Stuart Urban (born 1959) is a British film and television director. He was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School, Kingston upon Thames and King's College School, Wimbledon.At the age of thirteen in 1972, he became the youngest director to have a film shown at the Cannes Film Festival with his short feature The Virus of War. The thirty-minute film was later shown on television in various countries.He later attended Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with a first class degree in Modern History. He began writing and directing full-time in the early 1980s, working on television drama series such as Bergerac for the BBC. In 1992, his one-off television film An Ungentlemanly Act, a dramatisation of the first thirty-six hours of the Falklands War starring Ian Richardson and Bob Peck, was widely acclaimed. The production won the British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama in 1993.The same year, Urban set up his own independent production company, Cyclops Vision, which has produced the majority of his work ever since. He was also one of the directors of the acclaimed and award-winning 1996 BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North, although he left the production early after disagreements with writer Peter Flannery, and one of his episodes was entirely re-shot by another director, though not before being entirely re-written by Peter Flannery — a fact generally withheld from public knowledge at the time.Urban went on to write, produce and direct the feature films Preaching to the Perverted (1997) and Revelation (2001), both produced by Cyclops Vision and released around the world. His documentary film work includes the first polemical film against Western interventions, Against the War (BBC, Cyclops Vision; 1999) co-written with Harold Pinter, who also presented.In 2006 Urban completed Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead, his long-gestating full length theatrical documentary about his father Garri, an escaper from both the Gulag and the Holocaust. It was released in UK cinemas in 2008 to critical approval, earning a number of nominations and awards, including a nomination at the British Independent Film Awards and Grierson Awards.In 2011 Urban wrote, produced and directed May I Kill U? a new black comedy feature film starring Kevin Bishop, Frances Barber and Rosemary Leach. The plot follows a cycling vigilante who starts a lethal campaign in the London riots in 2011: "a psychopath on the cycle path". The film was released in 2013 in UK, Russia, and other territories, winning the European Competition at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, earning the Melies D'Argent (Silver Melies)and a nomination as one of the best European genre films of the year contending for the Melies D'Or.
British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial, British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama
Star Sign
Virgo
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Fact
1
As well as an uncredited role as an Argentinian commando in An Ungentlemanly Act, which he wrote and directed, Stuart Urban played a penguin part visible through grass at night, when real penguins on the Falkland Islands location refused to co-operate!
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Re-Immerse in the Perverse
2013
Documentary short
May I Kill U?
2012
Every Occupation Needs a Party
2010
Short
My Unbeatable Uncle
2010
Documentary
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead
2007
Documentary
Panorama
2005
TV Series documentary 1 episode
Revelation
2001
Against the War
1999
TV Movie documentary
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
Our Friends in the North
1996
TV Mini-Series 3 episodes
An Ungentlemanly Act
1992
TV Movie
The Good Guys
1992
TV Series 3 episodes
The Bill
1990-1991
TV Series 4 episodes
Gentlemen and Players
1989
TV Series 3 episodes
Bergerac
1989
TV Series 1 episode
The Living Body
1984
TV Series documentary documentary director
BBC2 Playhouse
1982
TV Series 1 episode
The Virus of War
1973
Short
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Secret
2016
TV Mini-Series 4 episodes
Re-Immerse in the Perverse
2013
Documentary short
May I Kill U?
2012
Every Occupation Needs a Party
2010
Short written by
My Unbeatable Uncle
2010
Documentary
Revelation
2001
written by
Command Approved
2000
Against the War
1999
TV Movie documentary
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
written by
Screen Two
1996
TV Series 1 episode
An Ungentlemanly Act
1992
TV Movie screenplay
The Virus of War
1973
Short writer
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Back to Berlin
2016
Documentary executive producer post-production
The Secret
2016
TV Mini-Series executive producer - 4 episodes
Re-Immerse in the Perverse
2013
Documentary short producer
May I Kill U?
2012
producer
My Unbeatable Uncle
2010
Documentary producer
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead
2007
Documentary producer
Revelation
2001
producer
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
producer
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
An Ungentlemanly Act
1992
TV Movie
Argentinian 'Snatch Squad' radio operator (uncredited)
The Virus of War
1973
Short
MI6 Agent
Editorial Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Caligula
1979
assistant editor
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Every Occupation Needs a Party
2010
Short lyrics
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
The End of William
2014
Short special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Re-Immerse in the Perverse
2013
Documentary short
Himself
My Unbeatable Uncle
2010
Documentary
Himself
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead
2007
Documentary
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2013
Silver Méliès
Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film (BIFFF)
May I Kill U? (2012)
2008
Audience Award
International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra Punto de Vista
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead (2007)
2008
Silver Medal
New York Festivals
Biography
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead (2007)
2008
Silver Medal
New York Festivals
Biography, Film & Video
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead (2007)
2007
Award of Excellence
Accolade Competition
Viewer Impact: Motivational/Inspirational
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead (2007)
2007
Honorable Mention
Accolade Competition
Feature Documentary
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead (2007)
1997
Silver Nymph
Monte-Carlo TV Festival
Television Films - Best Script
Deadly Voyage (1996)
1997
Certificate of Merit
San Francisco International Film Festival
Television - Drama-Miniseries
Our Friends in the North (1996)
1997
BAFTA TV Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Drama Serial
Our Friends in the North (1996)
1993
BAFTA TV Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Single Drama
An Ungentlemanly Act (1992)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2008
Punto de Vista Grand Prize
International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra Punto de Vista