Adrian is the festival director of Bolton Film Festival. A documentary film-maker and photographer with over twenty five years experience, Adrian has worked primarily on long term social documentaries focusing on people led stories and the community. His work has been displayed at numerous museums and galleries across the North West and many of his photo essays are available as self published books.

Adrian first began hosting film events with "Sunset Cinema" which toured the world out of a backpack, screening independent films on beaches, mountain tops and even on a barge on the River Ganges in India. This became the genesis of Bolton Film Festival, a festival that is a Creative England CE50, and now both a BIFA and BAFTA qualifying short film festival.  

Adrian is a regular guest speaker at universities and film events, he has also been a juror at Kerry Film Festival, Short Com, River Film Festival, Kino Film Festival and High Peak Film Festival. 

Zoe Rothwell is an independent film maker and photographer currently working in education. As festival producer at Bolton Film Festival, Zoe is the friendly face who will make you feel at ease on your visit. Zoe also assists with programming, social media and marketing and the co-ordination of the volunteers. 

Alisha is a graduate of University of Manchester where she obtained an alumni scholarship for her M.A in Film Studies. Alisha was previously a pre-programmer at Bolton Film Festival, but we were so impressed with her knowledge of film we've asked to step up to programming. Alisha has a passion and love for documentary and docu-fiction. She enjoys engaging in the Manchester film community and has recently volunteered at Manchester International Film Festival. 

Jim Dummett runs Cinebox, who specialise in technical delivery of film festivals and events. They manage all the DCP creation for Bolton Film Festival and other leading film festivals in the UK.

Jim has been producing film events since 2009, from the mud-splattered fields of Glastonbury, pop-ups in London, film festivals such as Open City Doc Fest and Branchage Jersey, and delivering touring programmes to major venues including BFI Southbank, Watershed Bristol and FACT Liverpool. Prior to his work in cinema, Jim was an online editor and broadcast technician working on documentaries for BBC, ITV and Discovery.

cinebox.co

Dennis is the creator of Filmchief, a popular cloud-based film festival management system and an online streaming platform. Dennis is himself an animation filmmaker with a passion for cinema.

filmchief.com

Paul initially trained a theatre director, but now also works in film and audio drama. As a writer-director his award-winning short films  have been screened internationally. He holds a BA Hons in Drama and English from Edge Hill University and an MA in Theatre Directing from East 15.  

Paul co-ordinates the running of our venues alongside Zoe and the volunteers. 

Liban has just completed his studies at UCLAN in Preston and is our intern for 2023. He's helping  manage film assets, prepare social media posts and is part of the venue coordination. He is an avid cinephile and likes to share his thoughts on features and our own incoming films. Liban is an aspiring director with a passion for boundary breaking films and music videos. 

Amber has been volunteering with Bolton Film Festival since 2018, working on social media and front of house, we're glad to say she's joined as staff this year. She is a recent graduate of Edgehill University where she is awaiting her results for an undergraduate course in Media, Film & Television. She is a regular on Short of the Week and Staff picks and at film festivals in the region.