Our Team
Erifili Missiou
Founder - Artistic Director
Erifili is an award-winning Filmmaker and Writer with a background in Visual Arts and experience in curating art shows in Berlin, Athens, and London. Erifili is Film Programmer and Programme Coordinator at The Garden Cinema in London and a Film Programmer at Dublin International Short Film Festival. Recently she served on the jury of the Leeds International Film Festival. Her passion is to scout raw talent and champion work by emerging directors, particularly that of underrepresented groups and made under difficult conditions.
Mike Sheer
Co-Founder - Host
Mike is a Stand Up Comedian who has performed around the world for over a decade. As the presenter of EFN's Awards Night, he uses his background to keep the atmosphere light without compromising the depth of the artists interviewed. Mike is also a Script Editor and Consultant, working with writers of short & feature films and sitcoms to develop and refine their work. He also develops and delivers workshops on story craft.
Liv Renshaw
Access Coordinator
Liv provides Access Consulting for a wide range of venues, festivals and events. Previous clients include Verve Poetry Festival, Commonwealth Games 2022 and Birmingham Open Media. She is a Disability Equality Trainer for Attitude is Everything.
Phoebe Braddock
Phoebe graduated Film Studies at King's College London in 2021, and then went on to join the marketing team at the British Independent Film Awards. Her passion for independent cinema and amplifying otherwise unheard voices then brought her to EFN.
Darla Timewell
Darla is an undergratuate Film Studies student at King's College London. She hosts the student podcast Deep Fried FM, which combines film analysis with music, politics and philosophy.
Louise Giadom
Louise has a background in Events Management and graduated from the NFTS last year. She's worked in various sectors of film including sales, marketing, and publicity. She began freelancing in social media last year with The New Black Film Collective before joining All3Media International as their Festival, Brands and Social Coordinator.
Christina Papasotiriou
After graduating Film Studies and programming for community cinemas, Chistina joined Genesis Cinema's Alternative Programming team where she's been championing underrepresented filmmakers through Fragments Festival, as well as sharing her love for all things film through Genesis' programme.
Abla Kandalaft
Abla is a film programmer, journalist and translator. She currently produces a film programme on BBC Arabic and has worked for Radio France, the BFI and the Cannes Film Festival in various roles. She is part of the editing team of Mydylarama, a film web mag and official UK partner of the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and now co-hosts Mydylarama’s new film podcast.
PROGRAMMING TEAM
ERIFILI MISSIOU
HEAD PROGRAMMER
Erifili is a Greek filmmaker and writer with a background in visual arts. She is Film Programmer & Programme Coordinator at The Garden Cinema and other festivals.
DARLA TIMEWELL
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER/PRESELECTOR
Darla is a Laotian/ British undergraduate Film Studies student at King's College London. She hosts the student podcast Deep Fried FM, which combines film analysis with music, politics, and philosophy.
ADALMIINA ERKKOLA
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER/PRESELECTOR
Adalmiina is a Finnish short film enthusiast based in Helsinki. She is now setting up Queer Nordic Cinema - a curatorial collective to uplift queer filmmakers from the region.
MASSIMO IANNETTI
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER/PRESELECTOR
Massimo is an Italian recent postgraduate student from NFTS with an MA in Film Studies, Programming, and Curation.
OLGA SYDORUSHKINA
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER/PRESELECTOR
Olga is a Ukrainian Curator/Film Programmer who has worked as a curator of the Ukrainian Film Festival in London, Odesa International Film Festival, and at the Green Theatre.
JAMES COOPER
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER/PRESELECTOR
James is a British queer filmmaker based in London, with a particular love of LGBTQIA+ and classic Japanese cinema.
GUEST JUDGES
Stephanie Watts
Steph has worked on multiple digital film projects including Channel 4’s Random Acts, Film4 and NBC Universal, creating and distributing film content. She produces Ghibliotheque, a podcast about Studio Ghibli and has written for publications such as Aesthetica, The Playlist and Little White Lies.
Zaira Zarza
Zaira is an assistant professor in the Department of Art History and Film Studies at Université de Montréal. As a programmer, she has worked at the Toronto (TIFF) and Cartagena (FICCI) international film festivals.
Anthony Nti
Anthony is a Ghanaian-born filmmaker from Belgium. His short film, Da Yie, won the Grand Prix at the 2020 ISFF Clermont Ferrand. His first feature-length film ‘Postcard’ won second prize at the Sam Spiegel FilmLab. His TV-show, Clemenceau, was selected for Torino Series Lab.
Gerry Maguire
Gerry’s work includes development and delivery on multiple feature films across genre and arthouse. Gerry also leads Irish Film London, a not-for-profit organisation responsible for the Irish Film Festival London as well as year-round Irish film events across the capital.
Caroline Wilson
Caroline first came to the Film London network in 2018. Since 2017, she has started her own film platform UNDR LNDN with her community where they host events, screen films and support local filmmakers.
Suzy Gillett
Suzy has been empowering independent cinema talent for over three decades as a curator of film festivals, producer of international film script development labs, teacher of film programming at the Barbican Centre and experimentation in documentary at ESAV Marrakech and a Script and edit consultant.
Anna Smith
Anna Smith is a prominent British film critic and broadcaster and the former President of the UK Critics’ Circle. She hosts the feminist film podcast Girls On Film, and joined Deadline Hollywood as a freelance film critic in 2020. Over the years, she has sat on many juries including the British Independent Film Awards and the EE BAFTA Film Awards.
Eliza Sealy
Eliza Sealy is a Film Programmer at the Independent Cinema Office, providing programming advice to venues such as Hyde Park Picture House, The Barn Cinema and Ludlow Assembly Rooms.
George Crosthwait
Dr George Crosthwait is an associate lecturer at King's College London, and a senior tutor at MetFilm School. He is the co-founder and producer of the Japanese Avant-garde and Experimental Film Festival (JAEFF) and works as a film curator at The Garden Cinema.
Lucile Bourliaud
Lucile has programmed for various festivals, including Lille International Short Film Festival (France) and Regard Festival (Quebec). She is currently short film programmer for Flatpack Festival in the UK.