Keith Shiri is an international curator who programs African art and film as well as advising various film festivals around the world on African cinema including the Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival. A consultant on film business development for the International Trade Centre (ITC), an agency of the United Nations that is currently implementing an initiative to promote film exports from the Caribbean to the UK and European markets. He is the founder member and current chair of the Africa Movie Academy Awards. Regional Secretary (Europe)for the Federation of African Filmmakers (FEPACI), a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media(CREAM) University of Westminster, London. He was a member of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund from 2004-2007 and a trainer for Sodic/EU(European Social Documentary), a programmed for documentary filmmakers. He has served as an expert advisor for the EU-ACP programmed for the ACP cinema and on the advisory board of New York’s Focus Features Africa First Programmed, which supported young African filmmakers through its mentorship program

Nwora graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2018, having moved to London from the vibrant city of Leeds at the tender age of 17 to gain a qualification in Advanced Marketing.

They’ve worked with Meta, Gal-Dem, the Advertising Association, Vizeum UK, the UK Government Communication Service and have recently started building a career as a stylist and host. They are currently a Digital Communications Manager at the Royal African Society, and has a keen interest in the role media can play in promoting the fair and full representation of people from marginalised groups

Victoria Thomas joined London Film School as the Course Leader of the MA International Film Business Programme in 2019 after a couple of years as an independent producer, specialising in international co-productions and visiting lecturer at London Film School, National Film and Television School, Southbank University, University of Greenwich and London Film Academy.

In addition to her role at London Film School, Victoria is the founder of Scotland’s first black owned film and TV production company Republic Of Story (formerly Polkadot Factory), through which she has co-produced both shorts, and indie features, across fiction, documentary, and animation. She continues to oversee an active development slate that has received funding from the BBC, Screen Scotland and BFI Network among others, alongside freelancing as a Producer/Director/Screenwriter.

Films she has produced have screened at Oscar/BAFTA qualifying film festivals and broadcast on TV internationally, receiving awards and nominations from a variety of organisations including BAFTA Scotland. Original projects on her development slate have been selected for major curated markets including IFP Week, Cannes Producers Network, Fin (formerly Strategic) Partners, Apulia Film Forum and Film London’s Production Finance Market.

As a screenwriter, her original screenplays have been shortlisted for the Oscars Nicholls Fellowship, Sundance Screenwriters lab and in 2020, one of her screenplays won the Meryl Streep/Nicole Kidman/Oprah Winfrey backed The Writers Lab NYC. She is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents, Sheffield Doc Fest's Future Producer School, Glasgow Film Festivals Producer Accelerator Lab, Filmonomics, Edinburgh Talent Lab, Emerging Producers, EAVE and the UK’s National Film & Television School.

She serves on several film juries for a variety of awards and festivals including Sunny Side Of The Doc, Durban International Film Festival, the BIFA’s and sits on the advisory board of Film Africa. She regularly moderates panels and discussions at major international film festivals. She is a voting member of BAFTA Scotland and BAFTA UK.

Prior to embarking on a career in the film industry, she trained as a lawyer and worked as a journalist and publisher. She holds undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in International Business, Law and Film Practice.

Nike works in strategic development across the cultural and creative industries worldwide. In July 2018, she launched Pan African Creative Exchange (PACE) in South Africa. In August 2020, the second edition, PACE Entangled, took place online. Between 2017 and 2020, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central), which led to her current doctoral research topic of Pan-African Performance Networks. Between 2008 and 2012, she led Arts Council England’s Decibel Programme, designed to support African, Asian and Caribbean artists. Nike is a Trustee on Boards of The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and The Royal African Society and is currently a postgraduate doctoral research student at Central.

The Royal African Society

Lindiwe Dovey is Professor of Film and Screen Studies at SOAS University of London, where she has been on the staff since 2007. Originally from South Africa, she is passionate about African filmmaking in particular, and has authored two books and many articles on the subject, and also co-founded Film Africa and the Cambridge African Film Festival. From 2019-2024 she is Principal Investigator of the African Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies project. She holds a BA in Film Production and Theory from Harvard University, and a PhD in African Cinema and Literature from the University of Cambridge.

David Somerset is a film programmer at the BFI Southbank, since 2007, when he set up the monthly strand, African Odysseys, with a steering group of arts practitioners and cultural activists. He has a strong commitment to programming African cinema and to developing knowledge and interest through screenings. As a former film maker and qualified adult educator, he is keen to develop educational initiatives around film. He has supported FILM AFRICA at the BFI since as long as he has been involved at the BFI.

BFI Southbank

Estrella Sendra is a researcher, filmmaker and festival organiser, working as Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies at SOAS, University of London and as Lecturer in Global Media Industries, at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. Since 2011, when she directed Témoignages de l’autre côté / Testimonials from the other side, an awarded documentary about migration, she has been developing a regional expertise in Senegal. In 2018, she was awarded a PhD on festivals in Senegal from SOAS. She was the director of the Cambridge African Film Festival in 2014 and 2015, and has been involved in further festivals in Senegal, Spain, South Africa and the UK.

SOAS - University of London

Sandra Hebron is a film curator and events host, currently Head of Screen Arts at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS). Previous roles include Head of Festivals at the British Film Institute/Artistic Director of the BFI London Film Festival (2003-2011) and Cinemas Director at Manchester Cornerhouse. She has been an advisory board member for film and cultural organisations including the ICA and LUX Artists Moving image, and a mentor for industry schemes including Guiding Lights and Women of the World. Alongside her work at the NFTS she is a programme consultant for the Pingyao International Film Festival, and runs a small psychotherapy practice.

National Film & Television School