Announcing the 11th Moving Image Awards speaker line-up

We hope you’ve marked your calendars, because we’re only 2 months away from our annual Moving Image Awards 2025.

This exclusive awards ceremony (organised by WJEC/Eduqas, in conjunction with the British Film Institute(BFI)) has gained recognition from teachers and lecturers of film and media courses at institutions across the UK, as well as leading figures in the film industry.

Don’t believe us? Just look our incredible guest speaker line-up!

Dr. Jenny Stewart, Eduqas Film Studies Subject Officer, said: “This year, we welcome inspiring panel guests, including a filmmaker, scriptwriter and film critic, alongside our host Anna Smith (BBC, SKY, Girls on Films Podcast). The panel’s Q&A is an excellent opportunity for aspiring young filmmakers and scriptwriters to gain invaluable advice and insight on working in the screen industries.”

We are delighted to introduce the following guests, who will be joining us at the BFI in London, 10th February, for our awarding ceremony:

Anna Smith 

Anna Smith is one of the UK’s leading film critics and broadcasters. The former President of the UK Critics’ Circle, she is the host and co-founder of Girls On Film, the world’s leading podcast about women in film. Since its first episode in 2018, Girls On Film has welcomed 13 Oscar-winners onto the podcast, been nominated for seven awards and launched its own annual awards show.   

As a writer, Anna is a regular contributor to Time Out, The Guardian, Rolling Stone UK, Waitrose Weekend and Metro. Having been the film expert on many editions of the BBC News Channel Film Review, Anna now appears regularly on Sky News and BBC Radio 4. She has also hosted hundreds of on-stage Q&As and film premieres and has been a judge at ceremonies including the BAFTA Film Awards, The Sky Arts Awards and the British Independent Film Awards.

Instagram: @annasmithfilmcritic | X: @annasmithjourno 

Kate Leys

Kate Leys is a script and story editor. She has worked for many years on feature films and TV series all over the world. She works on projects at all stages of development and has also worked on documentaries, animation, short films, audio and occasionally theatre. She works often with global indigenous filmmakers, and in one day during lockdown she worked with filmmakers in Vienna, Beirut, Tblisi and Maputo.  

Recent films include TORNADO (in post, John MacLean); DREAMERS (in post, Joy Gharoro Akpojotor); WORKMATES (in post, Curtis Vowell); MR K (in post, Talulah Schwab); SKY PEALS (Venice 2023); THE UNBORN BIRO (Sundance 2023); JE’VIDA (Tribeca 2023 and winner best script Helsinki Film Fest 22); feature doc FADIA’S TREE (London 22); HARKA (Cannes 22); MILLIE LIES LOW (Berlin and SXSW 2022); DO NOT HESITATE (Tribeca 2021); DREAM HORSE (Sundance 2020). 

TV credits include THE VALHALLA MURDERS (Netflix, Mystery & Truenorth in Iceland); I AM series1 (C4); BABYLON (C4) and comedies BUFFERING series 2 (ITV3) and HOFF THE RECORD (Dave, winner Int’l Emmy 2016). She is currently developing drama series with C4 and with Apple+.  

She speaks at film organisations, film schools and festivals all over the world. 

Amrou Al-Kadhi 

Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British-Iraqi writer, filmmaker, and performer, whose work primarily focuses on queer identity, cultural representation and racial politics. Their directorial debut feature film LAYLA premiered in competition at Sundance and was picked up for UK release through Curzon, alongside a string of international sales in the US and throughout Europe. 

Amrou has several other feature films and original TV series in development in both the UK and US with companies including Fifth Season, Pulse Films, South of the River Pictures, and The Forge.  
 
They’ve written a number of episodes of Hollyoaks, as well as the finale for the BAFTA-nominated Little America for Apple TV+ with Stephen Dunn, which The Hollywood Reporter described as one of the best 10 episodes of television in 2020. Amrou also wrote an episode for The Watch for BBC America, based on the Discworld Novels of Sir Terry Pratchett. 

Amrou has written/directed four short films, which have screened at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals around the world, and have been distributed by Peccadillo Pictures, PBS, BBC4, NOWNESS, BFI Player and Revry. 

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh is the Chief Film Critic at Metro, the UK’s most read daily newspaper. She is also a regular broadcast contributor to Times Radio, Sky News and the BBC and has serves on numerous film juries including the British Independent Film Awards and the BAFTAs. 

For further information on the Moving Image Awards, including previous winners visit our website.