Biography
Paul is an Associate Professor in Film and Head of Screen & Performing Arts at Screen Academy Scotland and Edinburgh Napier University. He has over 20 years’ experience in the creative arts and higher education.
Paul studied photography at Edinburgh College of Art (BA, 1992), followed by an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, London (1996), and later an MFA in Advanced Film Practice at Screen Academy Scotland (2006).
His research and film practice explore the intersection between fiction and non-fiction storytelling, the role of introspective re-enactment in narrative film, and the significance of anonymity in story-telling, when collaborating with vulnerable individuals and communities.
From 2012 to 2022, Paul was Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Film programme, where he led curriculum development focused on enhancing employability, industry engagement, and specialist role-specific training. During this time, the programme rose from 37th to 1st place in the UK for Film Production & Photography (The Guardian University Guide 2021).
As a filmmaker, Paul writes, directs, and produces both fiction and documentary works. His short documentaries Half Way Home and Skiens premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (2008) and were both nominated for Best Scottish Documentary. Half Way Home also screened internationally and was broadcast on SBS Australia. His short drama Tree of Tule (2012) was nominated for Best British Short at EIFF.
Paul’s debut feature film And Violet (2017) won Best Dramatic Feature and a Special Jury Award for Best Performance at the Arizona International Film Festival.
His 2019 film On the Outside, co-written in collaboration with four incarcerated women at HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Polmont, won Best International Film at the Alexandria Film Festival (Virginia) and was shortlisted for both the Times Higher Education and Herald Higher Education Awards.
In 2023, Paul participated in the Apichatpong Weerasethakul Creative Lab in Mexico, where he made Leonel & Lesli under the mentorship of the acclaimed filmmaker.
His current project, Skerry and May, is a short film exploring the intersection of memory, identity, and emerging AI technologies. The work reflects his ongoing interest in how technologies reshape not only the form of storytelling but also its emotional and ethical scope.