Lee Hutcheon was born on the 31st July 1973 in Woodside Aberdeen. He grew up in Aberdeen
and was educated at Hilton Academy and St. Machar Academy. He then went to Aberdeen College
and completed an HND in graphic design.
As a child Lee loved the cinema a growing up passion which saw him shoot his own Super 8mm short films using the
people from the Neighbourhood he grew up in as cast members. He went on to make a number of short films and
documentaries before turning his hand to Feature Films.
Maw Broon fae the Sunday Post has published a cookbook full of her favourite Scottish and family recipes.
Read More About It Or Buy Now!
Film Career Of Lee Hutcheon
When he was aged 20 Lee moved to New York to begin his career in the movie business.
Lee now makes professional short films and documentaries where he tries to raise awareness of the North East of
Scotland. His first feature was called Sugartown.
By 1999 his films were starting to get noticed. His most prominent works have been:
Vendetta (1999)
Vendetta is a brutal story of a man called Zander whose son was murdered. Although his killer was arrested he was
later released due to lack of evidence. Zander found him and took his revenge, earning himself 10 years in prison.
Upon release he sets out to teach the police a lesson. Along with his cellmate, Sye, they kidnap the son of a police
officer. Sye's motivation is extracting money from the hostage's family, but first he needs to get rid of Zander.
In A Man's World (2004)
This film caught the attention of the UK's press when out of 550 entries it won Best Drama at the New York
International And Independent Film And Video Award. It hit the headlines because it was shot on a low budget.
The story of how Lee made the film on next to nothing without any funding assistance from any
arts organisations or government film funding bodies made every Scottish national newspaper, radio station and
television station and cast a spotlight on Lee as a new exciting Scottish Filmmaking talent. It was also the only Scottish film at Cannes in 2005. It is a gritty story of hope, desperation and betrayal
amongst four street wise Aberdeen youngsters who enter into the underworld of crime. As they get deeper into
crime they realise it is not a glamorous life, though it is too late to return to their childhood as they
soon encounter ruthless gangsters and criminal overlords.
The children who appear in the film are from the Aberdeen areas where the film was shot. It stared Aberdonian
actor Mark Wood who played Rasputin. Mark comes from Torry and the film helped springboard his and other Scottish
actors careers.
Aberdeen locations used in film were Nigg, Old Aberdeen, The Green, Woodside, The River Dee, St Machar Cathedral,
Balmedie Beach, Spital, Northfield and Rosemount.
The Clan
This film is still in progress. It is set in the Scottish Highlands the Clan McNab keeps a dark secret, a past full of anger and hatred.
The fighting between them and the Clan McKinlay through the Centuries has seen swords and axes clash for ownership of
cattle and land.
Now the story is seen through they eyes of Cal McKinlay and Nicole McNab, the two youngest from each Clan.
Both have a common dislike of the families' way of life and love soon blossoms. Nicole falls pregnant and the families
soon realise the impact this has on their organised crime activities. The lovers flee from their families, fearing
for the safety of their unborn child. The Clan follow and the viewer sees the dark side of Scottish crime.
The Clan will star Scottish film star James Cosmo as Hector McKinlay.
Parts of The Clan were filmed in Aberdeenshire locations such as
Fyvie Castle, Fraserburgh and Inverurie. Aberdeen City locations
used for filming included The Hub cafe in John Street. Other Scottish scences included Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Ramensky
To be filmed in 2006, Ramensky is the emotional story of Scottish Hero and Legend Johnny Ramensky who was a master safecracker
(Peterman), escape
artist, cat burglar and British war hero.
The film will portray his birth at Glenboig near Coatbridge in 1905, his upbringing in the tough Glasgow Gorbals during
the depression, to his many escapes from UK prisons, including Aberdeenshire's Peterhead prison, and on to how he became one of Scotland's top criminals.
The film
then focuses on how Ramensky saved the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers by stealing secrets from top Nazi officials during the Second World
War from 1942 to 1945. Ramensky attained the army rank of sergeant and wore the cap badge of the Royal Fusiliers though he worked with and trained Commandos.
He was at the forefront of the Allied invasion of Italy and even cracked the safe of German Field Marshall Rommel and Adolf Hitler's Propaganda Minister Joseph
Goebbels. It is said that he blew open 14 safes in occupied Rome in one day and was awarded the Military Medal (MM) and given a pardon from his crimes. It is thought
that he refused the medal and upon release from military duties he returned to crime. He did receive a lesser sentence by two years for his first criminal offence
because of his war service.
As well as being an accomplished safecracker Ramensky was dextrous which helped him to be a thief, was strong enough to even be able to lift his own bodyweight
and he was acrobatic and agile enough to scale walls adeptly.
Ramensky had several nicknames including King of the Escapers which he earnt after escaping five times from Peterhead prison. From the police he earnt the nickname
Gentle Johnny because he would always surrender peacefully when he was caught. He spent over 40 years in prison and died in Peterhead prison aged 67 years in 1972.
Ramensky will feature Scottish actor James Cosmo who plays a prison warden. Locations may include Peterhead, though sadly no UK nor Scottish
funding was made available to Director Lee Hutcheon for his £7 million production and the film may have to be shot in Eastern Europe. By coincidence
Johnny Ramensky was the son of an Eastern European immigrant from Lithuania. The family name was Ramanausckas and his parents were married in Poland. His father
worked as a fire clay miner and came to Scotland as a blackleg labourer to work at Glenboig fire clay mine during the 1901 strike. Johnny's birth Christian name was
Yonas. He changed his name to John Ramsay when he married Margaret McManus in October 1931. She died in October 1937. His second wife was Lily (also called Lisa)
Mulholland whom he married in 1955. Ramensky changed his surname to Ramsay.
We also run the
www.findextrawork.co.uk website where there is information about earning more money from a
range of part time and full time jobs which can be done at home or out and about. Visit for more information.
