Finlay Pretsell is a BAFTA winning filmmaker driven by the authenticity and rawness of non-fiction cinema. He arrived at filmmaking by way of a plethora of uninteresting jobs along with an unrealistic ambition of travelling the world racing his bicycle. Never having formally studied film or anything else and after exhausting all other options, he discovered a fledgling Scottish Documentary Institute which was based at Edinburgh College of Art.

His debut theatrical feature Time Trial takes us into the final race of David Millar’s career, leading up to his last encounter with the Tour de France which was broadcast and screened globally in film festivals and cinemas. It’s now on Apple TV, Amazon Prime etc.

In 2019 Finlay Pretsell set up production company Parcel of Rogues with Sonja Henrici and is working on a funded slate of projects at various stages of development and completion. Slated for 2026 is a film with artist Douglas Gordon.

Finlay’s breakthrough as a filmmaker was in 2007 with Standing Start followed by Ma Bar, Cutting Loose and other award winning shorts which he co-directed with his friend Adrian McDowall. His films have have screened in hundreds of film festivals around the world including IDFA, Sundance, SXSW, Hotdocs, Sheffield Docfest, Visions du Réel, Berlinale etc.