PROGRAMMERS Cherie Federico
Dale Donley
Cherie is the Editor of Aesthetica Magazine and the Director of the BAFTA Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF). Originally from New York, Cherie moved to the UK in 2002 to study for her Masters degree and founded Aesthetica, which she has developed into an international brand.
Dale is the Production Director and co-founder of Aesthetica. He spent his early career working as an artist and then moved into graphic design. He is passionate about film and animation in particular. He loves to see animators pushing the boundaries of their craft to create something entirely new.
Abbe Robinson
Sophie Brown
Abbe is a multi-award winning short filmmaker. She has worked as an assistant director for over 15 years and has been commissioned twice as a by the UK Film Council and Screen Yorkshire. Her film Private Life played at over 150 film festivals, and her recent film La Ragazza e la Gondola is currently on the circuit.
Sophie views submissions for the BFI London Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest. She also writes the Doc/Fest short film catalogue and is a film journalist, published in Aesthetica, Dazed & Confused and Sight & Sound. She is the Brighton coordinator for Scalarama, a nationwide celebration of cinema.
Alex Tobin
Bryony Byrne
Alex is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice incorporates elements of animation, programming, performance and music. He studied in Edinburgh and Kyoto, and has exhibited and performed across Scotland. A former co-editor of Dundee arts collective Yuck ’n Yum, he works at Aesthetica Magazine.
Bryony is a writer and filmmaker living in London. She is a passionate advocate of short film and has worked at a number of film festivals including TIFF, LSFF and LOCO. Outside film, her other interests range from Stewart Lee to marine ecology... and everything in-between.
Rob Speranza Rob is a producer and line producer from New York. He has been living and working in Sheffield for 20 years and holds an MA and PhD in film studies. Rob worked on feature films Arthur and Merlin, Entity and Small Creatures (nominated for Best Film at EIFF 2013). He has won over 60 awards for his film work.
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