Abertoir
The International Horror Festival of Wales

Anna Cobb grew up in Dallas, Texas, and moved to New York City while in High School. She graduated from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School for International Careers in the spring of 2020. She will begin studying Acting and Directing at the New York Film Academy this Fall. Anna has acted in numerous short and student films (including at Columbia University) as well as performed in several theatre productions. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is her feature film debut.

Paul is an extremely accomplished special effects artist, as well as a filmmaker in his own right. He's been involved with the effects in such films as Attack the Block, The Descent, Dog Soldiers, The Woman in Black and many more.

Especially for Abertoir, Paul will be sharing the tricks of the trade and give a fascinating, behind-the-scenes insight into how some of his most memorable practical effects were achieved.

Nicko and Joe have been confusing, disturbing and delighting audiences with their unique brand of comedy since 2004. Their infectious enthusiasm on stage and twisted creativity in their writing has resulted in many comparisons being made to other artists. These range from the surreal group They Might be Giants to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park.

We know Nicko and Joe most at Abertoir for their Bad Film Club, unashamedly providing live commentaries to some of the most awful pieces of cinematic sewage to ever be put to celluloid… and we love them for it.

Jane Schoenbrun is a non-binary filmmaker and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is their first narrative feature as writer/director. Jane is the co-creator of the ongoing touring variety series The Eyeslicer, a collaboration with hundreds of filmmakers including David Lowery, Ari Aster, Shaka King, Jennifer Reeder, Bridey Elliot and many more.

Jane is the director of the feature documentary A Self-Induced Hallucination (2019), a producer on Aaron Schimberg’s Chained for Life (2019), an executive producer on season one of Terence Nance’s Random Acts of Flyness (2018), and the creator of the omnibus ‘dream film’ collective:unconscious (2016). Jane sometimes publishes the column ‘Continue Watching’ for FILMMAKER magazine.

Gavin Baddeley is an English writer specialising in the devilish and decadent, Gothic and macabre, with a special interest in the darker fringes of history. In addition to penning numerous books in these areas, he’s written for numerous, diverse periodicals and newspapers, ranging from The Observer and Knave, to Metal Hammer and Medieval History magazine. He has also made annually appearing at Abertoir part of his varied career, so let’s hope evil keeps giving him plenty more topics to share with us.

Born and raised in Waterhen Lake First Nation in Northern Saskatchewan, Rueben Martell was enamoured with the oral tradition of storytelling. Hearing Cree tall tales from his grandmother at a young age opened his mind and imagination to unique styles of storytelling and directing.

During Rueben’s early experience as an extra in a CBC movie Revenge of the Land, he discovered his passion for directing and his preference to work behind the camera. With a long career on-set and as a videographer since then, Don’t Say Its Name is his feature debut as writer and director.

Josh graduated from film school at Minnesota State in 2021 with an emphasis in directing. Shortly after graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, quickly forming the online sketch comedy group Hush Money. With the group, he wrote and directed close to 40 videos which now have over a million views globally and have been featured on both Funny or Die and Comedy Central. Keeping Company is his independent feature film debut as co-writer and director.

Devin started his career at Funny or Die where he wrote, produced and acted in sketches which have been featured on Huffington Post, Yahoo!, Mashable and more. Devin then served as Associate Producer on the hit HBO mockumentary, 7 Days in Hell, starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harrington. Devin co-wrote and produced the short film Trust the Bum, which was awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick, and has made his independent feature film debut as co-writer, producer and lead actor in Keeping Company.

Ahmed Bharoocha is a stand-up comedian, actor, and member of the sketch comedy group, Dead Kevin. Ahmed released his first Comedy Central Half Hour Special in 2016 and performed stand-up on TBS’ Conan, Comedy Central’s Adam Devine’s House Party, and at Montreal's Just For Laughs Comedy Festival as part of the New Faces Unrepresented showcase.

Along with the other two members of Dead Kevin, Ryan O’Flanagan and Jack Robichaud, Ahmed stars in, writes, shoots and edits the group’s popular online sketches. Ahmed was a series regular on Adult Swim’s Dream Corp LLC.

Jacob Grodnik gained his BA in Theatre from USC and has since appeared in numerous theatre, web, television and feature film productions.

Recent feature appearances include Tiger, alongside Mickey Rourke, The Fanatic, alongisde John Travolta, and satirical horror comedy Keeping Company.