Feature Jury
NOAZ DESHE
Director in Residence
Noaz Deshe is a director whose films have been presented at the Venice, San Francisco, and Sundance film festivals, amongst many others. His debut feature, White Shadow, was about a young albino boy being hunted by witchdoctors in Tanzania, and contributed towards a legal change in that country. The film won the Best Feature Award at the East End Film Festival in 2014.
ROSS CLARKE
Ross Clarke is a British director and writer. His feature debut Dermaphoria, starring Joseph Morgan and Ron Perlman, opened the East End Film Festival in 2014. He previously co-directed the award-winning documentary Skid Row (2007). As a DJ and Promoter he co-created Lovebox and Favela Chic London and has been a regular DJ on the Shoreditch club scene since 1995.
IRVINE WELSH
Irvine Welsh is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His novels Trainspotting and Filth were previously adapted into critically acclaimed films. Famous for his brutal depiction of urban life, he has also written screenplays and directed several short films. He lives in Chicago.
VIV ALBERTINE
Raised in North London, Viv Albertine is best known as the trailblazing guitarist in influential band The Slits. Her solo album The Vermilion Border was released in 2012 and her autobiography published in 2014. She has also worked as a film director and actor, starring in Joanna Hogg’s Exhibition.
AMMA ASANTE
London-born writer/director Amma Asante received the 2005 BAFTA Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement in a debut film for A Way of Life. Her second feature Belle opened to phenomenal success in America and widespread acclaim globally. She was one of CNN’s Leading Women of 2014, earning further nominations at the UK National Film Awards and US NAACP Awards.
Documentary Jury
KATE SMURTHWAITE
Kate Smurthwaite is an award winning stand-up comedian and political activist. She has toured at home and abroad with her political comedy show, scooping a coveted Three Week’s Editors Choice prize at the Edinburgh Fringe. Kate also writes for BAFTA-winning BBC3 series The Revolution Will Be Televised, as well as Have I Got News For You, and has contributed to the Guardian, Independent and Cosmopolitan among others. She has appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows including Question Time, This Morning, The Big Questions, Moral Maze and Woman’s Hour.
ORLANDO VON EINSIEDEL
Orlando has directed documentaries spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Arctic, covering everything from a skateboard school in Afghanistan to West African piracy. His last film, Virunga, was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA.
XIAOLU GUO
Xiaolu Guo is a British Chinese prizewinning filmmaker, novelist and essayist. Her films have been the subject of a recent Cinéma du Réel retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. She has travelled around the world conducting master classes at film festivals and universities.
RITA DANIELS
Rita Daniels is an Executive Producer in Channel 4’s Documentaries Department, overseeing such series as One Born Every Minute and First Dates as well as the debut director’s strand First Cut. She previously worked as a series director and senior producer/director for 24 Hours in A&E and 24 in Police Custody respectively.
Shorts Jury
KIRSTEN BEITH
Kirsten is the founder of and lead agent at Undercranked, a talent agency representing directors and production talent working in features, music, advertising and television. She has dealt with both sides of the camera, featuring in promos and commercials, later working as a magazine editor, producer, crew representative, agent and journalist for companies including EMAP, Time Out, STAR TV Asia Region, IMG Worldwide and Travel Channel.
STEVE ORAM
Steve Oram is an English actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker, best known for co-writing and starring in Ben Wheatley’s 2012 black comedy Sightseers. Oram has also written and directed numerous short films under the pseudonym Steve Aura, and is currently completing his debut feature Aaaaaaaah!
SOPHIE MAYER
Sophie Mayer is the author of Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema and The Cinema of Sally Potter: A Politics of Love. She is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound and The F-Word, and a member of queer femme curatorial collective Club des Femmes.
MUSTAPHA KSEIBATI
Screen Star of Tomorrow Mustapha Kseibati has previously made films with the UK Film Council, BBC and Sky, as well as several shorts. He has a passion for comedy, drama and action and is currently working on ‘a kick ass action comedy’ with Ken Marshall, producer of Filth.
EMMA DABIRI
Emma Dabiri is a writer and cultural commentator, specialising in African culture. She is a PhD researcher at SOAS, and has been involved in several events and projects that cross over between film and other cultural media, including the recent Afrofuturism season at the BFI.
Accession Award: Soundtrack Jury
FRANK TURNER
Frank Turner is an English singer and songwriter strongly influenced by country and folk. Coming from a post-hardcore background – he used to lead noisy London upstarts Million Dead – Turner went solo in the mid-2000s and has released five albums to date. His imminent sixth LP is titled Positive Songs
For Negative People.