Toby Kearton
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toby Kearton is a British award winning director. He is best known for the independent short film Dissonance (2018) as well as the short films The Little Picture (2018) and The Dust Child (2018). He has recently announced his involvement in his feature film directorial debut.
Born in Harlow, Essex, UK on June 20th 1997 as a young child, Toby had an infinite number of titles available to him. After realising filmmaking and storytelling was his passion, he began to make stop motion animation films at the age of 8, borrowing his father's digital camera and became a member of the British Film Institute in 2012. In 2014 Toby was employed as an assistant on the film Tulip Fever (2017), ultimately starting his film career at the age of 17.
After finishing school at the age of 18 and having completed A-levels in Modern History, Archaeology, Politics and Film, Toby attended film school in Burbank, California. Toby graduated from The New York Film Academy in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In his 3 years at film school perfecting his craft, Toby completed many short films which have been screened at various film festivals across the world.
Toby is best known for the independent short film Dissonance (2018) which premiered at the Court Métrage at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. He is also known for his unique take on historical dramas in the short form with The Dust Child (2018) and The Little Picture (2018) which have won over 20 awards collectively, including Best Director at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the latter holding over 800k views on YouTube.
Toby has displayed his versatility as a filmmaker, having written and directed character centric stories with meaningful themes and topics, with the veteran mental health PSA, Hidden Wounds (2022), the short films Pricks (2023) adapted from the successful play of the same name, exploring what it means to live with Type 1 Diabetes and the WWI drama Kamerad (2024), focusing on morality during the fog of war. He has recently completed the documentary short Dick Dangerfield: Defending Drama, addressing the lack of funds in the creative arts and and the pilot episode of the proposed TV series Livin' with the Devil (2024) currently in post-production.
Toby is being mentored by Azhur Saleem as part of the Directors UK Inspire Mentorship Scheme.
With his award-winning shorts selected at both BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals, Toby is currently developing his feature film directorial debut: Sweet Nothings (2025) set to begin principle photography in 2025.
Born in Harlow, Essex, UK on June 20th 1997 as a young child, Toby had an infinite number of titles available to him. After realising filmmaking and storytelling was his passion, he began to make stop motion animation films at the age of 8, borrowing his father's digital camera and became a member of the British Film Institute in 2012. In 2014 Toby was employed as an assistant on the film Tulip Fever (2017), ultimately starting his film career at the age of 17.
After finishing school at the age of 18 and having completed A-levels in Modern History, Archaeology, Politics and Film, Toby attended film school in Burbank, California. Toby graduated from The New York Film Academy in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In his 3 years at film school perfecting his craft, Toby completed many short films which have been screened at various film festivals across the world.
Toby is best known for the independent short film Dissonance (2018) which premiered at the Court Métrage at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. He is also known for his unique take on historical dramas in the short form with The Dust Child (2018) and The Little Picture (2018) which have won over 20 awards collectively, including Best Director at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the latter holding over 800k views on YouTube.
Toby has displayed his versatility as a filmmaker, having written and directed character centric stories with meaningful themes and topics, with the veteran mental health PSA, Hidden Wounds (2022), the short films Pricks (2023) adapted from the successful play of the same name, exploring what it means to live with Type 1 Diabetes and the WWI drama Kamerad (2024), focusing on morality during the fog of war. He has recently completed the documentary short Dick Dangerfield: Defending Drama, addressing the lack of funds in the creative arts and and the pilot episode of the proposed TV series Livin' with the Devil (2024) currently in post-production.
Toby is being mentored by Azhur Saleem as part of the Directors UK Inspire Mentorship Scheme.
With his award-winning shorts selected at both BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals, Toby is currently developing his feature film directorial debut: Sweet Nothings (2025) set to begin principle photography in 2025.
