Ian Waugh is a writer, director and artist.

Born and raised in North East England, he studied Photography & Film at Edinburgh Napier and Advanced Film Practice at Screen Academy Scotland. His graduation drama Leaves premiered in competition for Best UK First Feature and his short films have played at international festivals such as Drama, Stockholm, Kyiv, Busan and BFI London. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents, EIFF Talent Lab Connects and the flagship BFI development programme Network@LFF.

His short film As He Lay Falling was backed by Creative Scotland and premiered in competition at Edinburgh. It screened at 30 international festivals, winning the Directors’ Jury Award at Soria and Special Mentions at Reykjavík and ISFF Cyprus. He is adapting As He Lay Falling into a feature film with support from Screen Scotland and the BFI Network, alongside a slate of short and feature projects in development.

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Waugh works with photography to explore emotional landscapes and the psychological experience of place. Through long journeys and solitary immersion in isolated environments, he engages with the character of wild and forgotten places, tracing how internal narratives and memory shape our perception of the world around us. He has exhibited at home and abroad, received numerous artist bursaries, and made work in residencies in Iceland, Finland, Germany and Scotland.