Martin Gooch

Martin Gooch is a British filmmaker,^[1] who directed and shot many comedy shorts. His first feature film Death which premiered at Sci-Fi-London 2012 in the UK and was a 2012 finalist for Hollywood's Feel Good Film Festival in the US. He was born on 6 September 1972 in St. Albans, England.

Career

After writing and directing several award-winning short films, including The Orgasm Raygun and Arthur's Amazing Things, both of which featured the British actor Leslie Phillips as the narrator, Gooch also directed Hollyoaks for Channel 4 and Doctors for BBC1,^[2] One of his episodes won the Best Onscreen Chemistry award (2007) ITV Soap Awards. Martin went on to Direct Hollyoaks, which won Best Soap at the ITV soap Awards during his tenure, and then went on to Direct the BAFTA-winning and EMMY-nominated Spooks Interactive.

His debut feature film Death (2012),^[3] which won Best Director,^[4] features Linal Haft, Emily Booth, Leslie Phillips, Nick Moran, David Wayman, Sarah Jayne Dunn, Ben Shockley and Brooke Burfitt and features music from Roger Taylor of Queen and Paul Humphreys of OMD. His second feature film The Search for Simon premièred at the BFI Sci-Fi London film festival 2013, and went on to win several awards including Best Film at the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival. It stars Carol Cleveland, Sophie Aldred, Chase Masterson, Simon Jones as well as Noeleen Comiskey and Millie Reeves with Gooch in the lead role. The Gatehouse, his third indie picked up distribution from Lionsgate and won Best Film at the London Independent Film Festival 2016. In 2017, 25 years after his first visit to Modoc County, California in 1992, working for the US Forest Service, at the age of 19. Martin returned to Modoc, to shoot his fourth feature film “Atomic Apocalypse” (Aka Black Flowers). Which was filmed on location in Montana and North California. It had its world premiere at Sitges International Film Festival in 2018 and won Best Sci-Fi Director at World Fest-Houston, and went on to win numerous other awards and nominations. In 2018 Martin was a winner with the Trinity Challenge backed by ARRI Media and Directors UK and wrote and directed the one-shot short film “A Midwinter Night's Dream” starring Michael McKell, filmed all in one shot using the ARRI Trinity Stabilisation system won best Fantasy film at the London Independent Film Festival. Other notable names he has directed include William Mark McCullough, Paul Freeman, Kevin McNally, Linsey Dawn McKenzie and Emily Booth. He is a two time BBC New Director award winner, with short films screened all over the world including Cannes, Edinburgh, London and also on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Gooch's short films include Don't Even Think It! (written by Jasper Fforde and starring Pippa Hinchley, Miranda Hart and Edward Rawle Hicks) and The Gravity of Belief (starring Alexandria Beck and Paul Ready), which was nominated for best film at the 5th London Short film Festival, Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival. Gooch has a Master's degree in screenwriting from The University of the Arts London, and is working on a TV series based on the legendary Fighting Fantasy gamebook series with original creator Ian Livingstone. Gooch currently lives in London, England

Works

• The Remarkable Mr. Root (1995)
• The Orgasm Raygun (1998)
• Arthur's Amazing Thing (2002)
• Eddie's Sticky End (2003)
• Don't Even Think It! (2006)
• The Gravity of Belief (2008)
• After Death (2012)
• The Search for Simon (2013)
• The Gatehouse (2015)
• Atomic Apocalypse (2019)
• A Midwinter Night's Dream (2018)
• The Dragon Detective (2025)
• Argh and the Quest for the Golden Dragon Skull (2024)
• A Night of a Thousand Vampires (2022)
• Darkheart Manor (2022)

References

1. "Make the most of your passion for movies – Love what you do: film". The Guardian. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
2. . Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Death The Movie", Death, 25 November 2012, retrieved 25 November 2012
4. "Bram Stoker Horror Film Festival in Whitby UK". Bram Stoker Festival. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.

External links

• Martin Gooch at IMDb
• www.martingooch.com