08 Jun KSF Artists of Choice: UK Film Selection Panel
Today we were interviewing shortlisted applicants for KSF Artists of Choice: UK Film Category. Below you can read about the high level industry professionals who worked with us on the selection panel to uncover some of the best new talent working in the UK film industry today.
Carola Ash is Director of Europe for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences working as their representative for European members and raising the Academy’s international profile. She has been a creative producer, with over 25 years experience in film and television. She was Head of Production at Future Films for 10 years, and was director of international production for five years at Warner Bros International Television; previously she was based in LA working for the actor Andy Garcia. She is a member of BAFTA and Women in Film.
Stephen Beresford is a writer whose first play The Last of the Haussmans, was produced by the National Theatre in 2012, and stared Julie Walters. He received the 2015 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer for his screenplay Pride. The film won the Queer Palm Award at Cannes and Best British Film at the British Independent Film Awards and was also nominated for a Golden Globe (best picture, comedy or musical).
Rhianna Dhillon is a Movie Critic for Radio 1 and 1Xtra. She has a podcast Movies with Rhianna and presents BAFTA Guru Podcast. She went to Reading University 2008- 2011 and got the job at Radio 1 while she was still there.
Andrew Haigh is a film director, screenwriter and producer. His acclaimed romantic drama Weekend won the SXSW Audience Award for Emerging Visions and London Film Critics’ Circle award for Breakthrough British Filmmaker. His latest feature, 45 Years, won two Silver Bears at Berlin this year and will be released in August. He is also for the showrunner of the HBO drama Looking.
Christine Langan is Head of BBC Films. Her recent producing credits include Stephen Frears’s BAFTA winning and Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated Philomena; Simon Curtis’s Woman in Gold and Thomas Vinterberg’s Far From The Madding Crowd starring Carey Mulligan.
KSF Artists of Choice is a pioneering funding and mentoring initiative for UK and US based emerging artists working in theatre, musical theatre, music, dance or film. Epitomizing KSF’s aim of ‘sending the elevator back down’ it will provide funding, year-round support and mentoring by industry heavyweights. Once we’ve completed shortlist interviews in the UK and the US, we hope to announce our award recipients by early July.