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Thomas Purdy

BA [Hons] Film + Television Production

Thomas is a producer from Belfast currently based in Dublin. Graduating from The National Film School as a production major, Thomas is experienced in producing short films, music videos, commercials and documentaries. As a producer, Thomas is keen to collaborate with creative new voices in film, helping to guide their project from development to a finished film of a high standard.

*How To Skin A Cheetah* (dir. Meghan O'Shaughnessy) is a dark, coming of age tale centred on Bobby, a girl with a dream of leaving her bedridden mother to hunt wild animals on the plains of Tanzania. Her tales, however, inspire a sinister side in her mollycoddled co-worker Lucas, who threatens Bobby's dream. Co-written/produced by Thomas, *How To Skin A Cheetah* is a daring graduate production boasting an ambitious art direction, exciting fantastical sequences, and a poignant, personal narrative that delves into the complex dynamics between mother and child.

*AMŒBA* (dir. Ian Fallon) is a queer, psychological horror about Levi, a young queer man whose reality crumbles as his unrequited feelings for an old crush eat away at him. Produced by Thomas, *AMŒBA* is a bold graduate production with a challenging storyline dealing with queer trauma through the genre of horror. With impressive performances and a distinctive, claustrophobic location, *AMŒBA* is not a film you can forget anytime soon.

*The Comet* (dir. Reuben Harvey) is an exciting short film co-produced and co-written by Thomas, which premiered at the Cork International Film Festival in 2022. Inspired by house party films such as *Project X* and claustrophobic thrillers like *Climax*, *The Comet* tells the story of Marco and his friends who have a party on the same night as the passing of a fabled Psychedelic Comet. The film boasts an original plot, high shock value and a distinctive score.

Thomas produced the music video for Men On A Mission (KOJAQUE REMIX) (dir. Conor Bradley). It won two Kinsale Shark Awards 2023 for 'Best New Director' and 'Best Editor'. It showcases an exciting, fast paced editing style with unique camera mount setups.

Winner of 'Best Spec Commercial' at the Emerging Director Awards 2023, Volleyball (dir. Ruairi Bradley/Jakob Lemme) is an exciting fashion campaign which Thomas produced in 2022. The commercial showcases a fast paced editing style shot on 16mm.

Thesis: Cinema Reflexivity in Federico Fellini’s ‘8½’

Thomas explores ‘cinema reflexivity’ and whether filmmakers paradoxically reach a greater truth by exposing the falsity of their work? He examines Federico Fellini’s ‘8½’ as a case study, one of the most well known and well regarded ‘films about filmmaking’. Reflexivity was an opportunity for Fellini as a director to examine his own creative process by creating an alter-ego, Guido Anselmi, a film director suffering from a creative block - Fellini recreating his own creative crisis onscreen. Fellini, a director hounded by critics for his departure from the neorealist movement was facing a crisis of confidence after his Palme d’Or win for ‘La Dolce Vita’ (1960).

Thomas examines in depth the filmic techniques which Fellini employed in order to expose the film’s artifice: The artificiality of the mise-en-scène, visual and aural cues, disruptive editing techniques and the casting of Fellini’s real crew for Guido’s crew. Critics have interpreted the film as a training session in positive self-deception.

The final chapter looks at the ending of the film and how it purposely contradicts the Hollywood ending with little to no resolutions being fulfilled; Fellini reflecting his belief that concrete conclusions are immoral, life is a constant, never-ending search for the answer which we should take pleasure in.

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