Tom Lawes

Tom Lawes (born 1 August 1971) is an English film director, music composer, and entrepreneur. He is best known for renovating the oldest working cinema in the UK Electric Cinema, Birmingham and the award-winning documentary The Last Projectionist.

Lawes was born in Birmingham, England. He went to Handsworth Grammar School Initially Lawes worked as a roadie for the rock band Gunfire Dance. Then, aged 19, Lawes starting making no-budget horror films shot on camcorder. In 1993, aged 22, he was hired by the BBC to compose the soundtrack to the BBC comedy drama, All Quiet On The Preston Front.

in 2004 Lawes bought and renovated the derelict Electric Cinema, Birmingham, the oldest working cinema in the country, needed a total refurbishment to restore it to its Art Deco prime which Lawes carefully undertook after extensive researchprior to re-opening for business again in 2004.

Lawes is also the musical director of The Electric Cinema Film Orchestra, the UK's first in-house film orchestra.

In 2009, the centenary year of the cinema, Lawes was congratulated in the House of Commons for his work in restoring the cinemaIn 2011 Lawes directed and produced the feature length documentary The Last Projectionist, a film charting the history of independent cinema in the UK. The film was named BBC Radio 5Live's Film of The Week by Mark Kermode. The film won awards, including 'Best Documentary' at the Cambridge Film Festival. In 2010 the British Film Institute selected The Last Projectionist to be included in its permanent archive collectionLawes has also directed a series of short documentaries Southside Stories which in 2012 won two Royal Television Society (Midlands) Award for Best Promotional Programme and Best Craft. Most recently he has written and directed the short film 3 Sides of the Coin.

• 1998 Festival of Fantastic Films, Best Independent Feature Film Demagogue
• 2005 O2/Arena Magazine UK Entrepreneur of the Year (Regional Winner and National Finalist)
• 2008 Creative Business Awards, Outstanding Business Development
• 2009 Birmingham Power 50
• 2011 ITN Distribution Film Festival New York, Best Documentary The Last Projectionist
• 2011 Take One Awards, Best Documentary The Last Projectionist
• 2012 Royal Television Society (Midlands), Best Production Craft Skills
• 2012 Royal Television Society (Midlands), Best Promotional Programme Southside Stories

• Southside Business Improvement District - Board Director
• Shock and Gore Film Festival - Chair
• BBC WM - Film Critic

In 2009 Lawes married Suzie Norton. The couple have a daughter and a son