JURY

BRENDA BLETHYN – First Time Director of a Feature Film

BRENDA BLETHYN is an English known for her portrayals of working-class women with eccentric qualities. She is the recipient of several accolades, including one Golden Globe, one BAFTA, one Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and two Academy Award nominations.

Blethyn pursued an administrative career before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting in her late 20s. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and gained attention for her performances in Troilus and Cressida (1976), Mysteries (1979), Steaming (1981), and Benefactors (1984), receiving an Olivier nomination for the latter.

In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh‘s Grown-Ups. She later won leading roles on the short-run sitcoms Chance in a Million (1984–86) and The Labours of Erica (1989–90). She made her big-screen debut with a small role in Nicolas Roeg‘s 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s The Witches. She experienced a major career breakthrough with her leading role in Mike Leigh‘s 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, for which she received multiple awards, including Best Actress at Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award nomination. She earned her second Academy Award nomination two years later, for her performance in Little Voice (1998).

Blethyn has since appeared in a range of big-budget and independent features, including Girls’ Night, Music from Another Room, Night Train (all 1998), Saving Grace (2000), Lovely and Amazing (2001), Pumpkin, Sonny, Plots with a View (all 2002), Beyond the Sea, A Way of Life (both 2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Clubland, and Atonement (both 2007). In addition, she has continued to appear frequently on television, in productions such as Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) and War and Peace (2007). Since 2011, she has played the title role of DCI Vera Stanhope in the British crime drama series Vera and more recently Kate in ITV sitcom Kate & Koji

Brenda is also Ramsgate International Film Festival’s Patron

CLAIRE-ELIZABETH TERRY –  Narrative Features

CLAIRE-ELIZABETH TERRY trained in stage-management at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Descendant of British actress Ellen Terry. After working for several years in British theatre, she became a travel writer. Short-listed for the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize, she has also written for the Rough Guides travel series.

In 2008, Claire conceived, compiled and edited the book, ‘The Art of Living: a Practical Guide to Being Alive’, published by Kairós Publishers in both English and Spanish, the profits from which are donated to Green Cross International, the environmental organization founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. The book includes contributions from The Dalai Lama, Michael Douglas, Desmond Tutu, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Masaru Emoto, Richard Branson, Mikhail Gorbachev and several members of the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations.

Claire is also the founder and president of the website and not-for-profit of the same name, ‘The Art of Living Guide’, the purpose of which is to encourage people from diverse cultures worldwide to share their thoughts and perspectives on those aspects of being alive which affect us all: in other words, ‘pooling our resources’, so that we can all help each other learn more about the beautiful ‘art’ of being alive.

In 2016 she founded the highly-successful Rocaberti Writers’ Retreats, held in medieval castles in France, Spain and Italy which match a select group of writers with industry mentors to develop their projects. Several writers have had their scripts or books optioned from these retreats and/or found representation.

She is the writer and Executive Producer of upcoming feature film, Roses, about four friends from all over the world, whose lives are transformed when a rose is secretly drawn for each of the women.

In 2018, Claire wrote, directed and produced the short, Thirty Minutes (2020), starring Lúcia Moniz of ‘Love, Actually.’

MICHAEL ALDEN –  Narrative Features

MICHAEL ALDEN has been at the helm of film, theater, and special event production in a career that has spanned over forty years. Film works include From The Shadows, Studio One Forever, Death Metal, Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol With A Twist, My Beautiful Stutter, Just Cause with Sean Connery, the fashion forward documentary UnZipped for Miramax, Stephen Daldry’s The Hours, the multi-award winning feature comedy Kissing Jessica Stein and Ralph Ziman’s foreign feature film The Zookeeper starring Sam Neill.

As a theater producer, Mr. Alden has been represented in the West End with Come From Away, (Olivier Award for Best Musical), David Seidler’s original play The King’s Speech and Bat Boy The Musical. On Broadway: Come From Away (2017 Tony Nomination Best Musical), Disgraced (Pulitzer Prize – Drama) Grey Gardens and Bridge & Tunnel (Special Tony Award). His off Broadway and regional works include The King’s Speech, Not That Jewish, Becoming Dr. Ruth, the Brochu-Schalchlin musical The Last Session, Spalding Gray: Stories Left To Tell, the Los Angeles productions of Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly, and Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates.

In 1984 Mr. Alden joined Cannon Films in their post-production department. Quickly moving up the ranks, in 1986 he was made supervisor of the department, overseeing the creative and technical post-production of over one hundred feature films.  Mr. Alden assumed Vice Presidency at Pathe Communications in 1989, where he headed their public post-production facility, Pathe Services. He served as a corporate officer of the newly formed company taking them into profit in their first year. During his term, Mr. Alden was instrumental in locating, analyzing, and supervising the rejuvenation of over 1,500 feature film elements that had been stored worldwide which comprised the company’s film library. Those feature elements served as the equity foundation for Pathe’s purchase of MGM/UA where Mr. Alden went on to serve as their vice president of post-production.

SASHA BENNETT –  Narrative Features

After 30 years in the film industry, Bennett has created visuals for global hit-musical We Will Rock You; music videos for the likes of Queen; feature films for Universal UK, Paramount and Sony; TV shows for the BBC, SKY/HBO; filmed across the planet from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean and completed a documentary series that has identified a serial killer who’s eluded capture for almost half a century.
The end of 2023 saw Bennett’s production company teaming up with Marvista / Tubi (USA) to produce three feature films in London, and he will begin pre-production on a new King Arthur franchise in the spring.
Bennett is an award-winning filmmaker, represented by Casarotto & Ramsay Associates, and a full voting BAFTA member. 

SELECTED CREDITS

• Feature franchise creator: Bonded By Blood (Neil Maskell, Adam Deacon, Vincent Regan) and We Still Kill The Old Way (Steven Berkoff, James Cosmo, Patrick Bergin)
• Feature: true story Outside Bet (Bob Hoskins, Phil Davis, Jenny Agutter); title song by Paul Weller.
• Docu-series: Hunt For A Serial Killer: The West End Murders and Armada: 12 Days To Save England
• Feature: Universal UK’s first ever production, international thriller Tango One (Vincent Regan, Enrique Arce, Joseph Millson)
• Shakespeare feature adaptations: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello: Beautiful Devils

BAZ RUSSELL –  Narrative Features

‘I began my career in ‘fit-up’, touring small villages in the depths of Wales.  Repertory theatre followed, including a couple of seasons at Butlins. For a more reliable income, I gained a BEd degree in English and Drama. But teaching wasn’t really for me; I preferred ‘extra’ work, with occasional lines, on television. I have reviewed the incoming films since the Festival started six years ago – and loved it!’ 

DAN BLACKWELL –  Documentary Features

DAN BLACKWELL is a distinguished musician and composer known for his work in fostering cultural exchange and understanding through music. He began his career traveling across the UK, collaborating with diverse artists, and later founded the 4bar Collective in 2013 to promote musical unity. His acclaimed 2017 documentary “Sisters” shed light on the Zohra Orchestra, Afghanistan’s first all-female ensemble, and earned screenings at international film festivals and the UK Houses of Parliament. In 2023, he co-founded the Afghanistan Freeharmonic Orchestra, supporting Afghan musicians’ cultural heritage amidst adversity. Blackwell’s projects reflect his commitment to advocacy through music, often involving high-risk environments to amplify marginalised voices.

HARRISON HICKSON – Experimental Features

HARRISON HICKMAN was born in Oxfordshire in 1992. He studied at the Universities of Dundee and Heriot-Watt before moving to Vietnam, where he taught English in Ho Chi Minh City.

His most recent novel is A Life Called Scarlet, which follows the rise and fall of a 1990s girl band. His other books include Behind The Window, Set In Stone and Lifecycle: Twelve Stories. His work has been included in numerous anthologies, including A Kind Of Stupidity and Bridges Or Walls?.

He is currently working on his next novel, The Unconvinced.

PETER LYDON – World Narrative Shorts

PETER LYDON successfully moves between commercials and high-profile TV drama, blending great performances with a cinematic eye.

In the TV world he has directed classics like Shameless, Teachers, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Vincent and Poirot. He won a Royal Television Society Award for his BBC1 period drama series Garrow’s Law.

As a commercials director he has clocked up work for brands like Carlsberg, Ikea, Sky and Mercedes. In this arena he’s directed iconic names like Al Pacino, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Caine, Joanna Lumley, David Beckham and Scarlet Johansson.

Peter cut his directing teeth as a documentary maker with award winning films for BBC Arena and The South Bank Show. His three-part biography of comedy legend Peter Sellers was BAFTA nominated and won several major awards in the US including Gold at The Chicago Television Festival.

Peter is also a prolific cartoonist, but that’s another story…

VÉRONIQUE SIEGEL – UK Narrative Shorts

After completing a Master’s degree in cinema, Véronique Siegel obtained a Master’s degree in audiovisual production at the University of Valenciennes. A true film enthusiast, she worked as a volunteer on the production of several short films, then started out as production manager on short films for GREC while working at Bagan Films as a production assistant. Production manager at the company since 2012 and producer since 2014, she has contributed to the production of around twenty films (shorts & features for TV and cinema in fiction, animation and documentary) selected at various festivals around the world (including Venice, Sundance, Clermont Ferrand, etc.).

She has also been a member of Pictanovo (Haut-de-France region) short film production support selection committee, and for the past two years has been a speaker at the Maison du Film on short film production management.

REVELL DIXON – Documentary Shorts

REVELL DIXON is a Digital Content Producer based in London, specialising in filming and video editing. He has a huge passion for video content, with a commitment to creating exposure for creative artists’ work and representing disabled people and disability through his work. Revell has had speech and language difficulties since birth. The experience has informed his practice, with a passion to ensure the voices and experiences of disabled people are heard.

ALŽBETA BULÍKOVÁ – Animation Shorts

ALŽBETA BULÍKOVÁ is a filmmaker and photographer born and raised in Slovakia. As a pursuit to explore her passion for video production, she moved to Las Vegas at the age of 17 to study art and launch her career. Her artistic curiosity led her to London, where she earned a degree in advertising and a degree in film, further developing her skills in visual storytelling. Through Vanity (2023), Alzbeta is focused on creating a thought-provoking and relatable film that explores the complexities of human relationships and the depths of the human psyche.

SEQUIN KAY – Experimental Shorts

FRANCESCA JEX – Local Shorts