straight 8

BFI HEAD OF PROGRAMME AND ACQUISITIONS, UK - AND SOLID PAL OF STRAIGHT 8

Born and raised in Ireland, Robbie decided to become a cinematographer at the age of 14, when he, his friends and his cousins commandeered one of his father’s Kodak Super 8 cameras and started making short films. A college course in Cinematography in Dunlaoghaire's CAD fueled that passion. After finishing his college course, Robbie left Ireland and headed to London. The rest is History!

Awards: SLOW WEST (director John Maclean) 'Grand Jury Prize' in the World Cinema Dramatic section of the 2015 Sundance Festival

I, DANIEL BLAKE (director Ken Loach) Palme d'Or award Winner - Cannes Film Festival 2016.

AMERICAN HONEY (director Andrea Arnold) Cannes Jury Prize winner 2016.

THE FAVOURITE (director Yorgos Lanthimos) Academy Award Nomination - Best Cinematography

Robbie is a great proponent of shooting on film, improvisational camera ‘attitude’ and pushing the form be it aspect ratio or whatever.

Rachel Clark is a Cinematographer from the North East of England. After working in the Camera Department as a Assistant and Operator for many years she now works as a DoP in her own right. She Operated on the films Rocks, Dune, Batman & Men. Her debut feature PIRATES premiered at SXSW Festival in 2021. She shot the single drama I AM RUTH for which she received a BAFTA Nomination (2023) for her work. Rachel has taken part in straight8 a number of times, in 2019 making it to the final 25 shooting Director Casey Hennesy’s film ‘The Perception of Time’.

MARK IS AN AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR AND ALL ROUND FILMMAKER. HE IS SYNONMOUS WITH ANALOG FILMMAKING TODAY. MARK IS ALSO A PROFESSOR OF FILM AT FALMOUTH UNIVERSITY

BFI IMAX PROGRAMME MANAGER + FRIEND OF STRAIGHT 8 FOR YONKS - WELCOME TO THE JURY FOR 2025!

Madeleine has over 20 years film programming experience across film festivals and cinemas such as Cinecity, Birds Eye View, Karlovy Vary Film Festivals and multiple consultancies for UK festivals well as cinema curating for Picturehouse Cinemas, Tyneside Newcastle, The Lexi as well as many others, and now the BFI IMAX. 

Justine has been editing films for 25 years. She started cutting commercials and music videos at one of Londons biggest commercials editing houses before getting her break in feature documentaries and drama. The films she has cut have won numerous awards and in 2014 Justine was awarded European Editor of the Year for her work on “Locke”.

She has worked with directors such as Kevin Macdonald, Park Chan Wook, Saul Metzstein, Steven Knight, Phyllida Lloyd, Idris Elba, Hugh Hudson, Mick Jackson, Jamie Payne and John Crowley.

Justine was one of the first 22 people who made films for straight 8 in 1999 when it began in 1999.

A founder member of The Beta Band and The Aliens, John made most of the music promos ranging from zero budget to £70,000, which have been released on DVD as The Best of The Beta Band Film (EMI).

In 2009 he wrote and directed his first short film, Man on a Motorcycle, starring Michael Fassbender. This led to second short, Pitch Black Heist, starring Fassbender and Liam Cunningham commissioned by Film4. It won the 2012 Best Short Film Award at BAFTA.

His first feature film Slow West was funded by Film4, the BFI and NZ Film Council, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and won the World Cinema Grand Jury award and was released in cinemas worldwide.

He is working on his second feature film, in development with the BFI, and a TV show with NBC UNIVERSAL.

ASIF IS A MULTIPLE AWARD WINNING WRITER DIRECTOR PRODUCER WHO NEEDS LITTLE INTRODUCTION - BUT FEEL FREE TO IMDB SEARCH HIM UP!

Jo is a film and cultural relations specialist, based between the UK and France. She is currently a senior Film Consultant for the British Council, where she leads Talent Development Programmes and manages the recently expanded Film Travel Grant scheme, in collaboration with the BFI.

Spanning creative production, film programming and new talent development, Jo has a wealth of experience developing innovative, international film and arts programmes. She cares deeply about connecting audiences to original storytelling through intrinsically global projects and building thriving communities around creative culture.

Jo is a film festival expert and offers regular consultancies to short and early-career filmmakers, both independently and through the British Council and the National Film & Television School.

She has previously worked as a film programmer for the Independent Cinema Office in the UK and was programme director at London Short Film Festival for two years. She was the creative producer and programmer at Birds Eye View, where she helped to develop and launch the highly successful Reclaim the Frame programme alongside Mia Bays.

Jo is a jury member for straight 8 - an international Super 8 filmmaking competition and is a voter for the British Independent Film Awards.