Show & Tell: Tomas Leach
A filmmaker finds inspiration in the real world
I studied film in college, and movies remain a passion of mine, so I plan to interview more filmmakers here on FlakPhoto this year. Many of you know I’m a huge Saul Leiter fan, and I was delighted to meet Tomas Leach, the director of the excellent Leiter documentary, In No Great Hurry, a few years ago. Tomas and I correspond periodically, and I love his newsletter (which you should explore), so I asked him if we could write a Show & Tell piece together. I’ll let him take it from here. Enjoy! —AA
Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, and where do you live now?
I was born in a small village in Devon, UK. I spent the last eight years living in Los Angeles, but I’ve just moved back to Europe and now live in Madrid.
Could you describe your work? What inspired you to pursue filmmaking?
I got into filmmaking because I loved cinema, was fascinated by photojournalism, and noticed that people liked sharing their stories with me. When I was younger, I didn’t feel confident in my writing, so I started making documentaries instead.
I’ve made many different types of films, and now I also write fiction features. What ties my work together is a focus on character-driven storytelling. Someone once called my work very thoughtful. They said it during a commercial shoot and maybe didn’t mean it as a compliment, but that’s how I see the world. If my work shows that, I’m happy with it.
Do you have a particular approach to imagemaking? What’s your style?
My imagemaking is always serving a bigger story. But not a story in the sense of plot — story in the sense of character and what we are feeling. What do the images say about the character and what they are living? What emotional shading can they give?
And what kind of information do the images give that allows us to connect on a deeper level? Do they reveal something the character doesn’t know? Or put them in a context that changes what we know about them? So they aren’t just illustrative, but so that they place you there IN the film.
Because my films focus on people, I think my images are an expressive extension of what it’s like to be with that person. The ideas and texture of their world are a big part of that, and I love building observational details that give us a sense of real, living space.
Are you working on any projects at the moment?
I always try to have a lot of different things that I’m working on at the same time. When one project gets stuck, switching to another helps me stay excited and energized.
I’m currently in the midst of shooting a feature-length documentary about a group of people around the world trying to decipher the language of birds. It’s about the power of curiosity and empathy and dedicating your life to a state of constant wonder.
I’m writing a fiction feature film that feels more personal than anything I’ve done before, which makes it an interesting challenge. All my films reflect my view of the world, but this one is inspired by our recent move. The idea came from a conversation with a filmmaker friend about my experiences and the time I spent with my daughter processing things. She said, ‘I hope you make a film about child psychology’. It’s not literally autobiographical, but it has so much that I’ve been thinking about — so much of my grappling to stay a caring, functioning human being — that it’s drawing on my life in a very direct way. That’s new to me and both exciting and a bit scary.
And I’m relaunching my series of short documentaries called Little Scraps of Paper. It’s a set of portraits of artists and where they keep their ideas. We’re shooting new films right now, but we’re still open to suggestions for artists or other creative people to feature — so if you know someone you think would be insightful and a good fit, let me know! The series has always grown from people telling me to check out someone who is special in their eyes.
Oh! We also just released a small book of photographs from my time making the film with Saul Leiter.
How do you stay inspired?
I think there’s inspiration to be found everywhere, but you have to put yourself in a position to be open to it. For me, that means actively seeking out different rhythms to my day that force me to look around.
I get a lot of inspiration from books, films, music, and art. But the more I can experience physically rather than online, the better. I find myself trapped if I spend too much time on my computer or phone — I feel stuck and need to get outside and experience the world. My solution is usually a long walk through areas I don’t necessarily know so well. If I can combine that with a museum or a bookshop, and then sit in a random café and watch people, that fills me up.
That practice of training your senses and being alert to the world around you is an important part of who I am and how I work. It’s something I take seriously in a way (while still trying to really enjoy it because it’s the most wonderful way to live).
Tell us about an artist who has intrigued you recently.
Lately, I’ve been really interested in the paintings of Guim Tió. They have a lot of mystery and a strong sense of place that I find special.
Show us a picture that moved you recently. Tell us about it.
Aaron Huey recently posted an Instagram photo of a scene he captured in Iran in 1999. It shows a young woman kissing her grandmother, almost launching herself forward to do it. He wrote about how the family took him in after finding him among protesters. Beyond the obvious humanizing power of photography like this, the photo’s warmth and familiarity made me think about family, mortality, and how closely they are connected.
Do you like music? What have you been listening to lately?
I’m somebody who likes music on almost all the time.
This morning I woke up and put on the new Alexis Taylor album, then I wanted to listen to “Cucurrucucu” by Caetano Veloso, but I couldn’t get the INXS song “Never Tear Us Apart” out of my head, so I had to play it.
Recently, I’ve been loving The New Eves, the soundtrack to Sentimental Value, Dry Cleaning’s last album; the new De La Soul album; and the Nebraska recordings Bruce Springsteen released last year.
I collect photography books. Can you recommend a photobook that you love?
This is a tough question! I love having photography books around me—for reference, for pleasure, and for the sense of possibility they bring.
José Luis Carrillo’s Los Hijos del Ciervo is a beautiful book, with embossed text on the back. And it’s a great size and length. It has a sense of myth and magic, and a framing of the project that makes it feel much more original and authored than a pure documentation of place. It’s about a valley in Spain known as Spanish Siberia, which the Celts once populated. They worshipped the deer deity Cerunnos. And this book is, as José describes it, about “the Sons of the Deer, legitimate descendants of Cerunnos, the styled god, venerated in this region as 'the king of the forest”
The images blend daily ritual, mysticism, and a strong sense of place, which I find really captivating. I’m inspired by any art that weaves mythology into real life — not in a religious sense, but in a way that shows how our rituals, sacred sites, and stories shape who we are today.
Can I also recommend Isadora Kosofsky’s Senior Love Triangle? Such an intimate, powerful bit of storytelling. I’m in awe of how it’s laid out, and also very much inspired by the tenderness within.
Have you read any good books?
I’ve been absolutely loving On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. It’s science fiction in concept, about a woman who slips through time and wakes up to the eighteenth of November every morning.
I’ve just read the third part, and I love the depth and detail she conjures, the realism in an unreal world, and the way she draws you into the story.
She explores this central idea in a way that isn’t driven by plot, but by this deep exploration. The fact that there are seven books in the series shows her commitment to this approach. That depth made me connect with the story in a personal way.
Each book is also manageably short. I spent last summer only reading books under 150 pages, and it was very exciting and liberating.
Finally, show us something cool not related to photography. Surprise us!
I’m really into this simple, yet beautiful and complex, card game called Codex Naturalis. It’s impeccably designed — both aesthetically and as a game. You can take it with you on journeys, and the games are relatively quick. There’s something magical about picking up a game and thinking, ‘This looks incredibly complicated, it will take forever,’ and 30 seconds later, you understand it and are working out strategies.
About the filmmaker
Tomas Leach is an award-winning filmmaker from the UK. His first feature documentary, In No Great Hurry, about legendary photographer Saul Leiter, was released to critical acclaim. His second, The Lure, which was executive produced by Errol Morris, explored a wild treasure hunt in the Rockies.
He has directed films with gold-winning Olympians and prison baseball teams, exhibited work in galleries around the world, and shot commercials for Adidas, NASA, Ikea, and more.
He writes the Little Scraps of Filmmaking newsletter on Substack. Follow him on Instagram @tomasleach.
What a quirky, fascinating, agile, creative mind.
There's so much darkness surrounding our lives, it's a gift to be reminded of the myriad of treasures in the world.