film
Film criticism and filmmaking by Will Rowan. Berlinale Talents 2025, Locarno Film Festival, Cineuropa. Interviews with Radu Jude, Johnnie To, and Tommy Wiseau.
Festival Selections & Programmes
- Berlinale Talents 2025, selected as 1 of 200 emerging filmmakers from thousands of applicants worldwide, at the Berlin International Film Festival
- Berlinale Talents Press 2025, simultaneously selected as 1 of 8 film critics worldwide for the dedicated press programme
- REAL Academy, Locarno Film Festival 2025, selected for the festival’s filmmaker lab; directed Film Fever (see below)
- GoCritic! 2024–2025, selected for the European film criticism programme at Anifilm (Liberec, Czech Republic); wrote three articles for Cineuropa, Europe’s leading film industry publication
- Far East Film Festival Campus, Udine 2023, selected as 1 of 10 young critics from Europe and Asia
- Locarno Basecamp 2023, selected as 1 of 200 for the Locarno Film Festival’s artistic residency
- European Forum Alpbach 2025, scholarship recipient
Published Criticism
- Cineuropa: Anifilm awards report, review of Savages (Claude Barras), review of Hurikan (Jan Saska)
- Filmhounds Magazine: interview with Radu Jude (Romanian New Wave director, Golden Bear winner); Yes Madam Blu-ray review
- Taiwan News: interview with Kai Ko on Bad Education
- Eastern Kicks: coverage from the Far East Film Festival
- BBC Radio York: regular guest on the Film Hour
- Yorkshire Evening Post, Movie Marker, East Euro Flicks
Interviews
Published interviews with Radu Jude, Kai Ko, Tommy Wiseau, Johnnie To, and Gabby Wong.
Filmmaking
Film Fever (2025). A 9-minute experimental documentary made during the REAL Academy at the Locarno Film Festival. An impressionistic portrait of heat, exhaustion, and dreams at a film festival, built from cross-dissolves and non-linear structure. Directorial debut.
Cinema Programming
York Student Cinema (2017–2023, seven years). I was Head Film Programmer in 2021–2022, curating nearly 100 films per year for a 300-seat student-run venue with a £12,000 annual budget. The role involved distributor liaison, DCP ordering, scheduling, flyer design, and event programming, from Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screenings to The Room with Tommy Wiseau in attendance.
I started selling popcorn at the cinema in my first year of university in 2017, and by 2021 I was choosing every film that played on screen. It remains one of the roles I am most proud of.