Hidden Figures: Meet the FHW Members Running Projects in 2024

When I was at university in Hiroshima, I began volunteering at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. After moving to South Wales, I missed having a local animation festival so much that in 2010 I set up the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival (CIO), the only Japanese-themed animation festival in Wales. Although there are many talented female animators in Japan, very few Japanese animated films have a female in a directorial or lead production role, so we began to actively seek out films that could address this systemic imbalance. We also aim to train the younger generation and promote fair pay and conditions.

I’ve been with Hijinx in various roles for 10 years, having produced, written and directed several inclusive short films and created film content for Hijinx theatre shows. I’m also responsible for the Unity Film Festival – creating and leading the Creative Wales-supported ReFocus programme (inclusivity training for the screen industries).

I have extensive experience as a performer, theatre maker, and trained audio describer, holding a BA in Drama and an MA in Acting. Over the past 7 years, I have worked closely with Hijinx, contributing to various projects and productions, including Hijinx’s short films and Unity Film Festival.

As the only one of its kind in Wales, we’re excited to bring outstanding films from across the UK, Europe, and beyond to Welsh audiences to highlight the unique talent and vibrancy of inclusive filmmaking. The festival offers a unique and refreshing cinematic experience while dismantling stereotypes and barriers to involvement in the film industry for learning disabled and/or autistic people.

I have a doctorate from Aberystwyth University and worked at Aberystwyth Arts Centre for a decade, before joining S4C before and then on to the Screen and Sound Archive of the National Library of Wales in 2023. I contribute regularly to events and publications on film and specialise in issues of representation, inclusion and access.

I am the founder and director of Abertoir, as well as the manager and programmer for the Aberystwyth Arts Centre’s cinema. My two degrees in Film (BA and MA), as well as my media experience, has also allowed me to dabble in American television and editing.

It’s hugely important to us that, as a festival, we’re diverse and inclusive. Festivals are a wonderful way of sharing experiences and filmmaking cultures with as many people as possible, who all share in the same passion. We do our best to reflect cinema’s global outlook in our programme every year, and by maintaining our virtual format, we strive to improve accessibility too. By including descriptive subtitles for our entire online programme, a large portion of which we commission from scratch thanks to Film Hub Wales’ support, we hope to open up the programme to as many people as possible to share in our love of the genre. There is no festival without its audience, so it’s vital we do our best to make it a festival for everyone!

I’m an award-winning animator and director based in Cardiff since 2010, having studied animation at the University of Wales, Newport before going on to direct the Cardiff Animation Festival.

I’ve been a member of the CAF team since I volunteered at the first festival in 2018. As well as producing the festival, I organise and programme regular in-person and online screenings for Cardiff Animation Nights.​

I’ve been helping to run Cardiff Animation events since 2015. Initially specialising in animation at Norwich University of the Arts, before working as a freelance animator in London and Toronto, then moving to Cardiff in 2014 where I’ve worked frequently with Cloth Cat as a Layout & Production Supervisor for over 300 episodes of children’s television.

I’m an award-winning Artist, Educator and Arts Management consultant and have been working with Cardiff Animation Festival since 2019. I’m also a recognised researcher at Transtechnology Research at the University of Plymouth, interested in how digital technologies mediate our experience of the world.

I’ve been a member of the CAF team since the early days in 2016. As Creative Brand & Content Lead, I’ve worked freelance and full-time on everything from large productions to not-for-profits, national to international, with various clients and companies.

Cardiff Animation Festival’s ethos is unique among UK animation festivals – we aim to create a truly inclusive festival with a community atmosphere to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together through animation. Animation as an artform has an immediacy and accessibility that supports us in our aims to bring underserved communities together – we work actively with communities from neurodiverse, LGBTQIA+, refugee and asylum seeker, d/Deaf, student/graduate and rural communities around Wales.

A film fan from an early age Berwyn was producing “movies” using his 8mm camera and projecting films for friends in his parents’ front room from age 9. He established the Iris Prize in 2006 and it’s now the world’s largest LGBT short film prize at £30,000. 9 short films have been produced to date with the Iris Prize including ‘Burger’ and ‘Followers’, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

Grant has a passion for putting things into alphabetical order and studying train timetables – which is probably just as well as he looks after the Iris Prize archive, as well as making sure the guests don’t get lost and all the films stay on budget! Grant also keeps the office infrastructure running and works as one of the producers of the Iris Prize winner’s short film.

Born and raised in Greece by her immigrant mother who loved films, Annita was lucky enough to spend her childhood and adolescent years in the cinema and the local video rental shops. Leaving Greece to complete a MSc in Film Exhibition and Curation in Edinburgh, she started working in festival marketing and partnerships before fully immersing herself in programming and curatorial work.

Born in West Wales, Rhowan is an artist, curator and community arts practitioner. She curated the 2013 Bodies in Land Film Festival and WOW’S inaugural Ecosinema micro-festival in 2021. Since 2018 she has run the Ceredigion Animation Club, co-founding their inclusive anime convention ‘Abercon’ with Mencap Ceredigion.

Nia joined the WOW team in 2023, having been a long-time audience member and collaborator. She has been immersed in Welsh film culture for over 15 years, also working at S4C, Aberystwyth Arts Centre and NSSAW, as well as Co-Directing Abertoir Horror Festival. Nia has experience in, and passion for the arts and media and has specialised in issues of representation, inclusion and access.

James has worked in the theatre world for most of his life as a singer and actor in West End shows. He also runs his own production company and brings in-depth knowledge of showbusiness, programming and events, even occasionally delighting the audience with musical performances.

Marieke joined the theatre at the start of 2024 after a varied career including teaching contemporary art, running educational events at a museum and her own historical craft workshop business. She has extensive experience of running cultural events for children of all ages, which she is now using to expand the Dragon’s offer for families.