Ian Waugh is a writer, director and artist. His films often explore outsiders and the struggle to find connection, with haunted characters echoed in wild and unforgiving landscapes.

Hailing from North East England, he studied Photography & Film at Edinburgh Napier and Advanced Film Practice at Screen Academy Scotland, with his graduation drama Leaves premiering in competition for Best UK First Feature at East End Film Festival. 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, amongst a slate of projects in development.

Waugh works with photography to explore emotional landscapes and the psychological experience of place. He has exhibited at home and abroad, received numerous artist bursaries, and made work in residencies in Iceland, Finland, Germany and Scotland. His ongoing series The Cleared Country is supported by Creative Scotland and is being developed into a book.