take a look at a few of the brilliant people making up our VIP jury for OUR 8th annual film festival.

This year’s grand jury is inspiring. Straight from bafta breakthrough and film london lodEsters, and into our tweetfest office to judge the magic of our 2022 festival, meet some of our wonderful jury….

SHAKYRA DOWLING

Independent Casting Director, Shakyra Dowling has been working for over two
decades on Sundance, BAFTA, Berlinale and Oscar-nominated films whilst zealously
promoting diversity in casting.

At TIFF 2021, Shakyra cast Nathalie Biancheri’s WOLF with George MacKay, Lily
Rose-Depp and Paddy Considine.

In 2019 Shakyra cast Nathalie Biancheri’s first feature NOCTURNAL which premiered at
LFF casting includes Cosmo Jarvis, and at Toronto Film Festival’s White Lie; casting
includes Kacey Rohl who is named a Canadian Rising Star for her performance
and Amber Anderson, UK ES Rising Star 2017.

Current casting includes the Swedish biopic HAMMERSKJOLD directed by Per Fly
(Bogen) and produced by Patrick Ryborn for Unlimited Stories. It’s shooting in South
Africa this summer with Mikael Persbrandt in the lead role, Pizza Con Amour with
Colin Morgan and Rosabell Laurenti in the lead roles and David Freyne’s Epping starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett produced by Farah Abushwesha.

WEBSITE: Shakyra Dowling Casting

TWITTER: ShakyraDowling

jessie mangum

Jessie Mangum is a BIFA nominated producer whose credits include Rene van Pannevis’
feature LOOTED (Film London/ BBC Film/ BFI), FIPRESCI winner at PÖFF Tallinn Black
Nights 2019 and released in the UK in November 2020 through Bulldog Distribution.
LOOTED was a Discovery Award nominee at the 2020 BIFAs.

Other producing credits include Anna Maguire’s short CONSTELLATIONS (Palm Springs, Underwire script award winner), Associate Producer on Cherie Nowlan’s 2007 Sundance title CLUBLAND, Co-producer of Julien Temple’s THE ETERNITY MAN (Locarno 2008, Rose D’or winner), and producer of Deborah Mailman’s RALPH which won the IF Award for best short (Australia’s BIFAs).

Recently Jessie produced a virtual reality experience GET PUNKED! for StoryFutures / Visualise / Unboxed Festival, and is Associate Producer / Production Consultant for the upcoming feature THE MIRACLE CLUB produced by Zephyr Films starring Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Laura Linney, now in post-production.

IMDB: Jessie Mangum

TWITTER: Jessie Mangum

thabo mhlatshwa

Thabo joins our VIP jury for the first time in 2022 having come straight from the ITV office where he has been penning episodes of Hollyoaks.

Full bio coming soon.

IMDB: Thabo Mhlatshwa

TWITTER: Thabo Mhlatshwa

RAJITA SHAH

Rajita was a Film London Lodestars for 2021, and most recently a BAFTA breakthrough producer. Rajita started work as a producer for National Geographic and Discovery in New York. She won more than 15 awards for the 2007 documentary 4 Kilometers which was shot with Bedouin Tribes in the unrecognized villages in Negev, Israel. Thereafter she worked with the UK Film Council Agency B3media as an in-house producer and produced several award-winning films which were screened at BFI London Film Festival, East End Film Festival, Palm Spring Festival, and Chicago Film Festival. Rajita produced the feature film Zohra directed by Cannes and Venice award-winning British director Barney Platts-Mills which enjoyed its World Premiere at the 40th International Rotterdam Film Festival.

Her latest feature, Love Sarah, starring Rupert Penry-Jones, Celia Imrie, Shelley Conn, has just enjoyed being released in cinemas around the globe, despite us having a pandemic in 2020.

IMDbRajita Shah

TWITTER: Rajita Shah

marc price

Internationally award-winning director, Marc Price, is the writer and director of “NIGHTSHOOTERS” and “Dune Drifter”, a sci-fi action feature having its premiere at Frightfest before being released this year.

Marc’s debut feature, COLIN, won six international film awards including Best Feature at Raindance and a nomination at the BIFA awards for best feature. Screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Frightfest and Sitges, Colin has been released theatrically in Japan, North America, Canada, Australia, Germany and UK

As well as seeing great festival success, COLIN also received a wealth of critical acclaim across the world, with Martin Scorsese describing it as, “Savage, with an energy that takes the zombie idea to another level. Really interesting filmmaking. Disturbing.”

Marc’s second feature, MAGPIE, was released theatrically in the US and UK and is currently featured on Amazon Prime Movies. Marc has also developed horror or genre based projects for Film 4’s Frightfest, CBBC, E4 and BBC Three.

Marc’s has co-created Dead Pixel Productions with producing partner Michelle Parkyn and in two years produced 5 feature films that have found distribution in the UK and US. They are currently developing two new features and finishing a multimedia film project for Sony starring Paul McGann, Brian McCardie and Myanna Buring.

IMDB: Marc Price

TWITTER: Marc Price

TIBO TRAVERS

Tibo’s short film has been a recipient of Best Film at TweetFest in previous years, (amongst other awards), and we are delighted to welcome him onto the VIP jury this year. Travers is a Franco-British film producer and founder of Sweetdoh Films – a creative media company whose slate of fifteen short films have received two BAFTA long-lists, festival awards and selections including Palm Springs, Chicago International and BFI London Film Festival. Made with support from the BFI, Creative England and Film London, Tibo’s productions have received worldwide distribution and broadcast on Vice TV, RTÉ and Canal+.

Tibo also works as a Drama Producer for Raw TV, Passion Pictures, and Minnow Films, producing TV drama for such networks as BBC Films, National Geographic, Amazon and Netflix. He was a 1st Assistant Director on thirteen feature films to date and is a Senior Visiting Lecturer in Film Production at Royal Holloway University of London.

Tibo is also a Senior Visiting Lecturer in Film Production at Royal Holloway University of London, and the creator of Stage 21, a series of acting workshops for young actors with Down syndrome – a project supported by Arts Council England and BAFTA.

Tibo is currently developing Out There, a sci-fi coming of age feature supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales, the BFI, Arts Council England and TIFF – and Sexploration, a sitcom commissioned by ITV.

IMDB: Tibo Travers

TWITTER: Tibo Travers

ROLAND MOORE

Roland is an award-winning series creator, showrunner and scriptwriter working in a wide range of genres for film and television in Europe, America, and China.

He created the BBC1 returning award-winning period drama series, LAND GIRLS, and he was recently the Showrunner on HUMANS for Endemol Shine China and Croton Media. HUMANS is the first sci-fi thriller series ever made for Chinese television. Roland storylined the 30 part series (based on the AMC/C4 series), wrote six episodes and managed a team of writers through various drafts. The series aired in China in 2021 where it streamed on TenCent and iQiyi gaining over 30 million views in the first day!

Roland has developed his original conspiracy thriller THE LAST COP (now available) and the historical thriller THE WITCH OF GRIC for Fremantle. His children’s feature film 2:HRS received its theatrical premiere in the UK.

He has written extensively for Big Finish writing original audio dramas for their DOCTOR WHO and SURVIVORS ranges. Other credits include WHITE OAK (feature), RASTAMOUSE, SMACK THE PONY, DOCTORS, MAN STROKE WOMAN and PETER RABBIT.

Roland is also a script editor and consultant. He recently was employed as a mentor on the prestigious Bridging the Dragon event – where he mentored projects from producers in China and Europe. He also was a mentor at the London Screenwriters’ Festival Talent Campus.

WEBSITE: Roland Moore

TWITTER: Roland Moore

ANGELA PETERS – FOUNDER AND PROGRAMMER

Founder of the UK Actors Tweetups, B.A.B.E. Acting Network, World Acting Summit (online series in 2014) and a Backstage Expert since 2018, Angela loves getting involved in every part of the industry.

Angela is an international actress who has been on TV (Emmerdale, Queensland’s Best Living, The Awkward Man) in many cinema and festival screened feature films and shorts as well as films on Netflix, Sky, and Amazon Prime. And when she isn’t hosting the UK Actors Tweetup, she’s usually in her studio voicing a voiceover or audiobook in her native Aussie accent.

TWITTER: @angiepang

INSTAGRAM: @angiepet

CHRYSSANTHI KOURI – FESTIVAL PROGRAMMER

Chryssanthi is a director and writer and has been working professionally in Film and TV productions for over 15 years. As a writer and director, she has produced 6 short films, as well as directed music videos and factual TV. She is also a former actor, trained at Mountview, and a theatre director specialising in new writing. Chryssanthi’s film work has been described as “simple and complex, lyrical and accessible and beautifully executed.

Chryssanthi is also the TweetFest Festival Programmer and has been working alongside Angela for the last four festivals as the lead programmer for the festival. 

TWITTER: @Chryskouri

INSTAGRAM: @chryskouri

gemma gordon

Gemma Gordon is a British Actress and Presenter known for ‘Dark Ditties Presents’ on Amazon Prime alongside Ian Gelder (Game of Thrones) and Bruce Jones (Coronation St). She has a key role in ‘Swipe Fever’ feature film, coming soon produced by Mark Forstater (Monty Python) and is endorsed by ITV Producer, Simon Withington as a Presenter of Wedfun News.

She was a 2019 Miss Universe Great Britain Finalist and promotes female empowerment through charities such as Centrepoint. She will present the Mental Health and Well-being Awards in 2022. Gemma trained at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.

IMDB: Gemma Gordon

INSTAGRAM: Gemma Gordon

elizabeth hammond

WEBSITE

Elizabeth Hammond is an Actress based in London and Manchester, storytelling across film, TV, theatre and recorded Voice. Most recently, she has appeared as Charlotte in the Amazon Prime TV series ‘Birchall’s Pints’, set in Liverpool.

Elizabeth worked alongside Tyrell Williams (BAFTA Elevate) who wrote and directed ‘A Little Hungover’, playing ‘Alex’, a highly strung boss! In ‘Dodgy Dave, she was directed by Charlotte Regan, playing a ‘Police Officer’, which was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. And working with a great ensemble, she appeared as ‘Mrs Hoon’ in the National Tour of ‘Heartbeat’.

In recorded voice, she voiced for the role of ‘Rose’ an astronaut in the award-winning film ‘Red Light’ by Dos Torres VFX, and excited to be cast in his next film ‘The Box’, playing Zireal.

WEBSITE: Elizabeth Hammond

INSTAGRAM: Elizabeth Hammond