2026 Jury
Fiction
Jing Haase
Jing Haase is a curator and short film expert who has been working in the industry for more than two decades. She has previously worked with Nordic shorts and docs as market manager at Nordisk Panorama and as festival manager for short films at the Swedish Film Institute with a primary focus on international distribution. She has also worked as a programmer and in film production. Jing is often used as moderator, panellist, facilitator, and jury member at international festivals and industry events.
Ewa Japola
Ewa Japola was born on 23 August 2001 in Poland. She made her first film at the age of 14. Ewa loves light, honest, sensitive stories with a strong form and genre. She is currently a sixth-year student of directing at The Polish National Film School in Lodz. Her film COUNT MY LOV3 has been selected for festivals in twelve countries so far.
Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey is a final year Film Studies student at Liverpool John Moores University. He feels connected to fiction films of all genres, but is most passionate about personal dramas that deconstruct and analyse the human condition. As the Vice President of the LJMU Film Society he enjoys sharing his love for international and independent cinema. He has enjoyed collaborating with fellow students to tell stories with themes of memory, nostalgia and community and is currently writing and directing his graduation project. He wishes to continue pursuing writing as a career.
Documentary
Petar Mitrić
Petar Mitrić is an Assistant Professor of Film Studies at the University of Copenhagen whose work explores how European films are developed, financed and ultimately reach their audiences. He examines the politics and practicalities of co-production and audience design, collaborating with leading industry organisations such as Film i Väst, the European Writers Club and TorinoFilmLab. His recent book The Co-production Landscape in Europe: From Eurimages to Netflix (2025) expands on his wider body of academic publications on European audiovisual policy and production practices. He currently leads the research group SCREENING EUROPE on the state of the European audiovisual industries. Alongside his research, he occasionally develops documentary projects that engage with personal and political histories.
Max Vazquez Montufar
Max Vázquez Montufar studied Film at the National School of Cinematographic Arts (ENAC) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He currently works as a cinematographer and director and is currently in post-production on his upcoming short film, Titan. His work explores fractured family dynamics and the harsh realities of urban life. His short documentary Roots (2023) has received awards at both national and international film festivals.
Caitlin Nightingale
Caitlin Nightingale is a third-year Film Studies and Creative Writing student at LJMU who always finds herself in the cinema watching any film she can get her hands on. With a passion for cinema in all its genres, she loves how the human experience can be explored, and also has a keen interest in how the film industry and social media interact. After graduation, she hopes to gain a career in film journalism or marketing.
Animation
Alice Shone
Alice Shone has been part of the screening and on selection teams for a number prestigious festivals, including The Toronto International Film Festival, Encounters and the Cork International Film Festival. She has also worked for The Tribeca Film Festival since 2018 where she currently holds the title of Senior Associate Shorts Programmer and represents Tribeca at festivals primarily in Europe but also worldwide. Alice has a tremendous passion for championing short films, and specializing in both animated and queer shorts. Outside of programming and screening for festival Alice works in animation production and post production on a variety of projects.
Lewis Macauley
Lewis Macaulay is a freelance 2D animator based in Cardiff. During his studies at Arts University Bournemouth, he directed the short film ‘Why Won’t Anyone Eat Me?’ which won the best student animation award at the 2025 RTS Southern television awards and the Paper Bird Award for Animation at the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival. Since then he’s been continuously honing his craft in character acting and sakuga action animation in order to further his career prospects in the Japanese animation industry.
Callum Caddell
Callum Caddell is a third-year Film Studies student at Liverpool John Moores University with a keen interest in Screenwriting and Editing. He plans to live in Vietnam by the end of 2026 and continue to make short films, bridging cultures and coming up with original British-Vietnamese screenplays and movies. He loves animated films of all kinds with his favourites being 9 (2009) and Coraline (2009).
Experimental
Stine Wangler
Stine Wangler, born in 1985, studied at Leuphana University in Lüneburg and the University of Glamorgan in Wales. She wrote her Cultural Studies thesis on short films on the internet. Since 2012, she has been working at the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg e.V., where she is responsible for the sales and acquisitions of short films. From 2013 to 2023, she was a member of the selection committee for the German Competition at the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg. On the side, she also works as a photographer.
Rapha Heinisch
Rapha Heinisch grew up in Sande on the North Sea coast of Germany. After completing their Federal Voluntary Service in the social sector, they decided to do a six-month internship in the film industry in Berlin. They then began studying film at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2020, where they have since focused on editing, camera work, and directing short feature films, documentaries, and experimental films.
Emily Bartholomew
Emily Bartholomew is a final year Film Studies student at LJMU. With an eye for the avant-garde and experimental cinema, Emily is a passionate visual thinker and aspiring art filmmaker. Her work thus far comprises themes such as social disillusionment, alienation and mental health.
2026 MA Student Festival Team
Ellie Burns
Animation Programmer
Social Media Coordinator
Live Event Co-Host
Sophia Duff
Experimental Programmer
Trailer Editor & Podcast/Live Event Co-Host
Will Knowles
Documentary Programmer
Podcast & Trailer Editor
Poster Design
Tom Matthews-John
Documentary Programmer
Letterboxd
Podcast Support
Aidan McCaughley-McNulty
Animation Programmer
Public-
Relations
Finlay Rushton
Fiction Programmer
Podcast & Live Event Co-Host
Aimee Challinor
Animation Programmer
Trailer Editor
Poster Design
Sean Greves
Fiction Programmer
Social Media Coordinator
Live Event Co-Host
Zoe Lodge
Documentary Programmer
Social Media Manager
Live Event Co-Host
Lewis McAllister
Experimental Programmer
Live Event Co-Host & Tech Support
Matt Penny
Animation Programmer
Trailer Editor & Social Media
Live Event Co-Host
The Paper Bird Award
“According to popular legend, they are a male and female pair: the female looking out to sea, watching for the seamen to return safely home, and the male looking into the city, watching over the seamen’s families (or “making sure the pubs are open”, as a jocular version has it). Local legend also holds that the birds face away from each other, for if they were to mate and fly away, the city would cease to exist.”
The paper bird trophies that will be given to the winners of this year’s festival are the creation of Dave Treadwell, an incredibly talented artist, musician, & director.
The Liver Bird is a symbol of Liverpool John Moores University and the City of Liverpool, whilst the material of paper reflects the academic context of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival.
