Richard Bell is the writer and director of the short feature Two Brothers and the feature Eighteen

Eighteen (film)

Eighteen is a Canadian 2005 dramatic feature film written and directed by Richard Bell.-Plot:The film follows Pip, a street kid who's meeting life head-on in the big city. On his eighteenth birthday he receives his grandfather's Second World War memoirs on audio cassette, a gift that awakens the...

. The latter starred Brendan Fletcher

Brendan Fletcher

Brendan Fletcher is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Fletcher was born in Comox Valley, British Columbia and went to junior high school at Lake Trail in Courtenay, British Columbia....

, Carly Pope

Carly Pope

-Early life:Pope was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an older brother, Kris, also an actor, and a younger brother, Alexander. She began acting during her high school years in Vancouver where she appeared in stage classics such as The Odd Couple, playing Mickey, and A Midsummer...

, Mark Hildreth

Mark Hildreth

Mark Hildreth is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Van Hammer.-Global Wrestling Federation :...

, Thea Gill

Thea Gill

Thea Louise Gill is a Canadian actress best known for her starring role as Lindsay Peterson in the Showtime television series Queer as Folk.-Early life:...

, and Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...

. The film was narrated by Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...

, with music composed by Bramwell Tovey

Bramwell Tovey

Bramwell Tovey, OM is an English-born Grammy Award winning conductor and composer. His musical roots are in The Salvation Army. He was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as a pianist and composer...

 and performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...

. Eighteen was released on DVD on June 27, 2006. It made its Canadian broadcast television premiere on City TV on March 1, 2008 and became available on iTunes in summer / fall of 2010.

In September 2010, Bell was chosen out of 217 applicants to the Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab.

Bell is currently adapting Joanne Proulx's novel Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet for producer Michel Shane

Michel Shane

Michel Shane is a film producer and co-founder of Hand Picked Films. He is best known for producing I, Robot and Catch Me If You Can.-Personal life:...

. The project is being developed by Telefilm and Astral Media, through the Harold Greenberg Fund.

Awards

In 2007, Richard was nominated for a Genie Award for co-writing the song "In a Heartbeat" for his film Eighteen, with composer Bramwell Tovey. Vancouver newspaper Xtra West awarded him Visual Artist of the Year for the same film at their annual Hero Awards that year.

External links

• Eighteen Official Website
• Official Website of Richard Bell
• Where are all the war films? Pieta Wooley, Georgia Straight
• Tenderness Among Men Chris DeVito, Xtra! West
• Telefilm: Eighteen
• Hand Picked Film website
• Filmmakers gets a few pointers when heavy hitter Leno drops by Vancouver Sun, September 2010