Charlotte Wells | |
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| Born | Charlotte Anna Wells (1987-06-13)13 June 1987 (age 38) Morningside,Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2014–present |
| Website | charlotte-wells |
Charlotte Wells (born 13 June 1987) is a Scottish director, writer, and producer. She is known for her feature film debutAftersun (2022),[1] which premiered in 2022 duringCritics' Week atCannes Film Festival, receiving 121 nominations and 33 awards, includingGotham andBritish Independent Film Awards.[2] Wells has worked on numerous other films, such asBlue Christmas (2017), and her films have screened at festivals worldwide.
Wells was born in Edinburgh. She attended secondary school at the independentGeorge Heriot's School.[3] Wells did not live with her father, who died when she was 16,[4] but remembers him as a very involved parent, despite the living situation. The father-daughter dynamic was a frequent topic of conversation after her first feature-film debutAftersun, a film about a father and daughter.
Wells was interested in film from a young age, but did not initially pursue it. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from King's College London and a Master of Arts from Oxford University. She went into finance and rediscovered film through helping Callum Just, a school friend, run Digital Orchard, a post-production and DIT agency.[5] She used this experience to apply to New York University's joint business and film graduate program with the intention of becoming a producer. She completed a dual Master of Fine Arts and Master of Business Administration atTisch School of the Arts and theStern School.
Before starting her career in the film industry as a producer, Wells helped run Digital Orchard, a company specializing in film, finishing images, developing film, and digital imaging. At NYU, she began her ventures into filmmaking, creating three short films.
Tuesday follows a 16-year-old learning to cope with a big loss, introducing the themes of family and trauma characteristic of Wells's films. The girl (Megan McGill) goes to her deceased father's residence and grieves her loss. The film presumably takes place in Scotland and reflects Wells's experience of her father's death when she was 16.[6] The film earned Wells the Best Writer Nominee at BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards 2016.[7]
Laps is a New York-based short film about a woman who is sexually assaulted on a crowded subway train. LikeTuesday,Laps explores a severe trauma and how life continues despite it. The handheld camera emphasizes the claustrophobic nature of the subway. The film features Thea Brooks, and earned Wells Special Jury Recognition at the SXSW Short Film Awards and Special Jury Award for Editing atSundance 2017.[8]
The longest of Wells's three shorts,Blue Christmas is a period piece about a Scottish debt collector in the late 1960s who goes to work on Christmas Eve instead of spending time with his wife and son, due in part to her worsening mental health. It follows him around town, subjecting other families to displeasure at his presence, and collecting a television from one family. He eats dinner with one of the people he visits before going home late to his wife grappling with their son as she tries to and eventually does burn down their Christmas tree. The son is angry with his father. The film's title is a reference to the songBlue Christmas.Elvis Presley's version is heard toward the end. The film features Jamie Robson andMichelle Duncan.[9]
Wells was a fellow at the 2020Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs with her feature film debutAftersun, which premiered at the2022 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. She was also a producer on the 2019 filmRaf, which premiered at the2019 Toronto International Film Festival.[10]
Aftersun is a coming-of-age film that tells the story of a young woman, Sophie, recalling a holiday she took with her father, Calum (Paul Mescal), 20 years earlier, for Calum's 31st birthday. The 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) does not spend much time with her father, but they have an annual vacation together. They go to a Turkish budget resort, and each wants to bond and connect with the other, but Calum struggles with depression, creating a barrier. Adult Sophie tries to remember her father by looking back on this holiday and piecing together her memories with the help of the videos they took on the vacation.
The film is shot on35mm film and partly by the actors themselves on aMiniDV camera.[11] This camera is used for many of the scenes with Sophie during the holiday, including playing with friends at the resort and spending time with her father. Wells's father died when she was 16 and she lived apart from him, though she did not feel that he was uninvolved with her upbringing.[4] The father-daughter dynamic was not something Wells initially tried to uncover in the film; it arose during its making, specifically during the screenwriting.[12]
Aftersun received 121 nominations, and 33 awards, including the British Independent Film Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay for Wells[13] and a nomination forBest Actor at the2023 Academy Awards for Mescal.[14] TheNational Board of Review named the film the Best Directorial Debut of 2022.[15] Wells also received the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award at the Gotham Awards and the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer at the BAFTA Awards.[16]
In the years since her debut feature, Wells has been active in spaces adjacent to filmmaking, including serving as the Jury President of the Bright Horizons competition at the 2025Melbourne International Film Festival, whereAftersun debuted in Australia in 2022 as part of the same competition in its first year.[17]Simón Mesa Soto'sThe Poet won the award and its $140,000 prize.[18] Wells also led the jury for the Luigi De Laurentiis debut film award at the82nd Venice International Film Festival, where Nastia Korkia'sShort Summer won.
In February 2024, Wells directed her first advertisement, a video forQuaker titled "You've Got This". It follows a family and their changing relationships over time, focusing on the bond between father and son, asQuaker Oats connects them all through the stages of life. In discussion of the script for the commercial, Wells said that ideas of familial relationships and the passage of time are front of mind when she writes, as evidenced by the result and her other work.[19]
In July 2024, Wells directed advertisements for theAmerican Red Cross titled "What's Your Type?" and "Growing Up".[20] The first was created with the goal of relatability and encouraging people to donate blood. After beginning with upbeat music and ordinary lighting, the commercial takes a quick turn to a hospital, where the cast is injured and sickly, in need of blood donations to save their lives.[20] "Growing Up" was intended to target Hispanic audiences and focuses on intimate family moments. It also tells an emotional story, ending with the importance and growing necessity of blood donations.[20]
In May 2024, Wells directed a video forRomy's song "Always Forever". The two were close to collaborating earlier in their careers, but never found the right time.[21] The video is a departure from Wells's previous work both thematically and stylistically, but maintains some of her visual style, featuring collaborators from the club scenes inAftersun.
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | ||||
| 2014 | F to 7th | No | Yes | No | TV series (8 episodes) | [22] |
| 2015 | Tuesday | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short | [22][23][24] |
| 2015 | In a Room Below | No | Yes | No | Short | [25] |
| 2016 | Red Folder | No | Yes | No | Short | [26] |
| 2016 | Briefcase | No | Yes | No | Short | [27] |
| 2016 | Alice | No | Yes | No | Short | [28] |
| 2017 | Laps | Yes | No | Yes | Short | [22] |
| 2017 | Blue Christmas | Yes | No | Yes | Short | [22] |
| 2017 | Eté | No | Yes | No | Short | [29] |
| 2019 | I'm the One Who's Singing | No | Yes | No | Short | [30] |
| 2019 | Raf | No | Yes | No | Feature | [31] |
| 2022 | Aftersun | Yes | No | Yes | Feature | [32] |
| International | |
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| National | |
