas. Barely a coffee goes by without another gaggle of would-be auteur aiming lenses at faces and demanding a sound bite or profound utterance. But good for them! We've all started from a similar place and without them trips through Soho would be more tedious journeys. The best of them graduate to a separate class of filmmaking and amongst the crop of exciting, relevant directors stands Dominic Wade, a multifaceted Englishman with an off-kilter view of the world that is as compelling as it is defined. It would be cruel to label him as merely a documentarian, although for many that is what he does. It would not be right to paint him simply as a disciple of Geoffrey Reggio, although that makes it more tangible. Actually, it would be wrong to label Dominic as anything other than the man behind the camera and Made by Wade, the company through which he produces his masterpieces. Filmmaking is what he does. Filmmaking is what he is.

Provenance

Born in Inverurie in the early seventies, Dominic grew up in auspicious company that threatened to overshadow him but has instead proved to be an interesting community. His father is Peter Ellis, a Hollywood director of teatime entertainment on both sides of the Atlantic who has clocked up hundreds of hours of television favourites including Bergerac, Highlander and Smallville. That's impressive enough, but Peter has a brother named Robin. Robin Ellis just happened to be one of television's biggest heartthrobs in the seventies with his eponymous role as Ross in BBC's Poldark before following it with a three decade long string of dramas and commercials. Oh, and they had another brother, Jack, who ruled ITV's Bad Girls as Jim Fenner until said girls erased him. And, just in case that isn't quite enough, Dominic has a cousin, Chris Shiflett. Chris plays guitar in a small American rock band you might have heard of. They call themselves the Foo Fighters! So, with pedigree like that, there is little doubt that Dominic Wade is an impact waiting to happen. What we've seen so far is mere foreplay before the multi-climax from Dominic although it hints at an immense body of work burning behind his eyes and waiting for its turn to stain the celluloid.

Professional Experience

Dominic Wade, the auteur responsible for Modern English and The East End was born in Inverurie, Scotland and resides in Stoke Newington, London. Wade funds his documentaries as an editor for Soho's Locomotion Digital Facilities. A veteran of industry top dogs TVP, Postbox and TWI, Wade is not content as writer, director, producer and editor of the afore mentioned films, but has honed his skills as a stills photographer, publicist and interviewer, counting Ocean Colour Scene's Damon Minchella amongst his subjects. His passion and skill with the camera has led to invitations to shoot concert footage for the private collections of The Foo Fighters and Jackson. Wade is also an accomplished club DJ and featured participant in ITV's docu-soap, Strictly Soho, a project for which he supplied footage including another experimental piece, A Slippery Trip Around Soho Square. Film remains his passion as patrons of Soho's Curzon cinema discovered in 2002 where his footage for Greenpeace's Stop Esso campaign was screened. Surpassing that honour, Wade's work has been screened at Cannes whilst Modern English has gained immortality with its inclusion in the national archives of the BFI and was screened during the Stella Artois Afterdark Tour. Five-time entrant in the Straight8 Super8 Festival and award nominee at Raindance 2002, Wade has garnered critical acclaim for his work to date.

Career Apex

So far I would say the best moment of my career was meeting Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and filming their gig at the Brixton Academy in late 2000. Quite strange to meet someone who spent a considerable amount of time with a band (Nirvana) that has had a major influence on the modern music scene. On a smaller note it was fun to spot Al Pacino having dinner in the Ivy one evening.

Professional Aims

I have a great passion about documentary film making. I love to have a good look at an area of life and see what it gives us. I enjoy meeting and interviewing people I have never met before and seeing what comes out of them on camera. I want to show people what goes on around them in the world that they live in. A good documentary can surprise people as well as educate in a non lecturing fashion. I feel I can get the best from people while working with them on a documentary project. I want to know what their life holds and why they are doing what they do.

I Like

I love music and no doubt spend way too much on records. Sky-scrapers have an appeal to me something about their simple shape. I used to race push bikes so anything to do with them will make me stop and look.

Film Taste

Koyaanisqatsi, 2001 and The Italian Job to name just a few.

Music Taste

The Aphex Twin, Miles Davis and quite a lot of classical.

Book Taste

I am not a big reader but some books that I have enjoyed include England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, all of the Tintin books and Animal Farm by George Orwell.