Melanie Iredale

Director

Melanie (She/her) has been programming and building audiences for international cinema in the UK since 2005, most recently in her role as Deputy Director of Sheffield DocFest since 2014. As Interim Director of DocFest’s 2019 edition, Melanie oversaw its most international and diverse programme up to that point, featuring 50%+ women-directed films in the programme (57% in competition), and spearheaded the organisation achieving charitable status. Melanie also co-curated DocFest’s Rhyme & Rhythm strand and UK Competition.

Prior to DocFest, Melanie served as Director and Curator of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival on the English -Scottish border from 2009, before that working for cinemas and festivals in Newcastle and Liverpool.

Melanie is regularly invited to speak on issues relating to diversity and ethics in programming, on creating safe spaces, and on curating LGBTQI+ cinema, with talks and panels including Berlinale’s European Film Market, the Independent Cinema Office, and various festivals.

She has served on several juries including Nordisk Panorama, ZagrebDox, Encounters, One World Media, Colombo International Women’s Film Festival in Sri Lanka, and is a BIFA voter. As an active mentor to filmmakers and film exhibitors, Melanie has been part of BFI’s Film Audience Network (FAN)’s Advice scheme since 2017, was a member of the steering committee for BFI FAN’s This Way Up conference in 2019, and came on board in 2020 as an Exec Producer for Harri Shanahan and Siân A.  Williams’ film Rebel Dykes which have since gone on to bring the queer and ally communities together at 50 film festivals around the world.

Isra Al Kassi

Head of Programmes & Audience Development

Isra (She/her) has a background in events management and community spaces and cinemas. She is the co-founder of  T A P E Collective and has curated for London Short Film Festival, BFI Southbank and Aesthetica Short Film Festival. After her stint as a cinema programmer Isra has more recently worked with BIFA, Inclusive Cinema, Independent Film Trust and London Film Festival, Habibi Collective and Shasha with a focus on audience development and outreach.

Cristina Garcia

Operations Manager

Cristina (She/her) has worked in film since 2016, first in casting then in film exhibition, working in operations and finance for Cineworld Cinemas and joining the Birds Eye View flock in 2019.

A bit of a late bloomer, Cristina was a typical ’talks too much in class’ dyslexic kid and worked in a jewellery shop for 3 years after leaving school assuming she wasn’t cut out for much more. Fortunately, she stopped listening to what those negative voices were telling her about herself and followed her passion for film, hustled her way into higher education and ended up graduating with a first class degree in Film Studies from Queen Mary University of London, where she was also awarded the Principle’s Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Simone Glover

Training & Content Manager

Simone (She/her) has worked in the film industry for over 20 years in various roles in story development and training. Prior to joining Birds’ Eye View in 2015, Simone was a story developer at Oscar-Winning production company ‘Missing In Action Films’. Prior to this, Simone worked for Arista Development, the training initiative of the EU’s Media II programme, in which Pan-European writers, producers, directors and development executives gained both the theoretical knowledge and practical techniques vital to develop their stories. Simone is a graduate of the programme.

Following this, Simone has been a freelance story developer, and a reader for most of the regional screen agencies, including Film London’s Microwave and London Calling schemes. Simone is also a screenwriter and has made a number of short films (and TV), one (directed by Adrian Dunbar), a winner of BBC Northern Ireland NIFTC for Northern Lights, and another (starring Ben Whishaw), backed by the BBC, was nominated for Best Short at Danny Boyle’s Shuffle Film Festival. Simone has worked with Hollywood director, Joe Dante on a Tom Holt adaptation, and her co-written original comedy feature, created with actor Adrian Dunbar, is in development with Northern Ireland Screen. When not working at Birds Eye View, Simone is working on the feature that recently got her onto The Writers Lab UK & Ireland as a finalist.

Yasmin Jenoui

Communications Assistant

Yasmin (She/her) graduated from Goldsmiths with a Media and Communications BA in which she specialised in film and screenwriting. She’s since gained experience working in scripted development, industry research, and film exhibition. Sharing thought-provoking and original stories is what fuels her creative ambition, and she especially prides herself on prioritising fair, accurate, and inclusive representation.

Charlie Little

Access & Inclusion Consultant

Tom Symmons

Data & Research Manager

Tom Symmons (He/him) has been at Birds’ Eye View since 2017 working on data, research and curation. After a music career in his twenties, Tom decided to enter higher education as an undergraduate later completing his studies with a Film History PhD. He published his thesis (The New Hollywood Historical Film 1967-78) and taught for some years at the University of London before embarking on his present position at Birds’ Eye View.

Jo Taylor-Hitchinson

Awards Campaign Manager & Communications Consultant

Jo (She/her) has worked in the film industry for over 12 years in various roles with experience across a variety of cinema, film and arts marketing disciplines. She’s worked with organisations including Altitude Film Entertainment, BFI, BIFA, Bulldog Film Distribution, eOne, Modern Films, Fox Searchlight, Curzon Artificial Eye, Curzon Cinemas & Curzon Home Cinema.

Her marketing expertise covers film exhibition and distribution – specifically with a focus on strategy and campaign management as well as grassroots and outreach marketing consultancy.

Project highlights include collaborating with eOne on outreach strategy and campaigns for Queen and Slim, Sorry We Missed You & I, Daniel Blake, with Altitude Film Entertainment on their regional outreach and grassroots campaigns for Loving Vincent, Moonlight, mid90s & Beats and the BFI and Camelot on National Lottery Cinema Day 2019 & 2018 + National Lottery Cinema Weekend 2021.