The 2023 Judging Team
Daniel Smales
Actor
Daniel is an English actor with a plethora of roles on stage, film and television; working on projects with Guy Ritchie and David Yates.
Daniel studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of music and dance.
Daniel was also included in Hull's 'Cool List of 2021'.
Ayvianna Snow
Actress
Ayvianna is an actress and Equity activist based in London. She has appeared in over fifty films, including films which screened at Locarno Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, FrightFest, and the BFI London Film Festival.
She is the Chair of Equity's London North branch, as well as an elected member of Equity's Screen Committee. She represents Equity on the Culture & Leisure Industries Committee of the TUC, as well as holding Equity's seat on the TUC LESE Executive.
She was instrumental in writing and developing Equity's Shorts & Festival Circuit Films Agreement; the first agreement of its type in the UK. It is specifically geared towards filmmakers with a budget of under £1 million, opening the doors for them to engage with Equity; since its inception three years ago, it has become a popular, widely used agreement for first-time filmmakers on Spotlight.
She also sits on the Creative Industries Panel of the University of Bedfordshire where she advises the student body.
Producer
Having trained on the BFI Academy where she was selected for BAFTA mentorship, Charlotte began producing in 2016,.
She began her production company in 2018, focussing on short films about dreamers who dare to do things differently.
Recently one of her 2020 short films was longlisted for Best British Short at the BAFTAs.
Louise Barton
Producer
Louise has a history if film production and has been part of the Romford Film Festival for 4 years. In previous years she was part of the selections committee but this year brings her skills to the judging team.
Louise had a very balanced view when she worked on the selections team, a skill bound to serve well as one of the festivals judging team.
To date she is the only member of the festival team to have worked in a judging capacity.
Louise Ann Munro
Screenwriter
Louise Ann Munro is an award winning screenwriter, producer and actress from Romford. Her first short film 'Mind F*#k' was nominated for best IMDB newcomer. Her second short film 'Mumatar' won Best Havering Film at Romford Film Festival 2018 and can currently be seen on Disney+.
Since then Louise went onto write and produce the short comedy 'Don't Fight It', the webseries 'Bina & Betty' and most recently the short drama film 'Beholden', which is currently in post-production and will hit film festivals later in 2023.
In 2022 she was selected to be a BAFTA Connect member and is now in development with her first feature film.
Lee Hunter
Actor/Screenwriter
Lee is an award-winning actor/filmmaker whose groundbreaking film 'On My Own' blew audiences away at the 2021 Romford Film Festival and scored him the win as Best Actor. The film has travelled the globe to wide acclaim.
As well as a huge amount of TV and indie film appearances, Lee also starred in the festival circuit smash hit 'Hosts' in 2020/21. More recently he has been on British TV screens in Emmerdale.
Lee is a strong mental health advocate and wrote the short film 'On My Own' to highlight the importance of talking about your mental health, with particular emphasis on men's mental health issues.
Writer/Director
Writer/director of shorts, plays and two feature films, ('The Boys' and the multiple-award winning 'Marriage'), Kat’s films have screened in Oscar and Bafta-qualifying festivals and played all over the world. Her play-film 'Cockroach Waltz', premiered at Greenwich Playhouse and her immersive multimedia 'The Libertines' was produced by and shown at the Marlowe Theatre.
Crossing into TV, her comedy/ drama series bOLDer currently in development, has Joanna Lumley, Simon Callow, Hugh Quarshie and Jane Asher attached to star. Her screenplay 'The Secret Mind of Indy Carter' was long-listed at BBC Writers Room and is in development with Iris Productions and Inventome. Kat runs her own comedy club 'The Laugh Bite', performing stand up and improv.
Paul Curtis
Cinematographer/
VFX Supervisor/Producer
Paul's background is in post-production, design, development, CGI and VFX since the 90s. He's directly worked on features such as Lost In Space, Dragon Charm, Prince Valiant and has consulted on numerous others.
He's run a successful international new-media design agency based in Soho, managing creatives for over 20 years.
He has produced numerous global media projects for clients such as Sony, Apple Computer, Emirates, Virgin, Sultan of Brunei, Spice Girls and Anderson Consulting. He has produced TV pilots and theatre and has shot many shorts and Music videos. He has won multiple awards for Cinematography and Visual Effects.
Paul's expansive knowledge on the practicalities and technicalities of filmmaking has him on the testing panels for Adobe, The Foundry and some well known camera manufacturers.
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