Walter Stern is a British director whose career began in 1991 with Manic Street Preachers' "Stay Beautiful." He directed seminal music videos for The Prodigy including "Firestarter" (1996 NME People's Choice Award, ranked #38 in NME's "100 Greatest Music Videos") and "Breathe" (1997 MTV Europe Music Award). His collaboration with Massive Attack produced "Teardrop" (1998 MTV Europe Music Award, featuring surreal fetal imagery) and "Angel." The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997)—a single unbroken tracking shot through London—became a defining visual of the 1990s. Stern joined Academy Films in 1997, where he remains represented. His commercial work earned a Gold Lion at Cannes 2000 for Volkswagen "Heaven" and multiple British Arrows for UK government campaigns. Clients include Nike, Adidas, Johnnie Walker, Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Guinness, and Balenciaga. His 2021 Balenciaga "Sunglasses at Night" pre-collection video, created with MPC visual effects, drew stylistic comparisons to his "Bitter Sweet Symphony" work. Stern's approach emphasizes atmospheric storytelling and surreal metaphorical narratives, evolving from raw 16mm aesthetics in the 1990s to more introspective, VFX-enhanced work in later years.