Flowers Don't Grow Here, for which James Burrell composed the score, has attracted another great review, this time from the List,

"A directorial debut going beyond the photogenic Orange Revolution, to reveal a harsher side of contemporary Ukraine, Flowers Don't Grow Here documents the harrowing lives of a group of Kiev street children. These range from an 18 year-old prostitute with two children and an abusive partner, to a group of squatters who have formed an ad hoc family in the home of one of their number, and a mentally ill young man living under a bridge. Proving painfully unguarded, even when talking about their complicity in murder, as they have nothing left to lose, they gleefully gossiping about each other but at the same time remain emotionally numb from maltreatment and solvent abuse. Like these children, the documentary lacks any normalising structure, such as a narrator, giving it an unmediated cinema verité feel. This is a passionate howl of rage against injustice."

You can view a clip from Flowers Don't Grow Here in the documentary section of the Showcase section.

Flowers Don't Grow Here, an hour-long documentary for which James composed the score, continues to pick up great audience responses and reviews.

It premiered at the Montreal Film festival in September, and has been selected for the FIPA market ("FIPATEL") in January.

The DocHouse ( ) gave it the following review: "a powerful film that's a damning indictment of these growing economies that are simply leaving their children behind".

Bulb Magazine () said:
"From the moment the captions of dialogue begin, you're lured into the uncompromising street lives of Kiev's lost youth; there's no comfort here, just bridges that serve as homes, bags of inhaled glue for lunch. Brutality.

Whereas most of us in the UK will drink recreationally, for Ruslan it's the only way to cope with life: vodka pours a few precious hours of it away. Consequently he occasionally beats his child by his prostitute wife as well as her child from a previous relationship. What shocks is the loving way, a few scenes back, he seemed completely in awe of his children. The film is a collage of these juxtapositions.

We see other snippets of affection, Vitalik lets 20-odd street kids live in his flat out of pity that if not, they would be freezing nightly by the local train tracks. But these moments are sporadic; more regularly visited are themes of social breakdown, tales of broken homes, broken ribs and ultimately, lives that are collapsing between gasps of glue.

Tales of drug and alcohol abuse in the aftermath of huge social change (following the fall of the USSR) reflects the Ukraine's struggle to achieve reform with stability. Widespread family disintegration is a consequence of independence; with huge implications for these individuals.

Bombarded with a non-stop sequence of realities, the viewer could well lose focus, but Director Shira Pinson has skilfully structured the documentary to allow for reflection, comprehension and eloquence.

Guided by superb cinematography and imagery from the street, Pinson holds the viewer's attention incessantly, letting the characters speak for themselves

The DVD finished, the poignant score died down, but for the rest of the day I could think only of those plastic-bag bubbles of glue."

You can view a clip from Flowers Don"t Grow Here in the documentary section of the Showcase section.

James has competed several jobs for Nick Jr, a childrens channel that is part of the Nickelodeon group.

The short film "Vado a Messa" has been selected for the 2005 Venice Film festival. James composed the score for the debut film by the very talented young director Ginevra Elkann. Using both English and Italian dialogue, it stars some wonderful Italian actors Andrea Tidona (Best of Youth), Roberto Zibetti (Stealing Beauty), Anna Maria Gheradi (Stealing Beauty), and Tara Summers.

You can view a clip from Vado a Messa in the drama section of the Showcase section.