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Layke Anderson is a multi-award-winning European filmmaker based in London, having previously lived, studied and worked in the US, Barcelona, Paris, and (as an apprentice gaucho rider) in Buenos Aires.

Dylan’s Room, Anderson's debut as a writer and director, stars BAFTA winner Joanna Scanlan (After Love) and screened at dozens of international film festivals, including the Oscar®-qualifying Raindance Film Festival and Palm Springs International ShortsFest. The film went on to win a succession of awards, including the Cambridge Film Festival (previous recipients include Andrea Arnold, Jim Jarmusch, Hayao Miyazaki) and Best Drama at the BAFTA qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival. The film made BAFTA's long-list, and was later nominated for a British Independent Film Award. 

Happy Thoughts (on the suicide of Peter Pan) and Shopping (philosophy in a Soho sex shop) followed shortly after, with both films picking up awards and securing distribution. The latter was included on the London Unplugged anthology, which received a theatrical release in Everyman cinemas and at the ICA.

 

Subsequent projects were Epilogue - a portrait of violence presented in a single unbroken take, and queer sci-fi drama Mankind - about a young man who yearns to leave the Earth, which premiered at BFI Flare, picked up awards in San Diego and Tel Aviv, and was released on DVD and BFI Player.

Having previously worked as an actor, Anderson's filmography includes work with Danny Boyle and the late Sir Richard Attenborough, with his most prominent role starring in the 2009 Luxembourg-set feature film H.O.B, opposite Udo Kier and Stephen Fry. Despite receiving favourable reviews from critics ("...worthy of an Oscar" - Artslink), he left acting behind to focus all attention behind the scenes, working as a session director for Gail Stevens and Dan Hubbard - casting for Guy Ritchie, Aisling Walsh and on many other film, TV and commercial projects. Francis Lee (God's Own Country) later recruited Anderson to be the crowd director on the Kate Winslet period drama, Ammonite.

 

In 2021, Anderson wrote and successfully crowdfunded the wholly independent feature film Sweet Brother - a philosophical, post-horror, neo-punk fairytale. The film received backing and support from John Cameron Mitchell, Stephen Fry, and Rose McGowan among others. Anderson directed, shot and produced the film, and is currently in post-production (a.k.a: hibernation), with an aim to release some time in 2024.

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