Gary Sherman
Writer, producer and director Gary Sherman has a long list of feature film credits including such horror classics as Death Line (aka Raw Meat), Dead and Buried, Poltergeist III and the highly successful, innovative action thriller Vice Squad. He has also created and/or produced many television series, run several successful production companies and holds patents on some hi-tech systems he has invented.
Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson is best known as the co-creator of the BAFTA award-winning comedy series The League of Gentlemen. He is the author of three works of fiction. He is also the co-writer of the hit West End show Ghost Stories, and co-wrote and co-directed the film adaptation in 2018.
Madeline Smith
Actress and model Madeline Smith can boast a long career which includes some of the cornerstones of British entertainment: Hammer, James Bond, Carry On and more. Her first Hammer appearance was a small part in Taste the Blood of Dracula, before taking lead roles in The Vampire Lovers and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell.
Robin Ince
Robin Ince is many things. A comedian, an author, a broadcaster and a populariser of scientific ideas. The Guardian once declared him a ‘becardiganed polymath’ which seems about right.
Paris Zarcilla
Paris Zarcilla is a writer/director of film and television with aims to create meaningful, profound, genre-bending stories. He was part of the 2019-2022 BAFTA x Network Crew and was selected for both the Network @ LFF 2019 cohort and BFI Flare x BAFTA 2021 mentor programme. His debut film, Raging Grace is the winner of the Narrative Feature Jury Award and Thunderbird Rising Award for Best Debut at SXSW 23.
Ali Catterall
Ali Catterall is an award-winning writer, journalist, filmmaker and editor. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, Time Out, GQ, Film4, Word magazine and Big Issue, among others. In 2001, he co-authored Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since the Sixties and in 2018 edited Scala Cinema 1978-1993 by Jane Giles, winner of the 2019 Kraszna-Krausz Award.
Jake West
Jake West has worked extensively as both a director & writer in the film and television industry since 1993, best known for his feature film work including Razor Blade Smile, Evil Aliens and Doghouse. Jake is also a film connoisseur and co-owner of distribution label Nucleus Films, founded in 2003 with Marc Morris and known for Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape and innumerable of DVD and Blu-Ray extras.
David Gregory
Filmmaker David Gregory co-founded Blue Underground and its Exploited video label in the late 90s. Going on to direct, produce and edit over 100 documentary features and shorts himself (many of which have shown here at Abertoir) he is also the co-founder and CEO of Severin Films, the production/distribution label dedicated to preserving and promoting cult cinema from around the world.
Julian Richards
Julian Richards is an award winning writer, director, producer as well as founder of world film sales agency, Jinga Films. As a director, his feature films include Darklands, which won the Melies D’Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 1997; Silent Cry, The Last Horror Movie, which won the Melies D’Argent for Best European Fantasy Film 2004; and Summer Scars.
Rachel Kempf & Nick Toti
In 2020, screenwriter Rachel Kempf and indie filmmaker Nick Toti moved from Los Angeles to rural Missouri to make weird, low-budget horror movies. They have never regretted this decision. In addition to making movies together, they also run DieDieBooks, an indie press that publishes books about scary movies.
Chris Cronin
Chris is a multi-award winning director whose work has been shown at film festivals worldwide, including Fantasia, London Shorts, and Raindance. His most recent short, Oscar’s Bell, won numerous awards including a Melies d’Argent nomination. The Moor is his debut feature.
Paul Thomas
Paul Thomas is a writer, script consultant and producer whose work includes several collaborations with director Chris Cronin, including the short films Ante and Sophie’s Fortune. The Moor is Paul’s latest film.
Sam Cronin
Sam is a Leeds based cinematographer & lighting cameraman shooting features, shorts and commercials with over 8 years of experience.
Andrew Layfield
Andrew is a Manchester & London based Sound Designer with a decade worth of experience in audio post for Film, TV, VR, Commercial & Corporate work, including The Thing That Ate The Birds, The Tez O’Clock Show and Tigers of Scotland.
David Edward-Robertson
David is an actor and award-winning oral storyteller, who has travelled the world telling tales to adult audiences in a wide range of settings. David is currently starring as lead in independent horror film The Moor.
Elizabeth Dormer Phillips
Elizabeth started performing at the Pauline Quirke Academy before landing a role in Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude at just 13. She recently made her feature debut in Off the Rails, soon followed by a key role in horror film The Moor.
Craig Williams
Craig is a director and writer making his debut with acclaimed short film The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras. He is also a curator and programmer with Badlands Collective.
Julien Allen
Julien is a film critic and essayist for Reverse Shot, whose writing has also been featured in Film Comment, Cinema Scope and Sense of Cinema. The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras is his producing debut.
Bryn Fôn
From iconic on-screen performances, including Tecs in C’mon Midffîld!, to a huge discography spanning several projects, multi-hyphenate Bryn Fôn – singer, composer, producer, actor and activist – is an integral part of the entertainment industry in Wales. His latest project is folk horror short film The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras.
Kelly Holmes
Kelly is a director with a love for telling genre-inspired stories, and her films have been screened internationally at BAFTA- and Oscar-qualifying festivals. She has participated in multiple talent schemes including the Reykjavik Talent Lab; won the JETS Co-Production Market at Berlinale in 2021, and was selected as part of Frontières Co-Production Market 2021.
Matthew White
Matthew is an award-winning writer of twisted genre features and shorts. His feature, Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is available on Sky Movies after a successful festival run. Matthew also a published author, has three features in development and has just been selected for BIFA Springboard 2022.
Delyth Badder
Dr Delyth Badder is a folklorist, author, and Honorary Research Fellow with Museum Wales who has channelled a lifetime’s interest in Welsh folklore into academic study, and a library of some of Wales’s rarest antiquarian texts. She has a particular academic interest in the appearance of spirits within the Welsh tradition, and has recently co-authored The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts with researcher Mark Norman.
David Hyman
Since 1999, David Hyman has been a Compliance Officer at the British Board Of Film Classification, following a number of years working on the administrative side of the organisation. Compliance Officers view content and recommend classifications, cuts and other actions, such as proof of age checks for performers. They also carry out a range of tasks, including writing content advice, data entry, and checking online platforms to ensure voluntary compliance with BBFC classifications.
Jimmy McDonough
Jimmy McDonough is a biographer and journalist. He has written biographies of Neil Young, Tammy Wynette, Al Green, Russ Meyer and Andy Milligan. TIME magazine declared his Milligan biography The Ghastly One “a masterpiece” and John Waters repeatedly names it one of his all-time favourites. McDonough has also authored profiles on Jimmy Scott, Gary Stewart, Hubert Selby, Jr. and Link Wray. Jimmy is Editor-In-Chief of Nicolas Winding Refn’s acclaimed website byNWR.com.
Harvey Fenton
Harvey Fenton is the owner and editorial director of FAB Press, formed in 1993. He is also co-writer and editor of Cannibal Holocaust and the savage cinema of Ruggero Deodato, Shock! Horror! and others.
Peter Fuller
Peter is a well-known and respected throughout the entertainment industry, as a writer and for his work reviewing cult movies, books and TV shows. He particularly specialises in the work of Vincent Price, as well as writing extensively on classic-horror and organising regular screenings and events.
Nicko & Joe
Nicko & 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, ranging from They Might be Giants to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park.
David Bramwell & Eliza Skelton
David Bramwell is a broadcaster, musician, and author, and Eliza Skelton is a vocal coach and musician. Together, they formed the acclaimed Sing-along-a-Wicker Man, which as been successfully touring for well over a decade, with director Robin Hardy’s stamp of approval.