August 2008

Stephen Frears is one of the UK’s most respected and experienced filmmakers; having shot to recognition in 1985 as Director of the critically acclaimed feature My Beautiful Laundrette, Stephen has continued to receive the highest critical praise throughout his career for films including High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons and Dirty Pretty Things. Stephen comments "Alexander Mackendrick said: film writing and directing cannot be taught, only learned. At the Met Film School, you'll spend most of your time making films with the support of professional filmmakers. I don't know any other way to learn."

Thomas Hoegh is the founder of Arts Alliance. Thomas trained as a theatre director at Northwestern University and worked as a director of theatre, television and large-scale events in Norway, the US and Japan. He later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and founded Arts Alliance in 1996. Since then he has built up forty-five businesses involved in technology and entertainment. Amongst them film related companies in production, distribution, exhibition and digital cinema. Thomas serves on the board of directors of the UK Film Council.

Roger Laughton is currently Chair of South West Screen and Deputy Chair of the British Film Institute. He is also on the boards of the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, the Grierson Trust, Services Sound and Vision Corporation and Met Film. He began his production career in the BBC where he worked in Bristol, Pebble Mill and Manchester before moving to London in 1980. From 1999 to 2004, he was the Head of Bournemouth Media School and also chaired a DCMS/Skillset enquiry into the training needs of the audio-visual industries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and was awarded the Society’s Gold Medal in 1999.

Susan Benn is Founder and Artistic Director of PAL (Performing Arts Labs Ltd.), a not for profit charitable company established in 1989 in England to bring together exceptional talent to develop fresh ideas and challenging new work in film and interactive media; theatre, dance, opera and music theatre; and latterly in science and education; and in research and policymaking. A former editor, publisher, and reportage photographer, Susan works with her team to shape PAL’s research agenda and international Lab programmes. In 2000, in recognition of PAL’s achievements, Susan received a major four-year education award of over £1m from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce and a member of the RSA Council.

Sarah Gavron began her career in documentaries and is a graduate of the NFTS. In 2003 Gavron directed her first full length drama, the Dennis Potter Award winning This Little Life for BBC TV. The film also won Gavron two BAFTAs for Best Single Drama and Best New Director, the RTS and WIFTV Award for Best Newcomer and she was selected as one of Variety’s ten directors to watch at the Sundance International Film Festival. Further to this, Gavron was nominated for the Douglas Hickox Best Directorial Debut Award.
Her films include The Girl in the Lay-by (2000), which won a BAFTA nomination and Losing Touch (2000), which won the Young Jury Award at the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival, Best Film Award at the London Royal Television Society Awards and Best International Short at the Foyle Film Festival. Her latest film is the critically acclaimed Brick Lane.

Cameron McCracken is Managing Director of Pathe UK. He is a member of the British Screen Advisory Council, the British Council Film Committee and a director of Yorkshire Screen. Prior to his appointment at Pathe 8 years ago, Cameron was Director of Business Affairs at British Screen Finance Limited (1997 – 2000). Cameron read law at Oxford University and worked as a film lawyer for 9 years in London, Paris and Rome before establishing himself as an independent producer. Cameron has co-produced or executive produced over 20 films including: GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (dir. Peter Webber); ENDURING LOVE (dir. Roger Michell); MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS (dir. Stephen Frears), BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (dir. Neil Jordan) and THE QUEEN (dir. Stephen Frears).

Michael Gubbins is editor of Screen International and Screendaily.com and is also a speaker and media commentator on the film industry worldwide.
He has been a keynote speaker at dozens of major events including the Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam and Sarajevo Film Festivals. Gubbins has also chaired leading conferences in cities including Hong Kong, London, Budapest, Bucharest, Paris and Montreal and been chair at a session at the European Parliament. Media work includes articles for The Guardian and Time Out and interviews including all the leading UK broadsheets, the BBC, Sky, CNN and ABC News in the US. Gubbins has been a journalist and editor for 21 years, mostly at daily newspapers.

Dick Ross began his career as a BBC journalist. From 1970, he also held a number of university fellowships researching the social impact of mass media.
In 1980 he was appointed Professor of Film at the Royal College of Art in London, and in 1989 co-chairman (with Milos Forman) of the graduate film department at Columbia University in New York. From 1990-1992 he was chairman of New York University's graduate film department. For five years before he ‘retired’ in 2000, Dick Ross was Head of Curriculum, then Deputy Director at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. Since then, his work with the Norwegian Film School has led to the creation of the world’s first training institute specifically for teachers of film and television. He has also worked as script consultant for many features and award-winning short film scripts (e.g. Potentia, Lady in Waiting, La Boule, Artisten).

Francis Seriau is a drummer, teacher, clinician and author. Francis founded the internationally renowned London based group of music schools Drumtech, Vocaltech, Guitar-X and Keyboardtech in 1983. Francis developed new concepts and techniques for the drumset, introduced the learning to learn approach and the mental approach to playing and practising. This unique philosophy and methodology is at the heart of all courses at Drumtech, Vocaltech, Guitar-X and Keyboardtech. In 1998 Francis received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music education.

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