Decoding the Documentary Industry: What Decision Makers are looking for?
This panel aims to demystify the documentary industry by shedding light on the perspectives of decision makers when selecting documentary films. Industry insiders will share valuable insights into the trends and considerations influencing their choices. This session will provide valuable guidance to filmmakers and content creators seeking to navigate the documentary landscape and increase their chances of securing funding and distribution opportunities.
SPEAKERS
LUCIE KON
Commissioning Editor, BBC Storyville, BBC / UK
LAUREN CLARKE
TIFF Docs Programming Associate, Toronto International Film Festival / UK
MANDY CHANG
Global Head of Documentaries for Fremantle, Fremantle / UK
TOMMASO PRIANTE
Sales and Acquisitions Executive, Deckert Distribution GmbH / IT
HEATHER HAYNES
Associate Director of Festival Programming, Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival / CA
MODERATED BY
Marina Burić
Senior Producer Markets, IDFA / NL
TIME
Monday, August 14th, 2023
16:30 – 17:30 (CET)
LOCATION
Hotel Europe Atrium
Lucie Kon
Lucie Kon is Commissioning Editor on Storyville, the BBC’s landmark international feature documentary strand, where she commissions, co-produces and curates a diverse and distinctive slate that brings the best feature documentary films from around the world to BBC audiences. Her work has spanned various factual genres, from feature docs to arts, history, observational, biographical and investigations/current affairs. She is a seasoned and well-respected industry leader, as adept at working with experienced talent as she is at spotting, nurturing and inspiring new, diverse talent. She has worked extensively as a mentor for Screenskills, the Momentum project and the Edinburgh Ones to Watch, is a Board member of the EBU documentary committee, a member of the Advisory Committee for the 2023 Edinburgh TV Festival and a judge for the Edinburgh TV Awards and the Rose d’Or. She is a seasoned public speaker and expert panellist.
Lauren Clarke
Lauren Clarke is a film programmer and researcher. After studying Cinema Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto, she moved to Edinburgh for her postgraduate degree in Film, Exhibition and Curation. Since then, Lauren has worked as a researcher for the BBC documentary Antonia Bird: From EastEnders to Hollywood and numerous festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, Sheffield Doc Fest and Aesthetica Short Film Festival. She has served as a jury member for Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and London Feminist Film Festival. Currently, she is the documentary Programming Associate at TIFF, programs the experimental strand at Aesthetica Short Film Festival and is a member of Invisible Women Collective.
Mandy Chang
Mandy Chang is Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, with over 20 years of experience working across multiple genres and platforms as a respected commissioner, Executive producer, writer and filmmaker. She joined Fremantle to create a slate of world-class international documentaries and series globally. Recently announced feature documentaries include THE SECOND WOMAN with Ruth Wilson, directed by Ursula McFarlane, and DEVO, directed by Chris Smith and MRS. AMERICA, directed by Penny Lane. Prior to Fremantle, she ran legendary BBC global feature doc strand Storyville for four years, commissioning and overseeing acclaimed international feature docs and series, such as WRITING WITH FIRE (2021), Collective, WELCOME TO CHECHNYA (2020), THE MOLE: INFILTRATING NORTH KOREA (2020) and LOCKED IN: BREAKING THE SILENCE (2020) and THE FOURTH ESTATE (2018). Mandy brought her own vision to the much-loved strand, curating a slate of talked-about documentaries, extending Storyville’s breadth and diversity and guiding exciting new talent into the industry.
Tommaso Priante
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Literature (University of Bologna) and a master's in Cultural Studies (Goldsmiths, University of London), Tommaso first conducted academic research on Indian film festivals and global cities. Afterwards, he worked for international festivals and markets, both on the organising and the programming side. Among them are International Film Festival Rotterdam, Venice International Film Festival, TorinoFilmLab, Film Bazaar, Far East Film Festival and Biografilm Festival. He started his career in international distribution in acquisitions in 2020 and joined Deckert Distribution in February 2023 as Sales & Acquisition executive.
Heather Haynes
Heather Haynes has been with hot docs for close to 17 years. A former Senior International Programmer, she now holds the position of Associate Director for Festival Programming. Heather serves on numerous film juries and work in progress labs for international festivals, including Mexico, Central and South America and served, for several years, as a reader for Chicken & Egg’s (egg)celerator labs. She was an international programmer for fiction and documentary at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival, guest programmer for Alucine and has co-written and produced three award-winning documentaries. In addition to her film work, Heather was the creator of Culture Storm, co-founding collective member and producer of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, founder and artistic director of Toronto Free Gallery and publisher of Fuse Magazine.
Marina Burić
Marina Burić is a Senior Markets Producer at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). She used to run the industry section at ZagrebDox IFF. Before moving to event production, she worked as a distribution and exhibition coordinator and a cinema manager for Restart, a Zagreb-based education, production and distribution company. She co-founded GoCritic!, a training program for emerging film critics and journalists organised by Cineuropa.