Amanda Redman MBE began her acting career training at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She has a huge number of credits to her name including theatre, film, TV and radio.

After creating miniature sets and matte paintings for his own homemade Super8 movies, Simon Winstanley became a life-long fan of solving visual effects challenges.

Some of Nick’s favourite films; The Godfather films, It’s A Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Dr Strangelove and Withnail and I.

Clare is a director producer and writer creating character led distinctive films across wildlife science and human stories broadcast by BBC Netflix ABC with a Disney Plus premiere in 2026.

How many films do you watch in a year? Mark Eccleston, one of our judges, reckons he sees between four and five hundred in his job as a film critic.

Paul Raschid is a writer-director specialising in both feature and interactive films. To date, his work has received numerous film festival selections, a BAFTA Scotland win and a BAFTA Cymru nomination

Filmmaker Michelle Brooks started out in TV working in the BBC Promotions department where she scripted, and directed for the BBC shows like Strictly and Dr Who.

Susan Stein is judging the entries in our category for Experimental films. Susan was a camerawoman at the BBC for thirty years, a pioneer for women seeking to work in film.

Matthew Turner, born in Perivale in Ealing, is a freelance film journalist, the compiler / co-author of ‘What To Watch When’ and the host of ‘Fatal Attractions’, a podcast about erotic thrillers.

Ever since he was a young boy, David Leach has had a passion for comics and animation. He grew up on a diet of cartoon shows and devoured every comic book he could lay his hands on.

Beatrix began editing films aged eleven, borrowing a VHS camera to shoot a James Bond homage. She has over 25 years of industry experience, including the sci-fi thriller feature, A Million Days.