straight 8

anna smith is one of the uk’s best-known film critics and a seasoned broadcaster and moderator. the former president of the uk critics’ circle, she is the host and co-founder of girls on film, the world’s leading podcast about women in film. girls on film has welcomed 25 oscar-winners onto the podcast, been nominated for eight awards and launched its own annual ceremony, the girls on film awards.

as a writer, anna is a regular contributor to titles including time out, the guardian and rolling stone uk. having presented many episodes of the bbc news channel film review, she appears as a film expert across bbc tv and radio as well as sky news, times radio and more. she has been a judge at the bafta film awards, bifas and the sky arts awards and hosted hundreds of on-stage q&as and film premieres with names including kate winslet, angela bassett, ryan gosling, emma thompson, hugh jackman and louis theroux.

asif is a multiple award winning writer director producer who needs little introduction - but feel free to imdb search him up!

hedda archbold produces the mark kermode live in 3d show at the bfi southbank, and the kermode on film podcast. she is the co-founder and exec producer of the world’s leading podcast on women in film, girls on film, which provides a platform for women and non-binary filmmakers and has a mission to work toward gender parity, diversity and inclusion in front of and behind the camera. she is the strategic lead for mental health and wellbeing with workwise for screen, the bfi-funded initiative which encourages good working practices in the screen industries.

jo is a film and cultural relations specialist, based between the uk and france. she is currently a senior film consultant for the british council, where she leads talent development programmes and manages the recently expanded film travel grant scheme, in collaboration with the bfi.

spanning creative production, film programming and new talent development, jo has a wealth of experience developing innovative, international film and arts programmes. she cares deeply about connecting audiences to original storytelling through intrinsically global projects and building thriving communities around creative culture.

jo is a film festival expert and offers regular consultancies to short and early-career filmmakers, both independently and through the british council and the national film & television school.

she has previously worked as a film programmer for the independent cinema office in the uk and was programme director at london short film festival for two years. she was the creative producer and programmer at birds eye view, where she helped to develop and launch the highly successful reclaim the frame programme alongside mia bays.

a founder member of the beta band and the aliens, john made most of the music promos ranging from zero budget to £70,000, which have been released on dvd as the best of the beta band film (emi).

in 2009 he wrote and directed his first short film, man on a motorcycle, starring michael fassbender. this led to second short, pitch black heist, starring fassbender and liam cunningham commissioned by film4. it won the 2012 best short film award at bafta.

his first feature film slow west was funded by film4, the bfi and nz film council, premiered at sundance film festival in 2015 and won the world cinema grand jury award and was released in cinemas worldwide.

he is working on his second feature film, in development with the bfi, and a tv show with nbc universal.

bfi imax programme manager + friend of straight 8 for yonks.

madeleine has over 20 years film programming experience across film festivals and cinemas such as cinecity, birds eye view, karlovy vary film festivals and multiple consultancies for uk festivals well as cinema curating for picturehouse cinemas, tyneside newcastle, the lexi as well as many others, and now the bfi imax.

mark is an award winning director and all round filmmaker. he is synonmous with analog filmmaking today. mark is also a professor of film at falmouth university

mark kermode is one of britain’s best-known film critics. for more than two decades he reviewed films on bbc radio 5 live with simon mayo, a partnership that carries on in their podcast kermode & mayo’s take. he presented mark kermode’s secrets of cinema for bbc four, has written several books on film, including it’s only a movie and the good, the bad and the multiplex, and plays double bass in skiffle band the dodge brothers.

rachel clark is a cinematographer from the north east of england. after working in the camera department as a assistant and operator for many years she now works as a dop in her own right. she operated on the films rocks, dune, batman & men. her debut feature pirates premiered at sxsw festival in 2021. she shot the single drama i am ruth for which she received a bafta nomination (2023) for her work. rachel has taken part in straight8 a number of times, in 2019 making it to the final 25 shooting director casey hennesy’s film the perception of time.

bfi head of programme and acquisitions, uk - and solid pal of straight 8