JUDGES

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PIERCE BROSNAN                                                             

Bronson came to the public’s attention in TV series Remington Steele and his suave sophistication was spotted by the Bond producers who were eager to sign him up.  His contractual obligations meant that he wasn’t to take up the mantel of Ian Fleming’s most famous creation until 1995, but it was worth the wait.  He played 007 four times in Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and The World is not Enough and in the words of GQ magazine is ‘the man who brought Bond back from the dead’.  Other work has included films as diverse as The Long Good Friday to Mars Attacks!, Mrs Doubtfire and The Thomas Crown Affair.  His has most recently appeared in The Matador.

MATTHEW MODINE

Matthew Modine made his screen debut in Baby It’s You and later that year started a successful relationship with Robert Altman in Streamers earning him Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival.  He’s since worked with Altman in Short Cuts, winning the Golden Lion, and with Stanley Kubrick in Full Metal Jacket.   A veteran of over 30 films, he starred in Birdy, Married to the Mob, The Browning Version, And The Band Played On and Pacific Heights showing his diversity as an actor.  He is a prolific stage actor having recently appeared in Resurrection Blues directed by Altman at the Old Vic and he has directed three short films: When I Was a Boy, Smoking and Ecce Pirate plus a feature film, If… Dog… Rabbit which he also wrote.

TERRY GILLIAM

Never afraid to take creative risks, Terry Gilliam is one of the film industry’s most imaginative and original directors.  The only non-British member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, he progressed from being an animator to co-directing Monty Python and The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.  Post-Python he directed movies like the critically acclaimed Brazil for which he was Oscar nominated and has gone on to stamp his distinctive creative style on a huge body of work including: Jabberwocky; Time Bandits;  The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; The Fisher King; 12 Monkeys; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and most recently The Brothers Grimm and Tideland.

IMELDA STAUNTON

One of character actress Imelda Staunton’s first TV appearances was in Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective.  Since then she has gone on to international recognition through her performance as Vera Drake for which received an Oscar nomination and a Best Actress BAFTA.   With many awards for her theatre work recent years have seen her concentrate on film and television including appearances in Peter’s Friends, Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, Twelfth Night, Shakespeare in Love and Nanny McPhee.  Film audiences will be able to see her in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.  She also appeared in Ready one of the 2002 TCM Classic Shorts finalists.

RICHARD E GRANT

Having moved to London from Swaziland in the early 80s and earning acclaim for his theatre and television performances, Richard E Grant shot to fame in Bruce Robinson’s cult classic

Withnail and I.  Further roles in Coppola’s Dracula and How to Get Ahead in Advertising soon earned him recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.  He went on to work with the likes of Robert Altman in The Player and Gosford Park, with Scorsese in The Age of Innocence and has appeared in a number of movies including Twelfth Night, Jane Campion’s Portrait of a Lady and Bright Young Things.  He has turned his hand to directing and his semi-autobiographical film Wah-Wah, which he also wrote opens in the UK this summer.

SALLY POTTER

Having left school aged 16, Sally Potter joined the London Filmmakers Co-op where she started to make experimental short films.  She also trained as a dancer and choreographer which led to her founding, The Limited Dance company and helped her become an award-winning performance artist and theatre director.  Her keen interest in music involved her with many bands as a lyricist and singer and she has since composed film scores for many of her films including Orlando, The Tango Lesson and most recently Yes.   She received 25 international awards and two Oscar nominations for Orlando and in addition to writing and directing most of her work she has also edited and produced feature films, short films and television series’. Sally has a regular blog to converse with online visitors at www.yesthemovie.com.

STEPHEN POLIAKOFF

Playwright, screenwriter, director and producer, Stephen Poliakoff dropped out of Cambridge University to pursue his passion for writing plays.  By 1977 his play Stronger Than The Sun was broadcast on BBC’s prestigious Play for Today and several other successful TV plays were to follow including Bloody Kids , Caught on a Train which earned him BAFTA success, Shooting The Past and She’s Been Away.   His feature films include Close My Eyes, winner of the Evening Standard Best British Film Award, Hidden City, Century and Perfect Strangers.   His recent television work includes The Lost Prince, winner of three Emmy Awards, Friends and Crocodiles and Gideon’s Daughter. 

STEPHEN WOOLLEY

Stephen Woolley’s career has taken him from front-of-house at The Screen on the Green to co-director of a production company, Scala Productions, with Nik Powell.  In 1993 he won Producer of the Year Award from the Producer's Guild of America and an Academy nomination for The Crying Game. He recently directed Stoned, a biopic about the life of Brian Jones, as well as producing Breakfast on Pluto.  Other recent credits include Intermission, The Actors, Return to Sender and he is set to produce How to Lose Friends and Alienate People based on journalist Toby Young’s book.  A huge supporter of TCM Classic Shorts, Woolley has been a dedicated member of the judging panel since the competition began.

PAUL TRIJBITS

Paul Trijbits has been Head of the New Cinema Fund at the UK Film Council since 2000.  Paul came to the UK in 1981 from the Netherlands to attend the Film course at Polytechnic of Central London School of Communications.  He is a founder member of the New Producers Alliance. Before joining the UK Film Council he produced and executive produced a number of feature films with both first-time and established directors including, Richard Stanley’s Hardware, Danny Cannon’s The Young Americans, Paul Weiland’s Roseanna’s Grave, John Duigan’s Paranoid.

WENDY IDE

Wendy Ide is an established film critic and writer for The Times.  She has previously been the Film Editor of Dazed & Confused magazine and has contributed to UK Elle and The Sunday Herald.  She is also a regular contributor on BBC radio and television.

DAN JOLIN

Dan Jolin is Reviews Editor of Empire magazine, the UK’s biggest movie magazine. Having started out as a movie critic for his student newspaper, Dan’s been a professional film journalist for nine years, having also worked as Reviews and Features Editor on Total Film. His DVD collection is already too big for his front room.

JASON SOLOMONS

Broadcaster and journalist Jason Solomons is one of the UK’s most influential film critics.  He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio London (Robert Elms’ Show); Radio 4’s prestigious arts programme, Front Row; Mariella Frostrup’s The Green Room plus BBC London’s television news programme.  In addition he regularly reviews films and writes features and interviews for The Guardian, The Observer and The Mail on Sunday.

MATT MUELLER

Editor-At-Large at Total Film magazine since 1999, Matt’s interest in cinema was sparked when he borrowed his father’s Super-8 camera to make a short film starring his neighbourhood friends (an “homage” to Star Wars). Unfortunately, a trick shot too far and the camera ended up at the bottom of a pond. Sensibly, Matt chose a career in film journalism rather than filmmaking and landed a job as News Editor on Empire magazine soon after arriving in London from the States 13 years ago. In addition, Matt has also served as Editor of the UK edition of Premiere and London correspondent for Premiere’s American edition.

TINA MCCANN

Tina McCann is General Manager of Turner Entertainment Networks Europe Ltd.  Her job includes overseeing all TCM, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Toonami network functions including programming, acquisitions, on-air, operations, research, marketing and public relations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.