BAFTA-recognised LOCO London Comedy Film Festival is welcoming a new Director and Programming team, as co-founder and Festival Director, Denise Hicks, steps back after ten years.
Anna Wetherell (Festival Director) and Benedict Morrison (Artistic Director) have already taken up the LOCO reins and are busy planning their first event – LOCO’s next Weekender, scheduled for spring 2023, hosted this time by Picturehouse.
Anna Wetherell, incoming Festival Director:
“As a life-long comedy film fan, this is a dream come true, to take over the reins and programming of a festival dedicated entirely to comedy on screen, and to support the filmmakers in the LOCO community. I wholeheartedly agree with LOCO’s ethos that comedy is more than just laughs. Comedy can hold tremendous power and needs recognition in its own right, not just as an appendage to ‘serious’ cinema. I am hugely excited to be working alongside Benedict and Picturehouse in keeping us all laughing in London.”
Benedict Morrison, incoming Artistic Director:
“I am wildly excited to be joining the LOCO team. It would be hard to imagine a time in which the delicious, anarchic pleasures of film comedy would be more appealing than they are now. I share LOCO’s commitment to the life-enriching properties of comedy, and it will be my great delight to join in the laughter of the festival’s audiences. My day job involves researching a book on subversive, queer film comedy in post-war Britain and I can’t wait to extend my education by watching the work of LOCO’s community of filmmakers. It is a particular joy to be working with Anna; nobody I know makes me laugh more.”
Outgoing Festival Director, Denise Hicks, said:
“LOCO has always been a place where comedy talent could come find their gang, and I’m delighted Anna and Benedict found us. It was always a tall order to find a team that would really get the spirit of LOCO in the way in which Jonathan and I created it. From the first time I met them, I knew that Anna and Benedict matched our love not only for comedy film but for the community that creates it. They have inspiring ideas of where to take LOCO next & I can’t wait to see what joy, mischief and moments of genuine reverence they create.”