Speakers

BIGAS LUNA TRIBUTE WORKSHOP

Prof Santiago Fouz Hernández (School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University) is the author of Cuerpos de cine (Bellaterra, 2013), co-author of Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema (I. B. Tauris, 2007) and editor of five books, including El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (Tirant lo Blanch, 2020) and Spanish Erotic Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2017). Since 2015 he coordinates (with Betty Bigas) The Bigas Luna Tribute. He is currently completing a monograph on Bigas Luna for Manchester University Press.

BIGAS LUNA TRIBUTE WORKSHOP

Santiago Garrido Rua is a filmmaker, writer and editor who has worked on mainstream commercial cinema, art-house cinema, television, video and the internet. He trained with iconic Spanish filmmaker Bigas Luna collaborating in major projects which have included the films Yo soy la Juani/My Name is Juani (2006) and the posthumous documentary BigasxBigas (2016). In 2020 he was a fellow at the Zurbarán Centre in Durham University where he collaborated Prof Santiago Fouz Hernández on a desktop documentary on Bigas Luna.

THE CONTEMPORARY ROAD

Dr Simon Ward is currently director of the BA in visual arts and film at Durham University. He has published widely on visual culture and film, including articles on the British Road Movie and Cinematic representations of the Berlin Landscapes.

FILM CRITICISM TALK

Calum Cooper is a freelance film critic, script reader and screenwriter based in Glasgow, Scotland. Having previously worked as an autism practitioner for quarriers, he went on to achieve his masters degree in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow. he is now a frequent writer for in their own league, and Glasgow film festivals, and has had articles published in Film Stories, Movie Marker, and the Glasgow Herald among others. In 2023, he joined the golden script coalition as a script reader, and has written his own feature length screenplay. His favourite films include 12 Angry Men, Carrie, and Spirited Away, and he has begun working on audiovisual essays.

A SOUND THAT FOLLOWS SILENCE

Hannah Tasker is a filmmaker from Nottingham who moved to London in 2017, segueing from writing about film to making films. “Picking up on Things” (2021) premiered at BFI Future Film Festival 2022 where it was nominated best experimental, and “A Sound That Follows Silence” (2022) won best director and best documentary at Durham FIlm Festival 2022. She currently works full time as a studio manager, freelances with a music management company, and has recently founded Are You Seeing This - A new platform championing new and emerging filmmakers with interesting stories at their core. Through screenings and annual funddin, she is currently working on some short form projects with a London-based charity and is looking to develop some new work over the next year.

FILM FESTIVALS

Connor Lightbody is a photographer, film critic, and film writer based in Durham, UK. He has been published by Little White Lies, Takeone Magazine, Film Stories and various other outlets during his coverage of international film festivals over the past six years. Having attended Venice, Glasgow, Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Cambridge Film Festivals as accredited press. In 2023, he joined Cambridge film festival as submission reviewer. His favourite films include Before Sunrise, Billy Elliot, Sing Street, and is willing to never shut up about how good Magic Mike XXL is.