Biography: Stephen Evans was born and raised in a small market town, Wrexham, situated in North Wales, UK. After learning his trade through attending numerous workshops with people such as `Stephen Frears (qv) (Dangerous Liaisons), `Ken Russell (The Devils), `Timothy Burrell (qv) (The Pianist) and `Michael Cowan of The Spice Factory, Stephen got his first job in the film industry near the top working as Do ... show all Stephen Evans was born and raised in a small market town, Wrexham, situated in North Wales, UK. After learning his trade through attending numerous workshops with people such as `Stephen Frears (qv) (Dangerous Liaisons), `Ken Russell (The Devils), `Timothy Burrell (qv) (The Pianist) and `Michael Cowan of The Spice Factory, Stephen got his first job in the film industry near the top working as DoP on the feature film `Seeing is Believing' in late 2001. From then he went on to work on Short Films, Music Videos, Television Programmes and a variety of Corporate projects in a similar capacity. However, Stephens's own desire to create his ideas into films grew so much he decided to create his own production company in 2002 called Nikjaw Productions Ltd. His first decision was to direct, produce and even edit a short film he'd written earlier that year called 'The Invisible World'. Although technically it wasn't the greatest film ever made, the moving and sometimes harrowing tale of social attitudes towards the homeless gained Stephen many admirers, impressing TV executives from both Argentina and USA to screen the short. The company went forward and produced a wide variety of projects including a commercial which had a successful two month screening on the SKY network and a fitness video which sold out nationwide. However it was Stephens's love of short films that the company thrived on producing. The next two shorts 'Blink of an Eye' and 'Out of Reach' brought particular success and prestige to NikJaw Productions. In late 2002 'Blink of an Eye' was voted third out of over six hundred films from over forty countries at the renowned Foyle Film Festival and gained a special mention from the events organisers. Then in 2003, `Out of Reach' (a prequel to 'The Invisible World') was nominated for Best International Short at the Irish Film Festival and though it wasn't placed, as Director, Producer, Writer and Editor Stephen had great pleasure introducing the film to the enthusiastic Irish crowd. Both films have since been screened at various festivals throughout the UK, gaining positive reactions from whoever watches. The success of the shorts brought attention from many corners of the industry and Stephen was eventually invited to become a member of BAFTA in early-2004 which he describes as "one of the proudest days of my life". To celebrate Stephen did what he does best and that was to write, direct and produce another short, this time a supernatural drama titled 'Fate'. This was the company's largest project to date and despite the film still being in post-production the vibes are good and yet more success at the various worldwide festivals is expected. Though Stephen still loves the short film genre he's always wanted to test himself on the big stage by producing his first feature film and in late-2003 he found the perfect script to do so. He was brought a script then titled 'An American Movie' by Adam Howes , who had starred in Stephen's cult short 'Pilchards & Pantyhose'. The dark, twisted thriller was exactly what Stephen was looking for. Together they developed the script into a clever yet sometimes disturbing film now titled 'One Step Closer'. Through the strength of the script alone an established and very talented crew committed themselves to the project including award winning director Ezna Sands (Rule 11), costume designer Kath Burchill (Sleepy Hollow), production manager David Anderson (The Deer Hunter) and executive producers Royd Tolkein and Justin Nicholls (Lord of the Rings). With 'One Step Closer' scheduled to film in early 2005, production of a documentary about Nuclear Power in late 2004 plus the low budget horror `Blood Lust' all on NikJaw Productions slate, the future looks bright for Stephen Evans, NikJaw Productions Ltd and everyone associated with this rising star. hide |
