Our Approach.

Story telling and bold creative ideas.

Our video production clients work with us time and again because they recognise our commitment to creating videos that are original, ambitious, and effective.

We started Candle & Bell so that we could pursue our love of film-making. To spend our waking hours doing something that we love and our passion shows in the work we deliver.

Our Origins.

Founded after amassing over a decade of experience working for HBO, Sky, Scottish TV, and BBC.

After attending the New York Film Academy and the SAE Institute , Candle & Bell's founder Maria Caruana Galizia cut her teeth at Scottish Television, working in the editing room on TV shows such as Taggart. She then turned her attention to working on feature films and big budget TV dramas. This afforded her the opportunity to work alongside the likes of academy award winners Alejandro Amenábar and William Hurt and to be part of huge productions, such as HBO's epic Game of Thrones.

Our Community.

We are committed to promoting filmmaking in Tyneside and the North East.

Candle & Bell was founded in 2013 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We started Candle & Bell so that we could pursue our love of film-making with our clients and our community.

Our ethos has always revolved around inclusion, striving to bring diversity to the screen through story and the filmmakers we work with. We collaborate with local universities and screen agencies to give new talent the opportunity to start their careers in the industry.

Our Name.

It's not really about candles, or bells.

Our name is inspired by the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, whose cinema is characterised by long takes and beautifully composed images. His theory of cinema 'Sculpting in Time' spoke of cinema as a medium that could alter time and our experience of reality.

Tarkovsky employed two recurring motifs, candles and bells, as symbols of film itself - Sight and Sound. Our founder, Maria, named this company Candle & Bell because she wanted its roots firmly planted in the artistry of cinema. Creating beautiful moving images. Sculpting in time.