Encounters Film Festival has appointed a new 17-member board of trustees with A Productions’ creative director, Joanna Hepworth, among them.
This comes as the Bristol-based festival is gearing up for this year’s event after its successful 30th edition comeback in September 2025. The 17-member board brings together figures from across the screen industries with more details on the team here.
Joanna is responsible for overseeing and strengthening the creative vision of A Productions’ award-winning children’s content, ensuring each show has its own unique and authentic voice. She has 18 years of experience in animation production and has been a director at the creative-led studio since 2019.
Joanna said: “My first involvement with the iconic Encounters Film Festival goes back nearly 20 years, when I was a volunteer at the start of my career, so it’s an event I hold close to my heart. It’s very meaningful to be coming back to it in this capacity after all these years.
“The festival plays a hugely important role in not just celebrating film from the South West and across the world, but in uncovering and supporting new, emerging talent. I’m so excited for what the team have planned for this year and in the future.”
At the heart of Encounters Film Festival is its international short film competition, a qualifying gateway to the BAFTAs, BIFAs and European Film Awards and one of the world’s most established platforms for discovering new filmmaking talent.
Executive director Dave Taylor-Matthews said: “We wanted a board that could help Encounters grow into the festival that looks furthest into the future of the screen industries and celebrates breakthrough in all its forms. And there’s no better city to do that from than Bristol, a place that’s always made bold, independent-minded work and never waited for permission. When I look at who’s come together around this table, I see people who’ve spent their careers finding new talent, backing original voices and building things that didn’t exist before.”
The 31st Encounters Film Festival takes place 23–27 September 2026 in Bristol.