Meet Our Team

Scott Blum

Scott has a passion for enjoying films of all sorts in particular those with “a message that makes him ponder and think”. His involvement in the International Film Festival The Hague, formerly The Hague Global Cinema Festival and Sheffield Global Cinema Festival is as a film-goer and he is mightily impressed by the innovation and the sheer quality of all of the films that are submitted.

Scott has lived and worked overseas, he has travelled extensively, and now resides in the UK where he is enjoying life.

Keyuri Shah

She is a known Bollywood actress based in Mumbai with around 2 dozen films to her credit. She started as a theater artiste and has done many short films, commercials, fashion modelling for many brands and print shoots. She has acted as a lead actress in a number of regional language feature films in India.

Sunita Rajvanshi

A Mathematician with a degree from IIT, Roorkee, India and a Mixed Media Artist. With a passion for art, she attained a diploma in Fine Arts from Raja Mansingh Tomar Music & Arts University, India and has participated in various art exhibitions across India, Middle East and Europe for charity purposes. She loves to watch all types of films and is a passionate critique. She also believes that movies shape our lives.

Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube : @SunRajArts

Marianna Giacomel

She was born and lived in Italy where she studied foreign literature. In 2018 she moved to The Hague with her family. Lover of reading, visual arts and music, especially jazz. “Working for The International Film Festival The Hague, Aravali International Film Festival and Sheffield Global Cinema Festival gives me the opportunity to combine my passion for films with being part of a team in an environment that highlights the multiculturalism, a characteristic of The Hague, the city where I chose to live and where I want to play an active role.

Irfan Jaami

He is a Bollywood Director with around 15 years’ experience of directing over 100 projects of a variety of genres. Projects range from TV commercials , Tele-films , Tele-series , Video spots , Corporate Films, documentaries to independent short films. He has also penned down Lyrics for an international Album ‘ Colours of peace ‘ .

Kamalika

A versatile internationally recognised singer, artist and anchor

She is a creative artist, singer, anchor, performer, actress, model for the last 20 years. Performed on stage and TV shows spanning across music, theatre, debate, quiz, dance, modelling and anchoring shows in various countries. She is a versatile vocal artist of Classical, Bollywood and Western genres of Blues, Jazz, Pop, Soul, Soft Rock. Trained in Indian classical music under Late Vidusi Srimati Shipra Bose, known as Bengal’s Begum Akhtar. Trained in Western vocal music under Teiron Jones. Kamalika has given stellar music performances at various prestigious clubs and events across Kolkata, Muscat, and Bangalore including at Hard Rock Cafe Bangalore with her Blues Jazz band Divergent Notes. She performed in Hindi, Bengali and English for various community cultural programmes in different countries. Anchored shows for famous Bollywood music directors like Pritam, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Imran Khan Badshaah, and a number of high profile corporate events while in Oman, Muscat at prestigious venues. She has hosted and performed Bollywood music for international film festivals like Alwar International film festival and many others in Doha, Kolkata, Bangalore, Muscat. She has also written, directed and acted in plays in Bengali, and acted in several other English drama productions. She has also given contemporary dance performances abroad and in India at various cultural events. She also writes poetry and does recitation as part of her other interests as well.

Sonu Shiva

She is a Professor of English in Dungar College, Bikaner, India. She has 25 yrs of teaching and research experience. She is a film critic and has traveled to Europe and Southeast Asia to deliver lectures. She has done a language assessment course from the University of Maryland and Baltimore County. Eleven scholars have completed PhD under her supervision. Her areas of interest are ELT, Diasporic literature, Film studies, gender studies.

James Fitzmaurice

James Fitzmauric is an emeritus professor of English at Northern Arizona University and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. He has won numerous screenwriting awards at film festivals, and had two scripts produced. He continues to write and edit in the world of academe, as with his co-edited collection for Amsterdam University Press – Authorizing Early Modern European Women (2022).

Virginia Youngren

Virginia is a licensed clinical psychologist and filmmaker with more than half a dozen films to her credit as a writer, director, and producer. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature and a Ph.D. in Psychology. She has won several screenwriting prizes.

Stacey Carr

She is a London-based independent consultant coaching producers, production companies, talent and brands through the creative process of preparing their projects for the partnership and pitch phase, as well as with overall industry insider direction. Additionally, she works as a project-based Exec-for-Hire and includes TBN and Zig Zag Productions as clients. Working alongside the Independent Film Trust, she also played an integral role as a US consultant and liaison for the most recent Creative Corridor initiative, an immersive transatlantic program for US and UK-based writers of color.

Prior to going independent and moving from Los Angeles to London, she served as the Senior Director of Unscripted Development at Nickelodeon where she developed and oversaw a variety of projects, including series and specials like Unleashed, Top Elf, and the Emmy-Nominated Kid of the Year. She also served as Director of Original Unscripted Development at Endemol Shine North America, and in Programming and Development for OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. She played an integral role in the development of several of the network’s original series including Ready to Love, Mind Your Business with Mahisha, Released, Family or Fiancé? and Checked Inn.

Originally from Reno, Nevada, Ms. Carr received a Sociology degree from Occidental College in 2004.

Bill Hagen

Bill Hagen retired from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2012, where he taught courses in Western Civilization, fiction, film, and drama for 38 years. His degrees are from Davidson College (BA), the University of North Carolina (MA), and the University of Iowa (Ph.D. in Modern Letters).

He has published articles on Joseph Conrad, Malcolm Lowry, detective fiction, silent Westerns, film adaption, screenplays and regularly reviews for World Literature Today.

Dr. Hagen has been involved in Humanities-sponsored Let’s Talk About It programs since the mid-1980s and has authored two themes: Oklahoma Private Investigations and The Oklahoma Experience: Re-Visions. He has served on Pioneer Library System’s Board of Directors and presently serves on the state FOLIO board and on the Board of the Friends of the Shawnee Library.

Brianna Seamster

Brianna “Bri” Seamster is a Yorba Linda, California-raised creole descendant from Louisiana. Seamster was a finalist for the Disney Writing Program, 2023. She has worked under renowned Showrunners for shows like THE BEAR Season 2 (FX Networks)  and THE SON IN LAW (ABC) Pilot. Bri was also Writer’s Assistant for THE UPSHAWS Season 2, Parts 1 & 2 (Netflix). In 2020, Bri won the Create the Writer’s Room Competition for her comedy work. She placed second round for The Orchard Project (2022), Sundance Screenplay Lab (2022), and Scriptapalooza Fellowship (2020). Bri volunteers with WriteGirl LA and frequents writing/film organizations such as Ghetto Film School, The Writer’s Mob (Leah Daniels-Butler, Henry Butler, and Sade Sellers), Always Write (Deonte Stats), and The Disney PA Program (2020). Overall, Bri Seamster strives to hold space for characters who are persistent and never give up despite their obstacles.

Peter Kelly

Peter is an accomplished script analyst with experience in film, television, radio and documentary. Before moving into the realm of scripted fiction, Peter worked for several years in documentary production, coming face-to-face with real stories of struggle, passion and transformation. As well as reading and reviewing scripts, Peter has written screenplays for several international producers and developed adaptations of two novels for the screen. His short films have been screened in cinemas, selected at numerous film festivals and won awards, including Best Short at Last Frame Film Festival.

Lauren Stephenson

Lauren is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Media and Communications at York St John University. She has taught extensively across the Film, Media, English Literature, and American Studies programmes since 2014. She is the co-founder of the Cinema and Social Justice project at York St John, and executive producer of the FOCAL award-winning short film ‘Cost of Living’. Her research areas include cinema and social justice, horror cinema, the female friendship film, and cinematic depictions of women in power.

Martin Hall

Dr Martin Hall is a Senior Lecturer and the Course Leader for Film Studies at York St John University. He is the Principal Investigator on the SIGN and UKRI-funded Cinema and Social Justice Filmmaking Project, is the co-founder of the Cinema and Social Justice Project and is an executive producer on the award-winning film Cost of Living (2022). Dr Hall is the Course Leader for BA Film Studies, BA Media & Communication and MA Film and Screen Studies and his research focusses on the areas of European and British art cinemas, comedy, the American Independent cinema and the adventure documentary with a particular interest in trans representation, masculinities and queer cinema. He’s the editor of the books Women in the Work of Woody Allen (2022) and The Mountain and the Politics of Representation (2023).

AMALIA BARNA

Amalia Barna was born and raised in Romania. She graduated from Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography, Bucharest, Romania, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Screenwriting and Film Studies. She was involved in film production, direction, screenwriting, music supervision, and casting direction. In 2017, she and her writing colleague won the competition for the program MidPoint Intensive, organized by MidPoint Institute, where she had the opportunity to meet Csaba Bollok (screenwriter and director) and have a few days of a creative workshop for developing the script. Made two short films as director and screenwriter, many others shorts and medium films as only screenwriter or co-writer. Currently working in Digital Marketing too. She is also managing and writing for her website amaliabarna.ro, a place where she says that she can “be herself, no fiction, just reality. I can finally say my own story”. On her website, Amalia also has a column where she is discussing movies. For the last few years was involved in some editions of international film festivals such as the Cinemaiubit Film Festival, and the SEECS Short Film Festival. Amalia is known also for being a jury member at the National Film Festival FILMMIC for Teenagers, from Constanta, Romania.

Patricia Hetherington

Patricia is a narrative short-form content producer based in London. She has produced over 30 short films. She has worked on multiple short projects (narrative and commercial) in most departments and continues to freelance as a Production Manager and Assistant Director. She runs Action On The Side, a collaborative filmmaking project in London. She is the Festival Coordinator for the Ealing Film Festival. She has worked in the screen industries at VICE media and BAFTA albert.

Will Allingham

“ Will Allingham is an award-winning scriptwriter based in Manchester. He graduated from Brighton University with first-class honours in English Literature and Creative Writing, receiving the époque press prize for best creative dissertation. His next project, Joy Thai, was shortlisted for the L.I.S.P short script prize. Following on from this, he completed a six-month screenwriting course at the NFTS. “

Avnish Rajvanshi

“An Oil/Gas Producer by Profession and A Filmmaker by Passion”

From the oil production fields of Middle East and Europe, Avnish Rajvanshi ventured into the field of filmmaking with his first film ‘The Kingmaker of the Mughal Empire’ which won international awards and accolades. With three more film production projects in the pipeline, he is also organising film festivals in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia and India. As the Festival Director of this event, his vision is to encourage, identify and showcase talent from the crowd and to support production value over budget.

Additional Background: With a distinguished career behind with majors like Shell International, he holds a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology IIT(ISM), India, with management certification from Queensland University of Technology, Australia; Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom; University of Texas at Austin, United States and Shell Project Academy, The Netherlands.

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