Kate Shenton

Kate Shenton was born and raised in Staffordshire, by her parents Celia and Len Shenton. She was educated at St Dominic's primary school before moving on to study politics at the University of York. During her time at York, Kate Shenton got very involved in both theatre and film directing. She made her first short film 'Modern Grim' and also took a burlesque version of Dr Faustus to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After graduating she then went on to do a MA in Filmmaking at the University of Essex. It was here that she made a short film called Bon Appetit (2010) which premiered a Fright Fest Film Festival. It then went on to screen at London Short Film Festival and Birds Eye View Film Festival. After graduating with a distinction, Kate Shenton moved to London where she began to make independent short films. During this time she made her first short documentary called 'On Tender Hooks'. The film follows 'Damian Lloyd-Davies' as he begins to undergo his first human suspension, an act which involves piercing meat hooks through the flesh and then suspending in mid air from them. The film went on to play several international festivals including Slamdance, Raindance and Encounters. It was also during this time that she made a horror comedy short called Gimp (2012), which premiered at London Short Film Festival. After the success of the short film, Kate Shenton decided to turn On Tender Hooks into a feature length documentary. She followed different suspension groups for a year, filming and editing the documentary by herself. On Tender Hooks (2013) premiered at PiFan Film Festival and later on screened at Fright Fest.