Julian Richards (born 31 July 1968) is a Welsh film director. He is associated with the Cool Cymru era of culture and arts in Wales. Biography Early life Julian Richards was born in Newport, South Wales, where his father owned DIY retail store Handiland. Inspired by his uncle Rex Richards Hollywood acting career, Julian decided to become a film director and produced several short films on super 8 mm including The Curse of Cormac, Gang War, Evil Inspirations and The Girl That Cried Wolf which was broadcast by the BBC in the "16 and Up Video Showcase". Education In Newport, Julian attended St Julian's Comprehensive School and Gwent College of Higher Education where he studied Art & Design Foundation. In 1985 he attended the film school at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art where he directed two Super 8 mm shorts "Time" and "Infanticide" and two 16 mm shorts Pirates and Queen Sacrifice. Pirates won The Starting Out Award at the Celtic Media Festival 1988 and Queen Sacrifice won the Thames Television Award for Best Fiction Film at the BP Expo–British Short Film Festival 1990 before being broadcast on Screenplay Firsts. In 1988, Richards attended the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, where he was invited to direct In with the Rent for BBC Wales and A Week in the Life a documentary about a cattle drover for S4C. In 1992, Richards graduated the NFTS with the 16 mm short Bad Company, broadcast on ITV Wales and selected to screen at AFI Fest in Los Angeles. Directing career In 1992, Richards moved to Los Angeles where he worked for Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment directing an EPK for Slaughter of the Innocents starring Scott Glenn and adapted Chris Westwood's novel Calling All Monsters for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment at Universal Studios. In 1994 he returned to the UK to direct A Mutter of Voices for BBC2 and twelve episodes of the Channel 4 soap Brookside, including the body under the patio episodes. In 1996, he wrote and directed his debut feature film Darklands, a brooding tale of underground paganism starring Jon Finch, Craig Fairbrass and Rowena King. A festival favourite winning several awards including the Melies D'Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 1997, Darklands was picked up for distribution by Pathé. The film forms part of the cultural era in Wales identified as Cool Cymru. Richards followed up with Silent Cry