Flowstate’s Producer, Catriona Dick, graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a Gold Hallam Award and a first-class honours degree in International Events Management with Tourism (2020). Catriona has worked in charity events from a young age, and after managing restaurants and accommodation for mountain bikers and skiers in the Alps, she moved back to Sheffield and began working in film production.
Jim Topliss, their director and cinematographer, is also a Sheffield Hallam graduate with a degree in Film and Media Production. He is a two-time winner of the prestigious Deep Summer Photography Prize, winning in both New Zealand and Canada in 2019. After racing mountain bikes full-time across the world circuit for Continental Tyres/Saracen Bikes, Jim moved to film production, documenting his team’s racing, and eventually working full-time as a cinematographer.
Flowstate began to take shape in the living room of Cat’s house in 2021. Jim and Cat began working from their sofas for clients including RedBull, Crankworx, YouFibre, Ard Rock Festivals, and Santa Cruz. Eventually, the tower of cameras, lighting, surfboards and edit equipment got too high and the Hallam Enterprise team came to the rescue. They now work out of their office in the Hallam iLab.
Their work is often as creative directors. Whether coordinating film production atop mountains in Europe, photographing surfers in the Tasman Sea, or organising an immersive rave in Kelham Island, their approach is the same; taking abstract ideas and turning them into diverse, watchable, liveable experiences that feel and do good, and encourage tangible business for their clients. If it’s wild and they can get a camera there, that’s where you’ll find them.
In addition to film, Flowstate has begun creating community-based events around Sheffield. After years of experience coordinating and covering other businesses’ events, they decided it was time to bring their own flavour to the market. Flowstate organised Full Plates, a sell-out charity dance music pop-up event where all proceeds went to local food banks and charities across Sheffield.
A pivotal part of Flowstate’s mission is working with and developing young emerging talent, providing valuable paid working experiences to new filmmakers, alongside working with established world-class artists to deliver films and experiences that are cutting edge and push limits. Over the next 12 months, they plan to grow their team, offering in-house graduate positions to some of the innovative and determined young filmmakers they have worked closely with this year, and developing Northern filmmaking talent.
