The Trustees

The Trustees of the Cambridge Film Trust are:

Tony Jones

Tony Jones has been involved in cinema programming since 1968, when he founded an independent cinema, The Arts Lab, in Birmingham. He moved on to become Programming Manager for the Arts Cinema in Cambridge in 1978, which he then built into the UK’s highest grossing single screen outside London. Tony Jones co-founded City Screen Limited in 1989 which started with a programming contract for the Maltings Cinema in Ely and the purchase of the Phoenix Cinema in Oxford. He is a Board member and non-executive Director of the company. In its 16 years City Screen has grown to become the UK’s largest group of independent cinemas. It remains committed to programming arthouse and world cinema titles and several of its cinemas are members of the Europa Network. Tony is Director of the Cambridge Film Festival, as well as Director, Co-founder and Trustee of Cambridge Film Trust, with particular responsibility for the programming and content of the Festival. 

Dr Isabelle McNeill
Also a co-founder of the Trust, Isabelle McNeill is a Fellow and Lecturer in French cinema and literature at Trinity Hall and in the department of French at the University of Cambridge. Her research field is recent French and Francophone cinema and she also lectures more widely on film theory at both graduate and undergraduate level. Isabelle co-founded the Cambridge University Film Seminar, which she ran for two years, developing the research culture necessary for the launch of a new MPhil in Screen Media and Culture at Cambridge. She now serves on the steering committee of the Screen Media Research seminar. She became involved with the Cambridge Film Festival in 2004 when she co-edited The Festival Daily, the Festival’s newspaper. From 2005 to 2007 Isabelle took over the management of the paper. As part of the Cambridge Film Trust’s year-round activity, she is working to promote collaboration between the Trust and the University of Cambridge, producing film events at the intersection of academic and popular interest, such as the Women’s Cinema from Tangiers to Tehran season in February 2008.

Bill Thompson

New media pioneer Bill Thompson has been working in, on and around the Internet since 1984. Formerly head of new media at Guardian newspapers, he writes a weekly column, the BillBoard, for BBC News online and a monthly feature for new users for BBC Webwise. Bill has been involved in the growing use of new technologies in the arts for many years, and was instrumental in setting up the New Media Centre at the ICA in the 1990s. He worked with Neville Brody on the online elements of the early FUSE conferences and built the first website for the Edinburgh Fringe in 1994. He led the online marketing workshop for the Theatrical Manager’s Association Essentials of Marketing Course from 2000-2005 and has spoken at many arts conferences, including the Arts Marketing Association annual conference. In 2006 Bill produced a daily podcast for the Cambridge Film Festival, working with a team of volunteers to create 30-40 minutes of downloadable audio a day, featuring interviews with Terry Gilliam, Luc Besson, Rowan Pelling and others along with reviews and audience interviews. He was online producer for the 2007 and 2008 Festivals.  

Nicholas Joicey
Nicholas Joicey works at the Treasury in London, where his current post is Director of International Finance. He has been closely involved in the Cambridge Film Festival since the early 1990s, when he edited the Varsity Film Festival newspaper and initiated seminars with leading film critics and directors. He worked for The Observer newspaper prior to joining the Treasury in 1996, where he has since held a wide range of positions, including as private secretary and speech writer to the Chancellor and at the UK’s Delegation to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington DC. For the 2006 Film Festival he organised the Projecting Britain series on the British documentary film movement, which he discussed on Radio 4’s Front Row. He is a Trustee of the Cambridge Film Trust, and is involved in the selection of films and organisation of events for the Festival. 

Jean Khalfa
Jean Khalfa is a Fellow and Lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge, and specialises in the history of philosophy, modern literature, aesthetics and anthropology. He has been involved with the Cambridge Film Festival since 1987, initially in his former capacity as French Cultural Delegate in Cambridge, and has organised or co-organised numerous film-related events, special seasons and research programmes, in particular relating to the cinematography of the French and Francophone world. He has also been instrumental in organising the continuous support Trinity College has given to the academic programmes of the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse.