James Gardner is an English director and screenwriter from Hereford. He is a graduate of the UK's National Film & Television School (Directing Fiction MA) and is known for writing and directing the short films Barry Glitter, The Car Washer and festival favorite Ferris & The Fancy Pigeon, which was shortlisted for Odeon's 'Best Short of the Year' and won the Royal Television Society award for 'Best Student Drama' in 2017.

James's debut feature film Jellyfish premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018 and had its international premiere shortly after at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it won the 'Michael Powell Award' for 'Best Performance in a British Feature Film'. In September 2018 Jellyfish won the Grand Jury, Critic, Screenplay and inaugural Performance 'Hitchcock' awards at Dinard Film Festival. Since then the film has been screened at film festivals around the world, winning numerous awards along the way, as well as earning a five-star review in the Financial Times and a glowing review from Mark Kermode, in which he called Liv Hill's performance "fabulous".

James is a former semi-professional skateboarder, lives in London and is in development of several TV and feature film projects, including Woke Up Dead with Jack Rowan and Maxine Peake, and Grans Gone Wild starring Asa Butterfield and Penelope Wilton.