After graduating from the National Film School in 1992, Julian Richards wrote and directed the first indigenous Welsh horror film Darklands, which won the 1997 Melies D’Argent for Best European Fantasy Film and sparked a revival in British horror cinema that continues to this day.
In 2002, he directed Frank Finlay, Kevin Whately, Douglas Henshall, and Emily Woof in conspiracy thriller Silent Cry, then used his fee to produce and direct the first British found footage feature The Last Horror Movie, which, although shot on mini DV for a micro-budget of £50k, was theatrically released in the US by Fangoria / Drafthouse and won several awards including Best UK Feature at Raindance and the Melies D’Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 2004.
In 2006, Richards directed coming-of-age thriller Summer Scars which won two BAFTA awards and received a UK theatrical release through the ICA.
In 2011, he directed his first Hollywood feature Shiver, a crime thriller starring Danielle Harris, John Jarratt, and Casper Van Dein. His international career continued to flourish when, in 2018, he took the helm on psychological horror Daddy’s Girl starring Jemma Dallender and Costas Mandylor, and paranormal horror Reborn starring Barbara Crampton, Michael Pare, Rae Dawn Chong, and Peter Bogdanovich. In 2019, Richards joined Ruggero Deodato, Milan Todorovic, and Lazar Bodrova in directing the Christmas-themed horror anthology Deathcember.
Richards is also the founder and CEO of world sales agency Jinga Films, which has a slate of over 180 genre titles including Mute Witness, Big Bad Wolves, The Canal, Hellions and The Well.
As a director, he frequently collaborates with Serbian talent including Zoran Djordjevic (Cinematographer of Darklands), Zorana Piggott (producer of The Last Horror Movie), Zoran Popovic (Cinematographer of Shiver), Dimitrije Jokovic (cinematographer of Daddy’s Girl), Zoran Veljkovic (cinematographer of Deathcember).
As a sales agent, he has represented several Serbian genre films including A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, Incarnation by Filip Kovacevic, The Rift by Dejan Zecevic and Sword of Vengeance (a.k.a Volja sinovljeva) by Nemanja Ceranic.
