ABOUT US

2025 Jury

Our juries are are always looking for potential. They are looking for films that experiment, push boundaries, tell stories that haven't been heard before and do so in a way that captivates the audience. They are not just looking for highly polished, big budget productions.

Suffolk Shorts celebrates all filmmakers, regardless of their access to resources.

  • Ryan Gander

    Unique Perspectives Short Film Jury 2025

    Ryan Gander is an artist living and working in Suffolk and London. He has established an international reputation through artworks that materialise in many different forms from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation, performance and more besides. Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, a reinvention of the modes of appearance and creation of an artwork.

  • Aasaf Ainapore

    East Anglian Short Film Jury 2025

    Aasaf Ainapore studied directing at the London Film School before becoming a commercials director. His first short films have screened at LFF, Edinburgh Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, Rhode Island International Film Festival and Ann Arbor Film Festival. Aasaf wrote and directed Peregrine, a BFI-developed and funded coming-of-age short film and he is a BAFTA Connect Director. He works as a directing tutor at the University of Suffolk. He is also a visiting tutor at the London Film School (MA).

  • Rachel Prendergast

    Student Short Film Jury 2025

    Having established commercial production company SubMotion, Rachel and writer-director, Richard Prendergast, also produced two critically acclaimed short films that garnered multiple international awards and critical acclaim. Rachel is now channeling her expertise into Liminal Films, a new Film and TV production company with a strong slate of projects already in development. Liminal Films aims to ignite the screen industry in Norfolk and the East of England by delivering commercially viable Film and TV projects alongside working within HETV (high-end TV) and major feature films. 

  • James Christopher

    East Anglian Short Film Jury 2025

    James Christopher is an associate director of INK, the UK’s largest producer of short plays which hosts an annual festival in Halesworth, Suffolk. In a previous life he was theatre and chief film critic for respectively Time Out and The Times. He has been on an improbable number of judging panels including the Derek Jarman Award, the BAFTA Rising Star Award, the Perrier Award, and the  Palm Dog Award in Cannes Award in Cannes. However, he says that Suffolk Shorts is the creme de la creme!

  • Emily Richardson

    Unique Perspectives Short Film Jury 2025

    Emily Richardson is an artist filmmaker. Her films have been shown in galleries, museums and festivals internationally including Tate Modern and Tate Britain, London, Pompidou Centre, Paris, Barbican Cinema, London; Anthology Film Archives, New York and Venice, Edinburgh, BFI London, Rotterdam and New York Film Festivals. Emily runs a monthly artists’ film night with The Art Station in Saxmundham.

  • James King

    Narrative Short Film Jury 2025

    James is a writer, broadcaster and one of the best known film critics in the UK. He is BBC Radio 2’s resident movie reviewer, providing his expertise on the Jo Whiley Show among others. He presented No Time to Die: The Official James Bond Podcast: No Time To Die and is the author of several books including, most recently, Be More Keanu and Fast Times & Excellent Adventures: The Surprising History of the 80s Teen Movie.

Our Team

Suffolk Shorts is run by passionate and dedicated people who care about bringing British and International Independent short films to Suffolk. We all believe that short films are the future.

We established Suffolk Shorts as a Community Interest Company in 2019 with the aims of growing a new local audience and encouraging local filmmaking. In 2019 the team curated 4 programmes, screened for 24 hours at First Light Festival and followed that with the Best of the Fest at Leiston Film Theatre. Both events were free to attend.

The first full awards based festival was held at Ipswich Film Theatre in October 2021. In 2022 Suffolk Shorts moved to The Riverside at Woodbridge, which remains our home and the Manager, Neil McGlone, joined the directors.

  • Claire Whittenbury

    Festival Director and Student Short Programme Lead

    After many years in film and TV production Claire became part of the team that launched the FilmFour channel, where she discovered her love of short film through the Short Attention Span Cinema strand. She went on to produce The Shooting Gallery with Mark Kermode, profiling filmmakers and introducing new short films to a late night audience on Channel 4. She’s dedicated to bringing international short film to Suffolk and determined to encourage investment in local young talent.

  • Rachel Aldridge

    Festival Director

    Rachel spent ten years in London working for ITV, working her way through the ranks to become Producer/Director on a number of factual and entertainment programmes. Since moving back to Suffolk she has worked as a Suffolk-based location manager and location scout. She works part-time for Screen Suffolk, the county’s official film office, supporting and promoting filmmaking in the county. Her aim is to raise the profile of filmmaking in East Anglia, and to create a fund specifically for that purpose.

  • Neil McGlone

    Festival Director

    Neil is the Manager at The Riverside cinema in his hometown of Woodbridge, Suffolk. He is researcher for The Criterion Collection in New York having worked on every release since 2013. Neil is festival advisor and consultant to Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic and Cinema Reborn in Sydney, Australia. Neil is a former contributor to the BFI’s film magazine, Sight & Sound.

  • Clio McLeary

    Narrative Programme Lead

    Clio is a Producer, currently at creative agency Mother. She is passionate about storytelling through short form visual content. Over 6 years she has continuously developed and refined her craft in advertising, working across an eclectic mix of clients from PlayStation to John Lewis. A stint at Somesuch also provided valuable exposure to the other side of the coin working on campaigns for the likes of Nike, Amazon and McDonalds.

  • Joshua Dickinson

    East Anglian Film Programme lead 2025

    Joshua Dickinson is an actor, writer and director. His independent film work includes Dry River (2021), Redcon-1 (2018) and The Mirror (2014). His first short film as a writer/director ‘Spiral’ is in development with Paradox House. As Head of Filmmaking for Young Film Academy in London he delivers courses on screenwriting and filmmaking, he also teaches screen acting at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

  • Rob Bevan

    Unique Perspectives Programme Lead 2025

    Rob Bevan was a founding partner at online drama production company XPT, and director of BAFTA-winning Online Caroline, he also co-founded NoHo Digital. Rob began his interactive media career in the late 1980s creating educational CD-ROMs for Apple’s Renaissance project and The MultiMedia Corporation, the BBC’s former Interactive Television Unit. He is a member of the BAFTA British Short Film category longlisting group.

  • Mary Graham

    Sponsorship Manager

    Mary has been running a creative and communications agency in Suffolk since giving up the daily commute to London 12 years ago. She sits on the First Light Festival board which is how she first came into contact with the Suffolk Shorts team at the inaugural festival in 2019. A huge fan of film, she can often be found in a cinema with a bag of Maltesers.

  • Brad Geller

    AV Technician and Student Liaison

    Brad has a solid foundation in both the technical and creative aspects of filmmaking. His work as an AV Technician at University of Suffolk, and as a Course Facilitator with the BFI Academy, highlights his commitment to honing his craft and contributing to the wider film community. Brad’s is the crucial link between Suffolk Shorts and the student team working to help shape the festival.

  • Christine Howell

    Advisor - policy

    Christine Howell is a specialist in policy and security, having been Senior Director of Policy and Security at Oracle for 16 years. Christine advised us on our application to be incorporated as a CIC and is working on general administration of the festival with a particular focus on equality and diversity.

2025 Student Team

New to Suffolk Shorts in 2025, a dedicated group of 18 students will be working with the programming and production teams to undertake their Professional Practice. Developing our partnership with University of Suffolk enables students from the Digital Film Production and Screenwriting courses to learn more about the process of producing a festival with hands on experience. They will help shape the awards with the guidance of our experienced programmers, promote the festival and filmmakers, and join our screening panel.

  • Narrative Short Film Programme Team

    Student Team

    Emma Carrion Moschen - Emma is a third-year screenwriting student at the University of Suffolk and a published short story author. She's passionate about telling women-led stories, particularly in horror. Her work is influenced by her research into feminist film theory and its contemporary applications.

    Matthew Griffiths - Matthew is a third-year screenwriting student at the University of Suffolk. His passions lie in feminist and queer theory, which he explores through the analysis and study of contemporary film and television.

    Robyn Ellison - is a third year Screenwriting Student with a passion for character-driven stories. Within her work she enjoys exploring the depths of human emotions, often with a supernatural or fantastical twist.

  • Unique Perspectives Programme team

    Student Team

    Stephen Avis - Stephen is a 3rd year Digital Film Production student at the University of Suffolk. He has a passion for both accessible and experimental cinema, in particular films that address disabilities. You'll tend to find him with camera in hand!

    Laurel Brett - Laurel is a 3rd year Digital Film Production student, with an interest in art and experimental film. She is particularly passionate about and inspired by '90s alternative music videos.

    Noah Gant - Noah is a third year Digital Film Production student at the University of Suffolk. As reflected in his directorial work, from short films to music videos, he has a passion for representing the unusual and experimental.

  • Editor

    Student Team

    Nicole Jastrzebska

    Nicole is a third year Digital Film Production student at the University of Suffolk. She has a passion for emotive storytelling, which has inspired her recently completed stop-motion animation about her special connection with her dog.