Rachael is a curator and producer based in Hawick, having joined Alchemy in 2018. Rachael taught on Edinburgh College of Art’s MFA in Contemporary Art Theory (2020-22) and prior to Alchemy was Project Manager at Deveron Projects. Rachael has served as a mentor and jury member on various training schemes, advisory groups, artist residencies and national awards in the arts and regeneration sectors, and has contributed to publications and panels with numerous organisations and film festivals.

Michael is a critic from Gateshead. He holds a PhD in film practice from Newcastle University and is the editor of several books; his own criticism has been published widely. Michael has worked at numerous international film festivals as a curator, critic, advisor, keynote speaker, tutor and jury member. He joined Alchemy as a programmer in 2016, and has been a Director since 2019.

Milo first joined Alchemy as part of a student placement during his Masters in Film Curation at the University of Glasgow, and has since gone on to work with the organisation as a Trainee, Print Traffic Coordinator, Programme Assistant and Assistant Producer. He also works freelance as a writer and curator, with his first novel due to be published in the spring of 2024. He is drawn to the intersection of art, activism and social practice and has a particular interest in queer and DIY film.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Zuzana is interested in inter-cultural socio-political contexts and local-global links. Her experience in socially-engaged arts has been shaped by her time at Deveron Projects, where she explored the connection between art, community, hospitality and environment, working with local communities and local, national and international artists. In her free time, Zuzana enjoys travelling, roaming around the woods and hills, going for a dip in the North Sea, exploring and learning, and just being active and creative in any way possible. She likes organising parties for her friends and has been told she can’t sit still – though she says she’s been learning.

Since joining Alchemy in 2019, Tom has been working as a filmmaker and creative enabler with the diverse communities of Hawick and the Scottish Borders. Films made with and by these groups have been screened in parliament and various film festivals, and several have won awards. With a focus on meaningful participation, encouraging creative expression and learning genuinely useful skills through filmmaking, Tom is always excited to see what is created next.

Samhradh Douglas was brought up in France before moving to the Scottish Borders. Following an MA in Music, specialising in music production, she is a multi-disciplinary artist with a love for making atmospheric electronic music and short films. She previously volunteered for the thirteenth edition of Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival.

Walt was born at a very young age, went to school, grew up a bit, and is still doing so… 

Born in the Welsh Borders, Walt ratcheted north and north, moving to the Scottish Borders in 2005 during a bit of a nomadic phase, and ended up recognising Hawick as a ‘good’ thing. He was drafted as an Alchemist for the second edition of Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, and wondering what it was all about as a volunteer, found the ‘get in and dig’ philosophy chimed with his own sensibilities.  

Jonathan is a film curator and writer based in London. He has a grounding in cinema from the Caribbean and its diaspora, and an abiding interest in the intersection of global south cinema with creative-hybrid film practice. He has worked for numerous film festivals, and guest-curated programmes and retrospectives in several places.  He serves on film festival juries and as an adjudicator of projects for film funding initiatives. His byline has appeared in various publications.

April Forrest Lin 林森 (b. 1996, Stockholm — they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator investigating image-making and world-building as sites for the construction, sustenance, and dissemination of co-existent yet conflicting truths. They interweave moving image, performance, creative computing and installation in a commitment to centring oppressed knowledges, building an ethics of collaboration around reciprocal care, and exploring the linkages between history, memory, and interpersonal and structural trauma. Their work has been shown at the Museum of the Moving Image New York, Sheffield DocFest, LA Filmforum,  and NOWNESS Asia.