Philip Julian Zarcilla (born July 1986), known professionally as Paris Zarcilla, is a British film director and writer. His debut feature Raging Grace (2023), the first in a trilogy, was nominated for a British Independent Film Award.
During university, Zarcilla had his first filmmaking experiences shooting music videos for friends. He had his first professional gigs with commercials.[4] With Daryl Atkins,[5] Zarcilla co-founded the production company Sudden Black in 2011 and served as creative director until 2016.[6][7] He filmed the music video for Cher Lloyd's "Dub on the Track" (2011).[8] He directed Slow Magic's Feel Flows,[9] which was named Best Music Video at the 2013 London Independent Film Festival and featured in the Cannes Short Film Corner.[10]
Zarcilla's first short film Pommel (2018), about rival gymnastics brothers,[11] was nominated for a British Independent Film Award (BIFA).[12] He was commissioned to write and direct a Singaporean two-part drama The Century Egg for StarHub and worked as a second-unit director to Sally Wainwright on the Disney+ series Renegade Nell.[13] In December 2021, Zarcilla was one of six selected for the BFI Flares x BAFTA Crew programme, through which he was mentored by Tze Chun.[14]
The second installment in the Rage trilogy, made with producer Chi Thai, will be titled Domestic and set in the British-Filipino community of 1990s London, while the third, titled Ocean On Fire, will be set in the Philippines. Once he completes the trilogy, Zarcilla intends to go in a different direction with a romantic comedy.[21]
In 2018, Zarcilla went viral on social media when he unexpectedly found a cat and her litter of four kittens in his East London flat. He ended up taking the cats in and became known online as "cat dad".[23][24]
Select filmography
"Dub on the Track" (2011) – music video, Cher Lloyd
