Meet the team behind the Montrose LandxSea Film Fest: a passionate crew of filmmakers, creatives, community organisers, and changemakers.

LandxSea is created by a small but mighty core team, supported by our Board of Trustees, screening team, freelance specialists, volunteers, community partners, and the brilliant team at Montrose Playhouse, all working together to bring bold environmental cinema to Scotland’s wild east coast.

For 2026, the day-to-day festival is led by Rachel Caplan with Holly Muse, Emma Jamieson, and Frida Mittmann, working with a wider circle of collaborators to bring Scotland’s environmental film festival to life.

For all festival enquiries, please contact Rachel and the LandxSea team through our contact page, or through the links below.

2026 Core Festival Team

Rachel Caplan
Co-Founder & Festival Director

Rachel co-founded LandxSea to create a welcoming, place-based space for environmental cinema, creative exchange, and community action. She is an award-winning film festival producer and impact strategist for documentary films, with over 25 years’ experience across the UK and USA. Her work centres on the power of film to connect people, place, and action, using storytelling to spark dialogue around urgent environmental and social issues.

She previously founded and led the San Francisco Green Film Festival, growing it into an internationally recognised platform for environmental storytelling, and directed the International Ocean Film Festival, North America’s largest showcase for marine cinema. She also produced Scotland’s Climate Festival for COP26, supporting 37 locally led events and engaging more than 30,000 people nationwide.

As Festival Director of LandxSea, Rachel leads programming, partnerships, fundraising, and delivery, working closely with filmmakers, artists, and local communities to ensure the festival remains inclusive, accessible, and rooted in its coastal context.

Contact Rachel about festival partnerships, programming, funding, strategic collaborations, and overall festival activity.

Holly Muse
Festival Producer: Guests, Hospitality & Programme Delivery

Holly is a Creative Producer with a background in cultural anthropology, film exhibition, and community arts. She has worked across UK and international film festivals, and with organisations including Watershed Bristol and BFI Film Hub South West. She co-produced a community cinema in Bristol and led animation workshops and film screenings in refugee camps and youth centres in northern France and the West Bank.

Holly recently completed a master’s in Visual Ethnography at Leiden University. Her fieldwork took place in the desert of southern Jordan, where she lived with a Bedouin family and explored the impact of tourism on gender dynamics and cultural practices. She presented her findings through a multimedia project, which she is now developing into a book.

Filmmakers, speakers, and invited guests can contact Holly about film materials, guest logistics, travel, hospitality, and festival schedules.

Emma Jamieson
Marketing & Communications Manager

Emma is a marketing and social media consultant specialising in film and entertainment, with over 12 years leading award-winning campaigns and strategy across a variety of sectors in the UK and abroad. She now helps clients grow their brand, build fans, and drive awareness through story-led, data-backed, creative marketing that helps them cut through the noise.

On the side, Emma also writes Reeling & Dealing, a film marketing Substack covering trends and innovations at the intersection of tech, media, fandom, the creator economy, and entertainment.

Contact Emma about promotional partnerships, marketing opportunities, press, and festival communications.

Frida Mittmann
Community Outreach & Engagement Coordinator

Frida has worked with young people for over 10 years, facilitating outdoor learning workshops on beaches, in forests, and across wild places. She also teaches languages through creative content, bringing together education, storytelling, and imagination in her work.

Originally from Berlin, Germany, Frida is now based in the north east of Scotland. Since 2024, she has been studying illustration, inspired by the peaceful and dramatic coastline around her. On walks, stories and pictures keep appearing, waiting to be sketched and written down at her family’s kitchen table.

Frida’s interests include community empowerment, visual storytelling, outdoor learning, and rockpooling.

Contact Frida about community activities, local engagement, and ways to get involved through the PoP shop and Festival community spaces.

Board of Trustees

Our Board of Trustees provides governance, strategic oversight, and charitable accountability for Montrose LandxSea Film Festival SCIO, a registered charity in Scotland, SC053626.

David Hughes
Chair

David has worked in quality management and assurance for much of his career, across both the pharmaceutical and energy industries. His experience focuses on strong governance, practical delivery, and finding ways to improve systems when gaps appear.

A long-standing supporter of local charities in Montrose, David brings a steady, thoughtful approach to LandxSea’s Board of Trustees, helping guide the festival’s governance, strategy, and future development. He was especially inspired by the inaugural LandxSea screening of Patrick and the Whale, and by the conversations that followed, a reminder of how film, place, and shared experience can stay with audiences long after the credits roll.

Learn more about David and how LandxSea inspires him.

Kenny Alexander
Vice Chair

Kenny transitioned from a 35-year career in the petrochemical industry, where he worked in North Sea gas and around Grangemouth's oil and gas complexes, to become a champion of environmental causes. Notably, post-COP26, he relayed the COP baton by land and sea from Glasgow to Sharm El Sheik as a green runner and Scotland’s representative.

He currently serves as Chair of the newly formed Polmont Community Hub, working towards transforming the community centre and its grounds into a sustainable local asset for all. An active participant in climate events across the UK, including Scotland’s annual Climate Camp, Kenny serves as a passionate ambassador for our festival, offering a critical perspective on the environmental transition.

Gemma Bradshaw
Treasurer

Gemma is Impact Director at the TV Foundation, the charitable arm of the Edinburgh TV Festival. Prior to that, Gemma was the director of One World Media and focused on growing their support for new talent covering global stories.

She is passionate about making the creative industries more accessible and the power of stories to open minds and create space for conversation and change, with a particular focus on the climate crisis. Gemma started her career in public policy before a move to the US led to her working in the documentary industry as Director of Programs for the Social Impact Media Awards, and prior to that as COO of San Francisco Green Film Festival.

Nancy Dionne
Secretary

Nancy works across documentary film, photography, and public engagement, with a long-standing commitment to environmental storytelling and the belief that exposure to nature is the foundation of human and planetary health.

Early in her career, she worked in adventure travel with Geographic Expeditions alongside conservation leaders including Jim Sano of WWF and Huey Johnson, former California Secretary of Resources and founder of the Trust for Public Land. These experiences deeply shaped her views on stewardship, local heroes, and the strength of community.

She has since collaborated with local and international film festivals, impact producers, and cultural organisations, and is drawn to stories that bring audiences to moments of reflection and inspire meaningful action.

Learn more about Nancy and her passion for LandxSea.

Screening & Selection Team

Our screening team helps us discover, assess, and champion films for the festival programme. Their thoughtful viewing notes, recommendations, and conversations shape the final selection each year.

For the 2026 Festival:
Armando Bautista Garcia | Abbie Clark | Bo Yau | Holly Muse | Martina Camatta | Mick Muse | Nadia Ward | Rachel Caplan | Rebecca Taylor

Festival Contributors & Freelance Specialists

Each year, LandxSea works with a brilliant group of freelance specialists and creative contributors who help shape the festival’s look, feel, access, communications, and live experience.

For the 2026 Festival:
Graphic Design: Matthew Martin, MRTN Studio
Publicity: Claire Smith PR
Live Captioning/CART: Max Rosenthal McGrath

More coming soon.

Venue & Delivery Partner: Montrose Playhouse

LandxSea takes place at the Montrose Playhouse, our much-loved community cinema and festival home. The Playhouse team works closely with us on venue operations, box office, technical delivery, hospitality, and audience welcome.

David Paton, Chair, The Montrose Playhouse Project SCIO
Claire Carle, Operations Manager
Stewart Buchanan, Venue Supervisor
Jenna Henderson, Venue Assistant
Bobbie Paton, Social Media Team
Amy Nash, INDY Cinema Services

Founding Story

Anthony Baxter
Co-Founder

Anthony Baxter co-founded LandxSea with Rachel Caplan and played an important role in the festival’s beginnings, helping shape its early identity and creating our original festival trailer. Anthony has now stepped back from active festival delivery, but remains part of LandxSea’s founding story. We’re grateful for the creative spark, local knowledge, and filmmaking experience he brought to the festival’s launch.

Anthony is a globally recognised documentary director and producer based in Montrose. His award-winning films include You’ve Been Trumped and Eye of the Storm, his portrait of Scottish artist James Morrison, which won Best Specialist Factual at BAFTA Scotland.

Read the story of why Rachel and Anthony founded the festival.

With Thanks

LandxSea has been shaped by many generous people since it began, from early community conversations, outreach, and photography to volunteering, design, local knowledge, and practical support. We’re grateful to everyone who has helped the festival grow.

With thanks to past contributors and festival friends including Fiona Guest, Graham Black, and many others who have supported LandxSea’s growth.

None of this would be possible without our amazing Festival Sponsors & Partners. Thank you!

LandxSea Beach Dook photo at top by Graham Black.