Meet the people behind City Lights Film Festival’s 12th edition, helping create the beautiful screenings that will be shared throughout the festival. Each one is incredible at crafting what you see. Curating a festival is an art, and we couldn’t be prouder to have their artistic hands on deck.
Deborah Espect – Programmer
Deborah Espect (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker, editor and TV presenter based in Brighton.
She is also the director of FilmPride, Brighton & Hove Pride’s official LGBTQIA+ film festival.
She always seeks to elevate her fellow indie filmmakers and thrives on promoting positive queer, neurodivergent and disability-led storytelling.
James Story – Programmer
James Story (he/him) is an emerging film programmer and producer dedicated to championing deeply personal storytelling, inventive documentaries, and films that experiment with mixed media. Since transitioning into film programming, James has worked with festivals across the UK including Encounters, Sunderland Shorts, Sunrise, and Norwich Film Festival. He also served as Executive Producer for the award-winning short film Bluebell Woods, which earned recognition at several Welsh film festivals.
Steve Harcourt – Judging and programmer
Steve Harcourt (he/him) is a creative, currently working with a production house on a feature documentary, short films, music videos, podcasts, and adverts. Steve has also produced successful shows on Soho Radio, including ‘Screen to Screen’ with Liz McMullen, and currently hosts ‘Zero Hours’. Aside from all that, he is a live/studio audio engineer and sound recordist.
His career started with successful chart act Collapsed Lung. The band is most famous for their Top 20 hit “Eat My Goal,” a track widely recognised as a football anthem and featured heavily in global Coca-Cola advertising campaigns. Collapsed Lung have recently released new albums, ‘Zero Hours Band’ and ‘Collapsed Lung Weekend Television’. For many years, he also ran a successful and internationally respected music venue, The Square in Harlow.
Angela Peters – Festival director
Founder of the BIFA qualifying City Lights Film Festival and City Nights events, creator of B.A.B.E. Acting Network, World Acting Summit, and a Backstage Expert since 2018, Angela Peters (she/her) loves getting involved in every part of the industry. Angela is also a BAFTA voting member and BIFA voter, and the current chair of the AIFF.
Angela has an unstoppable passion for helping filmmakers and actors be seen, and City Lights has always been, and always will be, a way to champion the industry’s next generation at a grassroots level. Angela is also an international actress who has been on TV, in cinemas and on Netflix, Sky, Apple, and Amazon Prime.
Alexander Sternberg – Judging and programming
Alexander Sternberg (he/him) is a Film Critic and Content Creator who’s currently making waves online; publishing reviews on his YouTube Channel and producing the second season of his hit cult horror-focussed Podcast, The Extreme Cinema Podcast.
After completing his Master’s Degree in History from The University of Leeds, which focused on the use of 1960s and 70s American Cinema, Alex became a part of the 2020 UK Jewish Film Festival Young Jury, programming a selection of short films for the festival. He was also script supervisor on the independent British film Anything You Can Do.
