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Following Cinema Rediscovered’s annual call out for aspiring and early career video essay makers and film critics; we are excited to introduce the participants for the 7th edition of the Film Critics’ Workshop dedicated to video essays (July – Sept 2023) as part of the festival.
The workshop will be led by film historian, programmer and video editor Jonathan Bygraves with guests including critic, researcher, and video essayist Will DiGravio and scholar sound professional, and video essayist Liz Greene and film programmer, cultural critic, and occasional video essayist Tara Judah who will connect with participants in person here in Bristol.
These participants will benefit from practice-based insights, space to develop their voices and experiment with form as well as opportunities to interact with other creatives involved.
Find out more below about the nine participants selected to take part. Be sure to keep an eye out for updates and videos from them following the festival – and into the future!
Theo Rollason
Theo Rollason is a freelance film writer based in London. They are particularly interested in writing about capitalism, gender and queerness, found footage, sci-fi, and the materiality of film. They recently completed an MA in Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths; their dissertation looked at neoliberal ideology and the contemporary superhero blockbuster. When they're not writing, Theo works as an archivist for the estate of the artist Paula Rego, where their current project involves preserving and digitising the family’s film and photo archives.
Twitter / Website / Letterboxd
Cameron Mumford
Cameron Mumford recently completed their MLitt in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews. They have a particular interest in queerness and the horror genre, having written their MLitt dissertation on queerness in modern horror and how that subverts and plays with many of Robin Wood’s ideas about the horror genre and it’s relationship to those that society represses. They also adapted many of the dissertation’s central ideas into a video essay, putting Séance and Bit into conversation.
Niall Glynn
Niall Glynn is a film digital restoration assistant working in Wales. He has studied film in the UK and Ireland and has been a contributor to film websites such as MASSIVE Cinema and podcasts such as The 250. Before moving to the United Kingdom he worked as a cinema projectionist, a role which inspired his passion for film preservation and presentation, leading to his current work restoring films for archival purposes, commercial screenings and release for home media by boutique labels.
Kwame Phillips
Kwame Phillips is Senior Lecturer in Media Practices at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, specialising in sensory media production, visual anthropology and audio culture. Phillips’ work uses multimodal and experimental methodologies, often grounded in remix and repurposing, to focus on resilience, race, and social justice. He is co-author (with Dr. Shana Redmond) of the chapter “‘The People Who Keep on Going’: A Radical Listening Party” in The Futures of Black Radicalism (Verso 2017). He is also co-creator (with Dr. Debra Vidali) of the multi-sensorial sound art work, “Kabusha Radio Remix: Your Questions Answered by Pioneering Zambian Talk Show Host David Yumba (1923-1990).” He is part of the Visual Scholarship Initiative.
Amy Jensen
Amy Jensen is a recent graduate, having just been awarded a First for her BA in Film & TV at the University of Reading. During her academic journey, Amy's newfound passion for the video essay medium grew as she delved into the works of influential essayists/filmmakers such as Chris Marker, Adam Curtis, Kogonada, and Kevin B. Lee, culminating in a desktop documentary exploring social media and virtual artist communities. Eager to delve deeper into film's creative possibilities beyond the confines of academia, she is excited to be participating in this workshop and festival. As an advocate for diversity and inclusivity, Amy is determined to challenge conventional perspectives and venture into unexplored artistic territories. Her unwavering commitment to elevating LGBTQ+ stories, highlighting the achievements of female directors, and empowering marginalised voices drives her storytelling choices. Through her work, Amy aspires to foster understanding, spark dialogue, and celebrate the diversity of human experiences. With each project she undertakes, armed with a wealth of knowledge, a hunger for exploration, and an unwavering dedication to her craft, Amy is poised to push the boundaries of the video essay genre and leave an indelible mark on the world of visual storytelling.
Steph Francis-Shanahan
Steph Francis-Shanahan is a writer and image-maker interested in the presentation of emotion and the celebration of catharsis within creating. She is in the process of beginning her first film-specific zine after self-publishing a series of artist book party bags from 2020-2022. Her writing focuses on critiquing film, theatre and music alongside her own poetry and short stories. She completed an MA from Central Saint Martins in 2020 and is a current member of the School of The Damned. Her interests also encompass working class representation within the arts and how the myriad of this culture has been depicted on screen. The intersections of the arts and how to build links between different works are of great importance to her and she finds a lot of enjoyment in bringing new audiences to pieces they may feel are not for them.
Cecile Emeke
Cecile Emeke is a director, writer and artist from London, with a body of work that spans broadcast television, independent film and visual arts. Cecile’s work often explores time, cosmology and cultural production, through the prism of the Black diasporic experience, within liminal and intimate spaces. Cecile has directed and written for broadcasters such as HBO, BBC and Sky, as well as receiving film and moving image commissions from Tate Modern and ICA amongst others and is particularly well known for her globally acclaimed documentary series ’Strolling’, which recorded conversations with people across the Black diaspora, as well as ‘Ackee & Saltfish’, a comedy short film turned web-series about the everyday happenings of two friends.
Natasha Orlando Kappler
Nathasha Orlando Kappler is a German-Mexican first year MA student in Film Studies, Programming, and Curation at the National Film & Television School. She has previously programmed for Berlin Film Society, Deptford Cinema, and Conway Hall with a focus on showcasing films by POC and LGBTQI+ talent. Nathasha has previously contributed words to SVLLY(wood) Magazine, Berlin Film Journal, Screen Queens, and Photogénie, and she is currently working as a freelance video editor for Barbican Centre and FilmDoo. Nathasha enjoys a wide range of films which includes everything from women-led psychological horror to New Hollywood comedies.
Jacob Rose
Jacob Rose is a current Film and English student at the University of Bristol. Jacob began understanding art through theatrical performance, before moving to other fields. In 2018, he made a fairly bad song about an Artificial Intelligence who enjoyed eating religious icons of the world. Since then, they’ve been producing better projects, working with the BFI Film Academy, The Company Ltd., and other creatives to create short films, archive-based narratives, documentaries, and video essays. His current goal is to find ways of creating in as many forms as possible, exploring the joys of variety to help consider future career prospects. Certain areas of interest in their work include the intersection of mediums of art, post-structuralist schools of thought, and the absolute delight of being wrong.
