Cultural Cinema Exhibition 2025

Jonathan Ali is a London-based film curator, programmer and writer. He is director of programming for Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami, as well a programmer for Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Scotland, artistic advisor to the Open Doors programme at Locarno Film Festival and programme advisor for London’s Open City Documentary Festival. He has previously been a programmer for Sheffield Doc/Fest, True/False documentary festival, East End Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and others.

Julia has worked with young audiences for over 20 years, as Education Officer at the BFI, Managing Director of Cineclub the Young Film Network and Manager of Film Hub South East's Young Film Network, devising youth programmes and training opportunities for young filmmakers and film programmers. She is currently Creative Director at the Electric Palace Cinema, and runs the Young Electrics youth curator scheme as part of their youth audience development strategy. Julia is also a qualified teacher and has experience of running workshops and in-cinema activities for 16 - 25 year olds.

Robin has worked in film exhibition, distribution and archiving for 35 years. He was previously head curator of the BFI National Archive and the BFI’s head of cultural partnerships. Robin has extensive experience of developing and delivering major film projects focussed on archive film including the following for the BFI: Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger (2023/24); Musicals! The Greatest Show on Screen (2019); India on Film (2017); Shakespeare on Film (2016); Britain on Film (2015); The Genius of Hitchcock (2012). He is co-programmer of the ‘Treasures’ section of the BFI London Film Festival and was programme director of the inaugural BFI Film on Film Festival (2023).

Duncan is the ICO’s Project and Business Manager, working on distribution, Screening Days and venue consultancy. He joined the ICO as Marketing and Communications Manager having worked as an editor and marketer in publishing. He runs the itinerant screening programme Nobody Ordered Wolves, which shows neglected films across London. He’s taken his love of film in a lot of different directions including running a university film society, working with an independent distributor, running a pop-up screen in Hackney and lecturing on film at various universities. He was a former Marketing Manager at Curzon Cinemas. He is currently also working part-time on a feasibility project to open his own cinema in Waltham Forest, London.

Wayne joined MetFilm in late 2022 to help build and manage its new distribution arm. Previously, he worked at Dartmouth Films for half a decade managing releases of their independent documentaries. Key titles he has led on include WILDING and ERIC RAVILIOUS: DRAWN TO WAR. He won Screen’s Rising Star award in 2019. Before embarking on a career in film distribution, Wayne earned his MA from King’s College London for his study on emerging distribution practices in the British film industry. He is a full voting member of BAFTA.

Catharine is Director of the Independent Cinema Office. She founded it in 2003 and continues to lead on the overall strategy and development of the company. Prior to founding the ICO, she worked at the BBC, the BFI, Arts Council England, as a Senior Programmer at the National Film Theatre, programmed the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol and worked as a freelance film programmer both in the UK and internationally. She has an MA in Film & Television from the University of London, has lectured in film and media at a number of UK universities, and is an experienced moderator and Q&A host as well as a contributor to a number of UK newspapers and magazines. She sits on the Steering Group for London’s Screen Archives, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an advisory board member for Be the Business and a voting member of BAFTA.

Simon Duffy has extensive experience in the film industry, primarily with the British Film Institute (BFI) since 2001, where Simon currently serves as Programme & Research Manager after progressing from roles such as Programme & Research Coordinator and Assistant Programme Coordinator at BFI Southbank. Prior to this, Simon contributed to the From Page to Screen Film Festival as both a Film Programmer and a Freelance Film Festival Consultant. Additional freelance experience includes a role as a consultant for the Londra le citta visibili film festival.

An award-winning director in drama, David Ellington has been an actor and director for several years. David’s roles have been diverse, including film, theatre and television drama and presenting. David is also a BSL Consultant, a member of the Extraordinary Bodies / Ad Infinitum Associate Artist, and a director of VS1 Productions. David has always enjoyed undertaking challenging roles. David’s other creative work includes leading Deaf Conversations About Cinema, co-producing documentary short films.

CEO of UK cinema chain, Curzon and distribution labels Curzon Film and Artificial Eye with current releases including LA CHIMERA and KNEECAP. Edward is also the Vice Chair of Ffilm Cymru Wales, the former Managing Director of UK distributor Thunderbird Releasing and co-founder of Soda Pictures having previously managed distribution sales at ICA Projects.

Ian Francis is a writer, curator and founding director of Flatpack Projects, the organisation behind Birmingham’s ‘joyously eclectic’ Flatpack Festival and a range of year-round activity from family film and heritage to outdoor screenings and live cinema. A film graduate from Warwick University, Ian has 25 years experience of programming and producing events and has written for publications including Sight and Sound and Little White Lies. He is the author of This Way to the Revolution (2019), a book which emerged from Flatpack's Birmingham '68 project, and curated Wonderland: Birmingham's Cinema Stories as part of the Commonwealth Games cultural programe.

Gali Gold is the former Head of Cinema at the Barbican where she previously worked as a Cinema Curator. Gali has a wide experience in film programming and exhibition which she gained in a variety of roles prior to her extensive work at the Barbican. These include: Head of Programme at Birds' Eye View, Artistic Director of the UK Jewish Film Festival, Festival Producer at DocAviv Documentary Festival and Associate Producer at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Gali Gold has written a PhD on documentaries by women filmmakers and taught film and media courses in academic institutions in the UK and overseas. She is a Trustee on Sheffield DocFest Board.

Simran Hans is a freelance culture writer and film critic based in London. She was a film critic for The Observer for five years, from 2017-2022. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, The Observer, The New York Times, The Financial Times, New Statesman, Sight & Sound, Criterion, and many other places.

With current and previous clients including Barbican Cinemas, BFI, Cinema Rediscovered, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, ICO, Sheffield Doc Fest, T A P E Collective and Together Films, Sarah has over 25 years’ experience working with independent cinemas, festivals, distributors and filmmakers in press communications. Her breadth of experience across this sector of the film industry gives her fantastic knowledge and insight into the challenges of creating successful PR campaigns - particularly keeping new audiences in mind – across a broad range of journalists and media.

Ella Kemp is a writer, editor, photographer and broadcaster based in London. She is the London Editor for Letterboxd and the Head of Editorial for Girls on Tops, and has worked as a film critic for Empire, IndieWire, the Evening Standard, Little White Lies and more. Her favourite film is Moulin Rouge!.

Leila Latif is a film critic and broadcaster who writes for The Guardian, Little White Lies, Sight And Sound, Indiewire and many more. She also hosts the Little White Lies Podcast and appears regularly on the BBC.

Isabel Moir is currently a programmer at BFI London Film Festival. Prior to the BFI, Isabel worked as a programmer at the Independent Cinema Office where she worked with a range of independent cinemas across the UK as well as Borderlines Film Festival. Isabel also previously worked at the Barbican Centre and has contributed to various cinema programmes and festivals including Cinema Rediscovered. She has also worked at several film festivals in various roles including BFI London Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, BFI Future Film Festival and Overnight Film Festival.

Selina Robertson is a film programmer, researcher and curator who has worked in film exhibition for over 20 years at the BFI, The Film Council and the Independent Cinema Office. From 2003-2005 she co-programmed BFI Flare (formerly the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival). She has been a trustee of the Rio Cinema since 2022. In 2023 she completed her PhD at Birkbeck College, University of London on the cultural archives of feminist film programming and curating in 1980s London. She is an associate lecturer at Birkbeck College. In 2007 she co-founded Club des Femmes with Sarah Wood, a queer feminist curating collective whose mission is to offer a freed up space for the re-examination of ideas through art. Club des Femmes partners with cinemas, film festivals, cinematheques, galleries, museums and academic institutions in the UK and Europe.

David has worked in the independent film sector for over 25 years, as a programmer, distributor and consultant. His career has included spells as Director of Cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), where he acquired and released films by directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jia Zhangke and Roy Andersson and launched J-Horror in the UK with Ring; as Head of Content at the BFI overseeing the Institute’s distributed films; and as the first Coordinator of Lincolnshire Cinemas, which became a model for rural cinema provision.

Claire spent her formative years on a remote island with no cinema or arts centre – which may explain why most of her career has involved culture and talking to people. After learning the ropes during a traineeship on Andrea Arnold’s debut Red Road, Claire worked freelance in film and television production, before going on to hold positions in locations, events and communications for local film commissions, screen agencies and universities. She joined Watershed in 2008, where she manages a great team who help to deliver and promote all aspects of Watershed’s activities, manage and curate content, build new audiences and increase audience engagement among many, many other things. Claire created Watershed's profiles on Twitter and Facebook back in 2009 and still manages them now, so do go and say hello.

I have worked in the Film Exhibition & Distribution sector for over 20 years, including Cinema Management, Film Booking with Odeon Cinemas, and Theatrical Sales roles with Pathe, United International Pictures (UIP), Paramount Pictures and my current role at Sony Pictures as UK Director of Sales & Distribution. Responsibilities include forecasting, budgeting, research and planning, release date selection, commercial terms negotiation, revenue cycle, logistics and Exhibitor and in-theatre marketing. Future Sony release include Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, Nichols Hytners The Choral, and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, starring Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell.

Often described as gobby and outspoken (but very funny), Andrew has been a thorn in the side of the film establishment, pointing out salient facts for over 30 years, running and programming multiplex cinemas around the UK, then as Marketing Director at Picturehouse, working in distribution and as a film producer, Andrew now lectures in film marketing and production at Goldsmiths and the London Film School.He also hosts and curates the award winning Pink Palace queer film club at the Rio.

Adrian Wootton is the Chief Executive of Film London, the agency charged with developing the screen industries in the capital, and the British Film Commission, the unit responsible for promoting the UK as the best place to produce feature films and high end television. Prior to becoming the Chief Executive of Film London in 2003, Adrian was Acting Director of the British Film Institute (BFI), in addition to having been the Director of the London Film Festival (LFF), the National Film Theatre (NFT), Head of BFI Exhibition and Director of the crime and mystery film festival, Crime Scene. Before his appointment to the BFI, he was a founding Director of Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham and Director of the Bradford Playhouse & Film Theatre.