We Are Pastles Productions
Inspire | Educate | Entertain
Pastles is a young, Bristol-based company, with a passion for filmmaking and for making the world a better place. We have two branches; one is our not-for-profit filmmaking side, producing shorts, features and online content focused around social issues, and the other is our business side, where we provide filmmaking and photography services to musicians, charities and businesses.
The company has three core aims; to inspire, to educate and to entertain, and we put these aims at the heart of everything we do, whether it's a short film, a music video, or an online promo. We want to inspire positive change, educate the public, and entertain our audiences.
Meet the team
Owain Astles
Owain Astles is the Company Director and founder of Pastles Productions. Owain has been making films for several years after directing his first short film, KiDS, with Pastles Productions. After a year out, he studied Theatre and Spanish (which, as he is constantly reminded, is an “odd mix”) at the University of Bristol. As well as being director of Pastles, where he organises all the company’s goings-on, films and edits videos, he works as a short film director and documentarian. He likes boxing, Domino’s and any Christopher Nolan film.
Kelsey Stewart
Kelsey Stewart is Pastles' associate filmmaker. Kelsey completed four years of study at a tiny but excellent South African University no-one has ever heard of, graduating with distinctions in Dramatic Arts, Classical Latin and Classical Civilization Studies. She then flew over to the University of Bristol, where she studied an MA in Film and Television Production. As well as having directed a number of her own short films, Kelsey is Pastles’ main editing guru. She loves the Irish Film Board, sushi, and a slow zoom.
Why we started
I set up Pastles because I wanted there to be a production company making films about the things I cared about. I wanted to use my skills as a filmmaker to raise awareness of social and political issues which are often hidden or misunderstood, telling stories about normal people and the challenges they face and opening up conversations about bullying, homelessness, mental health and more. This soon branched into commercial work; I wanted to shine a light on the charities and businesses there are out there doing amazing work, and to develop close links with organisations, in my local area and beyond, doing great work that I believe in. This is core to the company, and we aim to only ever take on work we really believe in. If we work together, that means we believe in your message, so you'll get our full commitment and passion.
Why we're different
At Pastles, we stick to our core values of producing content that is ethical and inspirational; with our films, we focus on social and political issues and with our client work, aim to produce content that is sharing an important message and providing opportunities. We’re particularly focused on promoting young talent and providing opportunities to young people, especially within disadvantaged communities. This includes promoting young, talented musicians, providing work opportunities to young people in school or college when producing films and focusing our film work on representing and employing people from marginalised areas of society. To further these aims, we recently partnered with Bristol Works, to provide work opportunities and mentoring to young disadvantaged people in the Bristol area.
Have a project in mind?
Contact us today to talk through your project with us.