"I am not quite sure at what point I became a filmmaker. By the time I made my first film I already felt eminently qualified to do so. I've been watching films my whole life, I know what I like and I know what I don't like. I learned photography at the age of nine when my Dad bought me my first 35mm camera. As a songwriter and musician from the age of 15 I learned how to record and mix sound, how to express myself through my own work, how to deliver things on budget, and what it means to be an artist. Adding filmmaking to my professional Forte was not a great leap in the first instance. However over the years of my filmmaking it has become necessary to develop a philosophy of the art-form, so that I can both satisfy it and challenge it when necessary. The mainstream machinery is of no interest to me, and has never shown any interest in me anyway. Life is short and time and energy is finite, we simply don't have enough to fritter away on frivolous affectations and shallow and undignified things. The mainstream is merely cat food anyway. The cat will eat anything if it's hungry enough, it cannot be assumed that the food has any real quality at all just because the cat has eaten it. Neither do I wish to create ugly things. If you're going to take the trouble and the time and the expense to create something lasting I think there's an inherent duty to make it beautiful. Equally I do not allow the work to become bogged down in aesthetics. That comes anyway from one's own taste in composition. Cheap digital tricks and tacky Film School audience manipulation techniques have no place in my filmmaking. The passion is real and the job is to dig deep and release the feelings, and if the audience is with you then they will feel something too. I believe that everybody passionately yearns or strives for the poetry in their own existence, and that the quest for that inner poetry is the very essence of life. In order to distill our existence down to our purest and most poetic inner selves we must live and work as much as possible with love. Anything else is just reacting to what the world throws at us. That's not enough for me. The most efficient way to imbue things with love is to make them yourself. And the best and most satisfactory form of entertainment is not escapism, but is to love what you do and who you do it with, so that escapism is not necessary. Surround yourself with the best people and have a great time doing your thing. If the thing you're doing turns out good that's a bonus." - Jude Rawlins

THE SECRET LIFE OF WANDA HASTY (pre-production)
THREE WITCHES (pre-production)
ISOLATION (currently filming)
MANIA  (post-production)
DREAM TIME
LITTLE JOHNNY JEWEL
FAUST (incomplete)
SONGS OF ALCHEMY
ALBION RISING

Short Films

RED
THE DIVINE IMAGE
TEA WITH JUDEE SILL
NOTES ON A SUMMER'S DAY

Jude's films are currently produced exclusively by Bella Luna Productions, based in Marshalltown, Iowa. Bella Luna Productions owns and administrates the rights in all of the films it produces. Funding comes from my combination of private equity, venture capital and grants.

Visit www.bellalunaproductions.com 

The films are made on behalf of Bella Luna Productions by Electric Films, which is based in London, England. They are shot mostly in Iowa with Iowa-based cast and crew. The productions will recruit locally-based additional cast and crew whenever they film outside of Iowa.

Visit www.electricfilms.net