ABOUT US.

Welcome to Guerilla Films Limited, a cinematic journey founded in 1995 by filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson. Inspired by his previous work at Britannia Entertainment in the 1980s, Wilkinson established Guerilla Films with a vision to reshape the world of filmmaking, focusing on helping first-time filmmakers.

Meet the Team

  • David Nicholas Wilkinson

    FOUNDER

    DAVID NICHOLAS WILKINSON was the director, producer, co-writer and presenter of THE FIRST FILM, POSTCARDS FROM THE 48%, GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER(S) and an executive producer of HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD. He has also produced many other documentaries and drama productions.

    Wilkinson has also distributed 120 films in the UK & Ireland in the cinema, on video/DVD, on television and online. Since 1998 apart from two films, these were all purposely only British & Irish films.

    He started his career as an actor in 1970, and for the next ten years, he acted in over 40 theatre, television and film productions. In 1982 he became, by accident, the first true independent producer to work with the BBC with a film of Virginia Woolf's TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, which starred Sir Kenneth Branagh. He also produced Sir Anthony Hopkins’s directorial debut DYLAN THOMAS: RETURN JOURNEY.

    He has also written books, newspaper and magazine articles and, in the last 40 years, has hosted almost 500, Q&As and film panel events in the UK, USA, Canada, France, Belgium, Turkey and Ireland. For 20 years, he chaired and sponsored an event called Meet The Experts, first and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, then at the London Film Festival and finally at the London Screenwriters Festival. He was, until it closed, a Patron of the Bradford International Film Festival, where he met Bill Lawrence. He was responsible for giving Lifetime Achievement Awards to Sir Ronald Harwood, Sir Tom Courtney, Brian Cox and Terry Gilliam.

    Photo: Phill Kneen

  • Bill Lawrence



    BILL LAWRENCE worked with David Nicholas Wilkinson on THE FIRST FILM, POSTCARDS FROM THE 48% and GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER(S). He was the Head of Film at the National Media Museum in Bradford which is where he met Wilkinson when he became a Patron of the Bradford International Film Festival, which Bill founded. He was a board member of both Screen Yorkshire and Creative England (and a member of its Investment Board). He is also a co-owner of the Bradford Literature Festival and books films for a number of UK cinemas.

    As Bill lives and works in Halifax in West Yorkshire and Wilkinson is from Yorkshire and so far, all the films Wilkinson has directed have all been partly filmed in Yorkshire we like to say that Guerilla Docs is a Yorkshire company (almost).

History

From its inception, Guerilla Films and Guerilla Docs have been dedicated to crafting and distributing unique films that challenge norms. We have produced and/or distributed movies directed by Mike Newell, István Szabó, Richard Eyre, Lenny Abrahamson, Alex Gibney, Lasse Hallström, Michael Radford, Colin Gregg, Gavin Millar, Jack Gold, Maeve Murphy, Jan Dunn, Piotr Szkopiak, Simon Rumley, Terence Ryan and Anthony Hopkins (yes Wilkinson produced and distributed the actor’s directorial debut), as well as a great many films by lesser-known but equally important filmmakers.

Our films featured an array of talented actors, including Anthony Hopkins, Jim Broadbent, Harriet Walter, Lena Headey, Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgård, Kenneth Branagh, Pete Postlethwaite, Ewan McGregor, Greta Scacchi, Richard E Grant, Rose Byrne, Shirley Henderson, Tom Wilkinson, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Martin Compston, Peter Capaldi, Sean Hughes, Elliott Gould, Orla Brady, Richard Attenborough, John Lynch, Milo O’Shea, David Thewlis, Colin Blakely, Gabriel Byrne, Derek Jacobi, Tom Courtenay, Brenda Blethyn, Susannah York, Emily Beecham, Michael York, Matthew Rhys, Adrian Dunbar, Charlotte Coleman, Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm, Penelope Wilton, Elizabeth McGovern, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes etc.

Often bringing to life narratives written by literary figures like Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, Ronald Harwood, Edward St Aubyn, Ian McEwan, Brian Glover, and Rosamond Lehmann. By intertwining classic literature with contemporary cinema and thought-provoking documentaries that challenge the perceived norms, we aim to help create lasting experiences for audiences.

Notably, Guerilla Films marked its presence in the industry by becoming the first UK distribution company to offer completed films for sale on the Internet via VHS tapes in 1996. This pioneering step garnered attention from Adobe magazine, which recognised our role in shaping online film sales in Europe.

Since 1998, our primary focus has been showcasing British and Irish films to audiences in the UK and Ireland. We take pride in our commitment to these stories. This dedication sets us apart because aside from a narrative film from Lasse Hallström and a documentary from Alex Gibney, all our distributed films have been British or Irish productions. No other UK film distributor has ever made such a commitment to British cinema. Prior to this shift, we distributed over 40 European feature films, including works by directors like Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol.

At Guerilla Films, we embrace unconventional narratives that challenge the standard way of seeing events. Our films often tread into territories others might deem “difficult”; creating a space for thought-provoking stories. These films have been screened across major UK cinema chains and independent venues, reaching diverse audiences.

Our footprint extends beyond the big screen to work with networks with broadcasters like the BBC, Sky, Channel 4, and digital platforms like Amazon and iTunes within the UK & Ireland. Of late, we have licensed to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe by selling to broadcasters direct, although this is not a primary function of the company.

David Wilkinson’s directorial journey began in 2015 with documentary features like “THE FIRST FILM” and “POSTCARDS FROM THE 48%” His epic 175 minutes Holocaust documentary, “GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER(S)”, was voted by the Guardian newspaper as the No. 17 Best Film of 2021 in the UK and, by default, the highest-rated documentary on the list.

The company now only occasionally distributes films from other filmmakers as we are now committed to the production and coproduction of documentary feature films.