Keswick Film Festival

Tom Browne

Tom Browne's long career as actor (under the alternative name of Tom Fisher – Shangai Knights, The Illusionist), writer and shorts director may provide a clue to the surprisingly star-peppered roster of executive producers such as Rachel Weisz and Barbara Broccoli and wonderful cast for his first full length feature, Radiator. We are pleased to welcome Tom and his leading actors, Gemma Jones and Richard Johnson.

Gemma Jones

Gemma Jones is one of the best known British faces on both the large and small screen. From Z Cars in the 1960s Gemma has appeared in numerous TV series, played the first character to die in Inspector Morse and was most recently seen in the TV movie Marvellous. Film roles include two outings as Bridget Jones' mother, Mrs Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and she worked with Woody Allen in You Will Meet A Tall, Dark Stranger.

Gemma Jones talks to Sara Teresa about her role in the film Radiator

Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson attended the RADA in London and then performed in John Gielgud's repertory company until joining the navy during World War II. After the war, he appeared successfully in the West End and made his film debut in the early 1950s. Described as "debonair and handsome", he was a natural to portray playboy type characters, perhaps the most memorable being "Bulldog Drummond" in Deadlier Than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969).

Later in his career, he turned to more serious roles, such as "Marc Antony" in Antony and Cleopatra (1974) and has been a regular presence on screen since that time.

Munsur Ali & Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee

At the London Press Conference for Shongram, lead actress Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee added a few words to the discussion regarding Shongram. "I'm really happy to be here ..... This is a really good film and it's my first international film. Our people (Bangladeshis) live in various countries, yet the young generation do not know how their country was born. So I'm really happy to be a part of this film and thank you to Mansur for casting me."

We are delighted to welcome both Director Munsur Ali and Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee to Keswick.

Pip Piper

Pip is co-founder of Blue Hippo Media which was set up in 2006 with Rob Taylor. Pip has a background in professional youth and community work but has spent the last 15 years making films from education to documentary and feature film. His passion is to discover and tell compelling stories, develop and work with great talent and to create films that communicate with impact to audiences far and wide.

Blue Hippo has tapped into the zeitgeist with Bicycle, directed by Bafta award winning Michael B. Clifford. The film premiered at the Grand Depart in Yorkshire for the 2014 Tour de France and is a very welcome addition to KFF16.

Justine Atkinson

Justine Atkinson is a member of the management team for Africa in Motion, a film festival that brings the best of African Film to Scottish audiences. Africa in Motion says simply "our main reason for screening the films is because we believe they are great films which should be seen the world over" - a sentiment fully endorsed by KFF! We look forward to Justine's insight into African film and in particular, The White Shadow.

David Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool

"David Alton made his maiden speech to the House of Commons in April 1979 and since that time has been a ceaseless campaigner on issues in which he has a particular interest - such as poverty, gendercide, human cloning, and human trafficking. In 1997 he stood down from the House of Commons, and from party politics, and was nominated by the Prime Minister, Sir John Major, to the House of Lords, where he sits as an Independent Life Peer, speaking regularly on human rights and religious liberty issues. Lord Alton is chairman of the British-DPRK All-Party Parliamentary Group, and visited Pyongyang in October 2010 when he had talks with leaders of the North Korean government including ChoeThae Bok, chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's rubber-stamp parliament." - Wikipedia

Rachael Rodway

Throughout 2011 David Pitkeathly of the Church of Scotland and Rachael Rodway of Carlisle One World Centre had been noticing an increased use of drop in facilities and the food voucher scheme and met with other agencies, with a view to setting up a Carlisle Foodbank. As the Salvation Army in Carlisle had been distributing parcels for 25 years and at their invitation it was decided to build on their work and from their buildings. Further agencies joined, and the Foodbank went live in April 2012.

Since 2012, the debate over food banks has intensified, becoming even more political and we look forward to the discussion after the screening of Breadline Kids.