James A. Castillo

Director of Madrid Noir and The Quinta's Ghost | Spain/UK

James A. Castillo is an award winning Director and Designer based in London, UK.

His work ranges from publishing Illustration to art direction for virtual reality projects and everything in between. He has an interest in anything artistic that challenges the limits of what animation can achieve and loves exploring new styles and techniques.

His latest projects as a character designer include a few un announced Netflix Animation projects, the new TMNT film being led by Seth Rogen for Nickelodeon, Mitchels vs the Machines (Sony), 3Bellow (Dreamworks), part of the Arcadia series by Guillermo del Toro and Young Love (Sony), the tv show inspired by the Oscar winning short film "Hair Love".

In the last few years James has worked extensively on virtual reality projects: art directing Melita, which amounted more than a dozen international awards and writing/ directing Madrid Noir, a VR animated film which premiered at the TRIBECA film festival and went on to appear in Cannes and Annecy among other renown festivals. After being selected for a dozen festivals, Madrid Noir went on to win both the "best VR experience of the year" award at the VR awards and the crystal owl at Stereopsia. In 2022, James's debut film earned him a Webby award for "Best virtual and immersive narrative experience".

He is currently working in an unannounced project at Netflix and has a number of projects in development.