Robey, Massa, Thomas join British Council as Film Advisers

Rachel Robey, Will Massa and Gary Thomas will all join the British Council’s film department as Film Advisers. All three will be in their new posts by December.

The hires comes after the Council tapped a new director of film, Briony Hanson, this summer.

Robey [pictured], a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow, co-founded Nottingham-based Wellington Films with Al Clark; they have worked on features including London To Brighton, Better Things, and A Man’s Story.

Massa is currently the New Talent Development & Film Executive for Northwest UK regional screen agency Vision+Media and is also development co-ordinator for Rankin Film.

Gary Thomas is the former head of Moving Image for the Arts Council England and the founder of Animate Projects.

Massa and Thomas will job-share at the British Council; Massa will continue the work with Rankin Film and Thomas will continue to work with Animate Projects.

She will continue to serve as a director of Wellington while working at the British Council.

Hanson said in a statement: “This is fantastic news for British Council Film. This is both an exciting and a challenging time for the UK film sector and these three new members of staff with their wealth of experience across different fields will be tremendous advocates for UK films and filmmakers on the international stage. At a time when we have recently re-launched our website and have begun to develop a series of ambitious new projects geared towards creating further opportunities for international work and collaboration, these appointments represent a great step forward.”