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Finlay Pretsell
UK FR 2026 87'
⚬ Arts & Culture
When boundary pushing artist Douglas Gordon opens his Berlin studio to filmmaker Finlay Pretsell, the question becomes: who's really directing whom - revealing the cost of artistic obsession.
Director | Finlay Pretsell |
Producers | Finlay Pretsell, Sonja Henrici |
Co-Producer | Estelle Robin You |
Executive Producer | Mark Thomas, Luke Moody |
Production Company | Parcel of Rogues Ltd., Sonja Henrici Creates Ltd., Grande Ourse Films |
Cinematography | Martin Radich |
Editor | Kieran Gosney |
Music | CJ Mirra |
Re-Recording Mixer | Alex Widmer |
Berlinale 2026 |
| Runtime | 87' |
| Spoken Languages | English |
| Production Countries | UK, France |
Finlay Pretsell is a BAFTA winning filmmaker driven by the authenticity and rawness of non-fiction cinema with an aim of immersing the viewer in an experience they wouldn’t normally have access to. He’s drawn to the human condition, fascinated by genuine characters who come out from behind the facade. He arrived at filmmaking by way of a plethora of uninteresting jobs along with an unrealistic ambition of travelling the world racing his bicycle. Never having formally studied film or anything else and after exhausting all other options, he discovered a fledgling Scottish Documentary Institute which was based at Edinburgh College of Art.
Finlay’s breakthrough as a filmmaker was in 2007 with Standing Start followed by Ma Bar, Cutting Loose and other award-winning shorts which he co-directed with his friend Adrian McDowall. His films have screened in hundreds of film festivals around the world including Sundance, IDFA, SXSW, CPH:DOX, Hotdocs, Sheffield Docfest, Visions du Réel etc.
He most recently directed and produced the award-winning theatrical film TIME TRIAL which takes the audience to the core of bike racing via disgraced Tour de France cyclist David Millar using pioneering sound and visual techniques. It screened globally in film festivals and cinemas and is on Amazon Prime. Sight and Sound called it: "An arresting piece of cinema", Total Film: "Immerses the viewer in the physical and mental sensations of racing." (Autlook Filmsales, Vertical Entertainment, Dogwoof).
His producing work includes the acclaimed feature NORFOLK by Martin Radich for BFI, Creative England and BBC Films along with the Academy shortlisted THE PERFECT FIT, STV commissions ALL ABOARD and ADVENTURES IN DEMENTIA. Most recently he produced A CAT CALLED DOM by Will Anderson & Ainslie Henderson which won the Powell and Pressburger Award for Best UK Feature award at Edinburgh International Film Festival and Eilidh Munro’s BAFTA Scotland winner A LONG WINTER.
