Our 2025 Festival Committee
Our grassroots festival is brought to life by our small team of volunteers.
Joshua Freemantle
Leading Founder
Joshua Freemantle is passionate about fostering creativity and accessibility in the arts/film. As the leading founder of Sunrise Film Festival and youth-led social enterprise Sunrise Studios based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Joshua has championed young voices under in the creative industries while establishing opportunities for emerging talent to shine in his community.
Favourite film: Licorice Pizza
Becca Medley
Festival Producer
Becca is a passionate advocate for mental health, lived experience and by day supports some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
Favourite film: Blitz
Patrick Johnson
Co-Founder
Patch founded Sunrise Film Festival along with Joshua. He is Digital Marketing Coordinator for regional charity Access Community Trust. As well as film, he loves music, art, history, football and nature. With the year-on-year growth of the festival, Patch is really excited to see how far it will go.
Favourite Film: The Iron Giant
Maya Watts
Festival Producer
Maya was born and raised in East Anglia, so supporting independent artists and filmmakers in the local area is something close to her heart. She loves working at the festival, because it gives a platform to such a wealth of amazing stories and emerging talent.
Favourite films: Lord of the Rings franchise
Chloe Beale
Lead Programmer
Chloe has worked in the cinema industry for six years, specialising in film programming and marketing for independent cinemas. She has managed the film programme for a suite of five independent cinema sites across London and the South West. She is addicted to stories, so it's a surprise to no one that she works in film.
Favourite film: Past Lives
Eva Steenhuis
Communications
Eva is a London-based publishing and marketing professional with a long-standing love for independent cinema. She volunteers with film festivals across the UK in both a marketing and programming capacity to support the industry. In her spare time, she writes on film and enjoys attending film festivals around the world.
Favourite film: Only Lovers Left Alive
Gina Stock
Head of Events & Awards
Gina is an MPhil student in Film and Screen Studies at the University of Cambridge. She is local to Lowestoft and volunteered at Sunrise in 2024. Gina also participated in Lowestoft County Council’s film production course this year and created a short choreography-film for the James Holloway Youth Arts Project in Halesworth in 2023.
Favourite Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Joanna Dack
Programming
Joanna is a Lowestoft-based creative and screenwriter who loves all things film — especially horror, thriller and anything weird and wonderful. She is proud to help bring opportunities to filmmakers in and around Lowestoft, eager to show the country (and the world) what Lowestoft has to offer.
Favourite film: The Exorcist
Lottie Taylor
Communications
Lottie is a young film fanatic. In her spare time, she is an independent film journalist, writing about all things cinema. She is also a lover of videography, photography and marketing.
Favourite film: Dune Part Two
Daisy Murphy
Events and Awards
Daisy’s love for film began at age 16, when she watched Lady Bird for the first time. Ever since then, she’s loved watching as many films as she can (particularly in cinemas!), and has been getting involved in short film shoots and local film festivals. Outside of film she has a History degree and enjoys rock climbing and trying out as many new creative hobbies as she can.
Favourite Film: American Honey
Interested in shaping our 2026 festival? Please email us to express your interest by clicking the button below.