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Jane Balfour

Jane Balfour Services
UK

Jane founded and ran for 18 years an international sales agency Jane Balfour Films which attained a worldwide reputation as one of the leading international sales agents for independent films, specialising in top quality documentaries, short dramas and Art House feature films. Prior to that in the 70's and early 80's she worked as hospitality officer at the London and Edinburgh Film Festivals.

Currently Jane does some consulting work and looks after a small collection of documentary films, mostly the work of filmmakers she has already collaborated with over many years: Alan Berliner, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Victor Kossakovsky, Robert Stone, the Pennebakers and the Longbow Group.

Jane has won several awards for her work including the Broadcast Business Award for ‘Services to International Distribution' and is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Sheffield Documentary Festival.

Harry Bardwell

Director, Production Development
ScreenWest
Australia

Harry joined ScreenWest in 2005 to manage production funding and industry development in Western Australia. His extensive industry background includes many years of independent producing and public broadcasting.

Harry is credited as Producer, Commissioning Editor or Executive Producer on over 300 Australian productions and co-productions. Selected credits include Backs to the Blast, The Holden Story, Woomera-Silent Partners, Sylvania Waters, Power In The Pacific, True Stories, Four Corners, The Fall of Soeharto, and Desperately Seeking Sheila.

Harry has also held senior management positions with the ABC, SBS, Carlton Productions (UK) and Hutchison Telecoms.

Brian Beaton

Executive Producer
Artemis International
Australia

Brian is the Executive Producer and Producer of Artemis International, an award winning producer of documentaries for national and international markets for the past 15 years.

In addition to producing a wide range of documentaries Brian was also the Australian Film Television & Radio School representative in WA from 1987 to 1997.

He was Chair of the Australian International Documentary Conference held in Perth in 2001, was the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) Documentary producer of the year for 2002 and is currently a Documentary Councilor on the national SPAA committee and Chair of SADC (SPAA/ASDA Documentary Council).

He is passionate about the Australian film and television industry and a strong supporter of its agencies and organisations.

Margie Bryant

Director
Serendipity Productions
Australia

Margie is the founder and director of Serendipity Productions, whose focus is specialist factual programs.

Margie is committed to developing strong relationships with co-producing partners. A recent co-production on writer and philosopher Peter Singer for BBC TV and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was a critical success.

Current co-productions include a film set in Israel about the Head of Reuters, with Context TV and WDR in Berlin; a six part series Who Do You Think You Are with Artemis International; also with Artemis International an ABC TV series Stressbuster; and Race for the Beach with Films of Record in London for BBC and SBS.

Serendipity is currently developing a slate of structured documentary formats.

Kylie Burke

Policy Advisor
ABC Television
Australia

Kylie is the Policy Advisor for ABC Television. This role includes working with both ABC and independent producers to manage commissioning, production and programming issues in relation to ABC Editorial Policies.

Prior to working for the ABC, she has held key policy positions in the film and television industry including Policy and Research Manager for Film Australia and Policy Manager for the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA). After graduating from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, Kylie worked in production roles for major television and feature film productions and produced the short film, One Wild Weekend with the Lonesome Rustler.

Bruni Burres

Senior Consultant to the Documentary Film Program, Sundance Institute
Director, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF)
USA

Bruni has been the programmer and director for the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF) for over a decade. The festival began in New York City in 1988 and now tours to over 40 cities throughout the US with its flagship festivals in New York and London, as well special co-presentations with festivals Brussels, Geneva, Rio de Janeiro.

In 2004, P.O.V and the HRWIFF's youth programs joined forces to outreach to a larger and more diverse community of youth and educators throughout North America. The two organisations together expanded the audience for P.O.V's Youth Views, designed to support youth, 21 year old's and under and youth-serving community based organisations in the use of contemporary social issue documentary by providing them with resources and training in facilitation and media literacy that will enhance their leadership skills, programs and curriculum.

At the Sundance Documentary Program (SDP), Bruni works closely with Cara Mertes, the Program's director, to expand the roster of national and international documentary filmmakers working with the program, deepen national and international collaborations with filmmakers and cultural institutions, and broaden the human rights themes currently explored by the SDP.

Bruni holds a masters degree from NYU in their Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Steve Cannane

jtv producer and journalist
ABC
Australia

Steve is the face, voice, heart and soul of current affairs on triple j.

He's been the host and driving force behind Hack, the program which brings to triple j a half hour each weekday of the issues, questions and news that affect and interest young Australians. Since July 2006 he has been presenting Hack on ABC TV with jtv.

Steve has previously presented triple j's The Morning Show (which mixed current affairs and music), and has worked as a print journalist.

Mark Chapman

Producer
Big Island Pictures
Australia

In 1999 Mark teamed up Ruth Berry to form Big Island Pictures, one of Queensland's most prolific documentary production companies. Titles include award winning Hypsi The Forest Gardener (ABC/Southern Star), the HD documentary The Truckies (ABC/NHK), the series Stock Squad (SBS/NDR The Terrible Lizards of Oz (Channel 7/CBC/NDR) and After Maeve (SBS/RTÉ) Mark has previously worked at the Pacific Film & Television Commission as the Documentary and Script Development Officer.

Mark has held the Chair of the Australian International Documentary Conference Board (AIDC) since 2003 and is currently Chair of QPIX (Queensland's screen resource centre). In 2003 Mark received the Centenary Medal for his contribution to the documentary industry.

Hong Chen

Director, Channel 3
China Education Television
China

Graduating from Shijiazhuang College with an MA in Education, Hong has had a highly successful career in Chinese television. Currently working for China Education TV - Channel 3 (CETC) as a Director, Hong also works for the China Television Artists Association and is Secretary General of the China Documentary Science Committee. In 2005 Hong founded the Documentary Production Centre of CETC.

Hong has produced a number of high-rating documentaries for Chinese television, including the award winning New China Diplomacy, Five in One, Western Discovery and My Sun. He has also published seven books and his articles have featured in a number of Chinese daily newspapers.

Weijun Chen

Senior Producer, Documentary Production Department
Wuhan Television Station
China

Weijun is the Director of the esteemed documentary To Live Is Better Than To Die, a harrowing documentary about an AIDS-tortured family in central China. The film was screened world wide and received a multitude of awards including a Peabody Award and a 2004 Grierson Award (British Documentary Award) for Best International Television Documentary. It was also an official selection at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, the Vienna and Pusan International Film Festivals.

Previously, Weijun [roduced and directed the award winning documentaries The Evolution of the City, Footprint, and My Life is My Philosophy. Weijun's films follow the people of China in social, philosophical and political contexts both intimately and from a remote perspective. He holds a BA in Journalism from Sichuan University, which he completed in 1992.

Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai

Director
National Film and Sound Archive
Australia

Paolo's career rapidly took a curatorial path, which included roles as Preservation Officer for the Royal Film Archive in Belgium, co-founder and co-director of the Silent Film Festival of Pordenone in Italy and Adjunct Professor of Film at the University of Rochester, New York. He was Senior Curator of the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, 1994-2004.

Paolo is also co-founder of the L Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, which he directed from 1996 to 2004. He was knighted by the French Government as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to film culture. Among his most acclaimed books are Burning Passions: An Introduction to the Study of Silent Cinema (1994) and The Death of Cinema: History, Cultural Memory, and the Digital Dark Age (2001). His experimental feature film Passio (2007) received its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival.

Bob Connolly

Producer, Director
Arundal Productions
Australia

Bob, a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker, spent his formative years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a foreign correspondent and documentary filmmaker. In 1979 he moved on to make independent films with his partner, the late Robin Anderson.

In 1983 their remarkable debut documentary, First Contact was nominated for an Academy Award. Bob and Robin returned to Papua New Guinea in 1985 to make the sequel, Joe Leahy's Neighbours and completed the trilogy in 1992 with Black Harvest. All three films in the trilogy won the Grand Prix at the Festival Cinema du Reel in Paris, along with many other international awards.

In 1996 they produced Rats in the Ranks, a documentary that exposed local government dirty politics and was hailed by Bob Ellis as 'great anthropology, great political history and something very close to great cinema'.

In 2001 Facing the Music continued a legacy of fascinating story telling with the plight of Professor Anne Boyd as she struggled to save her department from crippling government funding cuts.

Sandra Cook

Director, DOP
Enlight Productions
Australia

After working in Mexico as an under-water camera operator, Sandra returned to Australia in 2002 and began free-lancing in the film industry in the camera department. Working in the camera department on documentaries, feature films and television commercials, Sandra's role has varied according to the project.

In 2003, Sandra directed a community service announcement on sexual assault that was broadcasted nationally. In 2003, Sandra also directed/DOP a short documentary which was selected for screening at the St Kilda film festival. Recently, Sandra has been directing/DOP a documentary called Marks on the Road, produced by Cathy Henkel, Jeff Canin and Sonya Humphrey.

Aaron Cooper

Head of Interactive Media
Digital Pictures
Australia

Aaron is the Head of Interactive Media for Digital Pictures, Australasia's most vibrant and innovative digital design, effects, animation and post production group. For the past 12 years, Aaron has produced and managed interactive media projects encompassing internet, mobile, interactive TV, CD-ROMs, DVDs, games and - most recently - IPTV.

With a broad base of experience and formal training in project management, Aaron has produced award-winning projects for clients as diverse as Country Road, The Big Day Out, Mushroom Records, the Department of Environment, Australia Post, Icon Films, United International Pictures, Working Dog and France Telecom.

Prior to Digital Pictures, Aaron spent two years in London at Freeserve.com Plc (Wanadoo Group), the largest internet company in the UK and Europe. With its online portal attracting over five million viewers a day via the web, internet TV and mobiles, Aaron gained a wealth of experience in high-volume, cross-media content creation, design, delivery and commerce.

Susan Cornish

Documentary and Education Project
Australian Film, Television & Radio School
Australia

Susan has designed and managed the development of teaching and learning resources, from comics to websites, for more than 20 years and recently completed an MA in Film and Television (Documentary) at Australian Film, Television & Radio School.

Susan is interested in online and social networking technologies and her projects have won Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association, Australian Teachers of Media and international awards. She is currently researching collaborative online documentary.

David Court

Director
Australian Film, Television & Radio School
Australia

David is the founding director of the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS) Centre for Screen Business. David is an experienced industry practitioner who has been involved in the financing of more than a dozen film and television productions including Strictly Ballroom, The Bank and the IMAX film Antarctica, and was the publisher of the authoritative industry newsletter Entertainment Business Review.

David is also a director of the licensed film investment company Content Capital Ltd. With KPMG, he conducted the feasibility study that led to the development of Fox Studios at the Sydney Showgrounds. As author of Film Assistance: Future Options (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1986), he was the policy architect of the Film Finance Corporation, established by the Australian Government in 1988.

Phil Craig

Joint Head of Production
Brook Lapping
UK

Phil is joint Head of Production for London-based Independent production company, Brook Lapping. After a background in current affairs (Panorama and World in Action) he specialised in historical and current affairs documentary and drama documentary. His recent credits include Geldof in Africa (BBC), Live Aid Remembered (BBC), The Flight That Fought Back (Discovery and ABC), Surviving Katrina (Discovery and ABC), Bom Bali (NETWORK TEN, TVNZ, SKY and Discovery), Finest Hour (BBC, PBS and ABC) and Diana, Story of a Princess (ITV, The Learning Channel).

Heather Croall

Festival Director
Sheffield Docfest
UK/Australia

Heather's career has included producing and directing documentaries for Australian and International broadcasters, mentoring young documentary makers and working as a project assessor and funding agency project manager. Since 1994 Heather has directed and curated many screen events in Australia and internationally. In the last decade, Heather has been one of the Australian documentary field's most enthusiastic proponents of the emerging field of new media and multi platform production.

In 2001, the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) appointed Heather as the Senior Project Officer where she developed a strategy for building cross platform digital media production opportunities in South Australia, a strategy that has since produced numerous openings for both film, TV and new media producers in the area of cross platform projects.

Heather left the SAFC in late 2003 to take up the directorship of the AIDC, and to produce the ambitious cross platform broadband project UsMob.com.au. Heather directed the AIDC in Adelaide 2005 and in Melbourne 2006.

Heather is now the director of one of Europe's most important documentary events, Sheffield Docfest.

Beverley Dalgairns

Film Library Manager
Film Australia
Australia

Beverley joined Film Australia in 1999 as Film Library Manager with 20 years of experience both in commercial, educational and government footage libraries, including managing the Australian Tourist Commission's (now Tourism Australia) footage library in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games, 2000.

Her role is to provide access to a unique collection of government filming which dated back to early 1900s.

While Film Australia's audiovisual archive was carefully stored? up until 2000, there was limited access to the content.

Over the last six years Beverley, with a small team of librarians, has implemented several initiatives to ensure the collection is available to the widest possible audience.

Ian Darling

Chairman, Documentary Australia
Executive Director, Shark Island Productions / Documentary Fund
Australia

Ian is the Chairman and founder of Documentary Australia, a new philanthropic initiative combining documentary filmmakers, philanthropic foundations and charitable organisations in Australia (www.documentaryaustralia.com.au).

Ian is also Executive Director of Shark Island Productions and the Shark Island Documentary Fund. He is an award winning documentary film producer and director, and his credits include Alone Across Australia and Woodstock for Capitalists, which have won more than 30 awards and screened at over 70 international film festivals. He is currently producing and directing two documentaries: In The Company of Actors and The Shelter (working title) about a group of homeless street kids in Sydney.

Ian is also Chairman of The Caledonia Foundation, a private foundation focusing on the education, training and welfare of underprivileged young Australians.

Rolf de Heer

Writer, Director, Producer
Vertigo Productions
Australia

Rolf migrated to Australia with his family in 1959 from Holland. From eighteen, he spent seven years working at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, until he decided it was time "to stop dealing with other people's programs and make some of my own".

Having written, produced and directed feature films for nearly two decades, Rolf has become one of Australia's leading filmmakers. His films consistently challenge moral conventions and push the boundaries of the filmmaker's art.

In 2003, Rolf began working on Ten Canoes with the community of Ramingining, Arnhem Land. It was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival.

He also co-directed the documentary, The Balanda And The Bark Canoes (aka Making Ten Canoes) that won the Urban Cinefile Audience Award for Documentaries at the Sydney Film Festival.

Akhim Dev

Writer, Director
Independent
Australia

Akhim Dev is a documentary graduate from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney, Australia. Since graduating with a Masters in Directing Documentary he has worked in both documentary and commercial production, including an online project for the SBS Podlove series.

Akhim is a keen adapter of digital technologies, he directed one of the first commercials to be broadcast directly to mobile phones. Akhim has just completed his first feature length documentary for Discovery and is currently pursuing other digital media projects.

Paula Le Dieu

Managing Director
Magic Lantern Productions
UK

About Paula Le Dieu
Paula is the Managing Director of Magic Lantern Productions (MLP). MLP is known for creating innovative interactive media, ranging from rich media websites, mobile games, digital video, DVD, right the way through to content and rights management systems. Working with clients and partners in the media, technology and public service sectors, including Channel 4, BBC, BT, Tiscali, the UK Film Council, Skillset and many others; MLP specialise in understanding the power of broadband networks and emerging digital platforms, for the creation, presentation, distribution and sharing of ideas. As well as her role as MD, Paula heads up the Open Media division at MLP.

Prior to joining Magic Lantern, Le Dieu was the director of iCommons, the international arm of Creative Commons. She played a central role in improving the profile of local language and jurisdictional versions of Creative Commons licenses and Science Commons project. Le Dieu also headed up the groundbreaking Creative Archive initiative for the BBC. As project director she created and launched the Creative Archive as a public service initiative to provide the fuel for digital creativity by opening up access to, and allowing for, re-use of Britain's cultural heritage starting with the BBC's radio and television archive. Le Dieu remains committed to 'open media' and continues to be involved with the BBC Creative Archive project as a special advisor and spokesperson.

Magic Lantern Productions
Sitting in the space between traditional and digital media. We produce innovative interactive media, ranging from rich media websites to mobile games, digital video to DVD, right the way through to content and rights management systems.

Working with clients and partners in the media, technology and public service sectors, including Channel 4, BBC, BT, Tiscali, the UK Film Council, Skillset and many others; we specialise in understanding the power of broadband networks and emerging digital platforms, for the creation, presentation, distribution and sharing of ideas.

Sandie Don

Marketing and Acquisitions Director
Hopscotch
Australia

Sandie Don formed Hopscotch with partners Troy Lum and Frank Cox in 2002, which has since become one of Australia's leading independent distributors. In the position of Marketing and Acquisitions Director, Sandie has devised the campaigns for Hopscotch releases including Bowling For Columbine, Travelling Birds, Spellbound, Goodbye Lenin!, The Barbarian Invasions, Touching the Void, Fahrenheit 9/11, Somersault, Downfall, Dave Chappelle's Block Party and most recently Mrs Henderson Presents, Wah-Wah and Pan's Labyrinth. She is actively involved in the acquisition of all Hopscotch titles.

Other documentaries theatrically distributed by Hopscotch include: God On My Side, Kanyini, Ballets Russes, Sketches of Frank Gehry, Standing In The Shadows of Motown, My Architect, Deep Blue, Murderball and Rize.

Prior to Hopscotch, Sandie headed marketing and publicity for Dendy Films from 1998 to 2002 where she created and implemented the campaigns for box office successes such as The Blair Witch Project, Amelie, Buena Vista Social Club, In The Mood For Love, All About My Mother and Australian titles Beneath Clouds, One Night Moon and The Cup.

Sandie has been a regular short film selector for the Sydney Film Festival and a script assessor with the AFC.

Pat Ferns

President, Executive Producer
Ferns Productions
Canada

Pat has produced some of Canada's finest award-winning film and television programming as well as some of the world's leading media events.

Pat's company, Ferns Productions, continues this tradition, producing and packaging the most innovative talent and projects with the financing they require.

Pat continues to present his signature pitching sessions world-wide and is a principal of The International Institute for Television Leadership. He has been dubbed "the father of independent production" in Canada and was recently invested in The Order of Canada for his contribution to the Canadian television industry.

Pat Fiske

Co-Manager Documentary
Australian Film, Television & Radio School
Australia

Pat is an experienced director, producer and sound recordist and recognised prominent member of Australia's independent filmmaking community. She has recently completed An Artist in Eden, which she directed, produced, shot and sound recorded. She has produced Beats Across Borders, Selling Sickness, a two-part series about private prisons in Australia and the United States called Business Behind Bars which won a 2001 Walkley Award.

Other films Pat has directed and/or produced are the award-winning documentaries: Doc, a portrait of Herbert Vere Evatt; For All the World To See, portrait of Prof Fred Hollows; Australia Daze; Rocking the Foundations, a history of the NSW Builders Laborers' Federation and the Green Bans; Woolloomooloo; Following the Fenceline; Night Patrol and Leaping Off The Edge. For the last five years Pat has been Co-Head of the Documentary Department. In March 2001, at the AIDC in Perth, Pat was awarded the third prestigious Stanley Hawes Award for her outstanding contribution to the documentary industry in Australia.

Lori Flekser

Director, Film Development
Australian Film Commission
Australia

Lori has worked in the Australian film and television industry since 1982 in a wide range of roles and film genres. Films include Africa's Elephant Kingdom (the first IMAX film made by The Discovery Channel), the six-part ABC series The Track, the post-9/11 PBS special Bitter Harvest and several large-scale documentary specials for The Discovery Channel including the Emmy Award winning series Submarines - Sharks of Steel.

Lori has been a frequent consultant to the documentary industry in planning, developing and budgeting projects and setting up the production infrastructure for companies embarking on projects. Since joining the Film Development division of the Australian Film Commission (AFC) four years ago, Lori has been instrumental in the AFC's involvement with digital media initiatives, particularly the AFC-ABC Broadband Cross-Media Production Initiative and the AFC-SBS Podlove Initiative.

Beth Frey

Producer
Circe Films
Australia

Beth is an award-winning film and television producer in documentary, drama, new media and the arts. Her credits include the TV documentaries Passport to Parenthood, Undercover Angels-Sex, Spies and Surveillance, Podlove a hybrid documentary and online series; and Vietnam Nurses, nominated for four Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards including Best Documentary in 2006. Drama credits include the multi-award winning TV drama Stranded, winner of three AFI Awards in 2006 amongst others, her first feature film the east-west action comedy The Long Lunch, and A Telephone Call For Genevieve Snow, winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

In production for Circe Films in 2007 is the documentary feature film Night, documentary series Wedding Sari Showdown, short animated film Mutt and Under The Weather, a dance film for ABC Arts.

Paul Gerhardt

Project Director, Creative Archive
BBC
UK

Paul leads the BBC's Creative Archive project, which won a BAFTA in 2006, and co-ordinates the UK's Creative Archive Licence Group.

Paul was educated at Hull and Oxford and has a doctorate in international relations. He started in TV in the early eighties, helping to found the International Broadcasting Trust, and working on Battle for the Planet for Channel 4. He later moved to Thames Television as a producer and Network Education Officer.

Paul's career at the BBC began in 1991 with the development of night time broadcasting, and he launched the BBC Learning Zone. He went on to become Head of Commissioning at the BBC/Open University and re-negotiated the partnership, bringing OU programs into the BBC's peaktime schedule. Before developing the Creative Archive he was Controller of Learning, and responsible for the BBC's adult education strategy and for national campaigns such as The Big Read.

Fredrik Gertten

Director, Producer
WG Film
Sweden

Fredrik has been a filmmaker and journalist for 25 years. He has worked around the world for radio, TV and newspapers in Africa, Latin America, Asia and around Europe. He is also a board member of the European Documentary Network.

Fredrik's latest documentary as director The Socialist, The Architect and The Twisted Tower will screen as a part of the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival and also Thin Ice, produced by WG Film.

Dr Mitzi Goldman

Co-Head of Documentary
Australian Film, Television & Radio School
Australia

Mitzi has been working in the film industry for 20 years. Her credits include Snakes And Ladders, Things I Call Mine, Many Homes, Many Names, Hatred, Ports Of Destiny, Parra and Chinese Take Away. They have screened in international festivals and received and been nominated for various awards.

Mitzi has also been a board member of the FTI in WA and has served as a jury member of film festivals in Australia, in Iran for the Tehran International Short Film Festival and in china for the Guangzhou Documentary Film Festival. Mitzi is a board member of the AIDC.

Mitzi is currently Co-Head of Documentary at the AFTRS. She is also producing a feature documentary Moving the Mine (working title) an international co-production with ARTE, ITVS and SBS to be released 2007/08.

Mitzi has been researching and writing a report on philanthropy and documentary at Documentary Australia with Ian Darling and Susan MacKinnon which will be released in 2007.

Annie Goldson

Producer, Director
Occasional Productions
New Zealand

Annie’s best known documentaries include Punitive Damage (1999), Georgie Girl (2002), Sheilas: 28 Years On (2004), Pacific Solution (2005) and most recently, Elgar’s Enigma (2006). Her documentaries have had theatrical releases in the US, Australia and New Zealand, have won over 40 festival awards and have aired on PBS, HBO, Channel 4, TVNZ, ABC, ARD, SBS, Canalplus and elsewhere.

Annie received her PhD from the University of Auckland and is currently teaching there. She is also a writer, publishing widely in books and journals, last year completing the monograph Memory, Landscape, Dad and Me (Viictoria University Press). She has a second book (on human rights and documentary) under contract. Annie is the president of the New Zealand Directors’ Guild, has been the key organizer of the New Zealand International Documentary conference since 1996, and is a trustee of DOCNZ.

Her current project is titled Tabu Soro: Murder in the Pacific.

Roger Graef

Chief Executive Officer
Films of Record
UK

Roger is a writer, filmmaker, broadcaster and criminologist and CEO of one of Britain's leading Independent documentary production companies, since 1979.

In 2004, Roger was the first documentary maker to win a British Academy award for lifetime achievement.

His observational films inside formerly closed institutions show the human side of cops, diplomats, businessmen, and offenders. His award winning series Police was the model for The Bill. The rape episode helped change how British police deal with rape victims. His nine comedies with John Cleese include The Secret Policeman's Ball.

Born in New York, he studied at the Actors' Studio, and directed drama for CBS. He moved to London in the sixties and switched to observational docs.

As a Producer for his company, Films of Record, his recent work includes films on malaria, sex offenders, rail cops, classroom disruption, shaken babies, land wars in South Africa, Chinese in Britain, and black-on-black gun crime in London.

He was a founder of Channel Four, governor of the British Film Institute, and Visiting Professor at Oxford University.

Alex Graham

Chair, PACT Council
Managing Director, Wall To Wall
UK

Born in Glasgow, Alex has built his company into one of the UK's leading independent producers. With a reputation for quality and innovation, Wall to Wall has won almost every award on both sides of the Atlantic including several BAFTAs, Emmys, Royal Television Society and Peabody awards.

Alex has been executive producer of several of Wall to Wall's recent successes including New Tricks, the Emmy-winning George Orwell - A Life in Pictures, and Who Do You Think You Are? Alex is currently chair of PACT Council. He also sits on the boards of the Independent Production Training Fund and the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. He is a fellow of the Royal Television Society, the Royal Society of Arts and a visiting fellow of the University of Bournemouth's Media School.

Anna Grieve

Executive Producer
Film Australia
Australia

Anna is responsible for the education resource Film Australia's Digital Learning. She joined Film Australia in 2001 and was previously an independent filmmaker who has produced documentary series such as Federation and Myths of Childhood, and co-directed documentaries such as Pram Factory, Lake Pedder and Getting Even - Women in Australian Politics.

A former Film Australia Board member, Anna has served on the Councils of the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, the Screen Producers Association of Australia, and on the Documentary Committee of the Australian Screen Directors' Association.

Anna's recent programs as a Film Australia Executive Producer include the series -The Art of War, Dhakiyarr vs The King, Pacific Stories website (with the ABC), Film Australia's Wilderness and Outback DVD's, Trafficked and the acclaimed Who Killed Dr Bogle & Mrs Chandler?

Mark Hamlyn

Head of Production
Film Australia
Australia

Mark is Head of Production and an Executive Producer for Film Australia where he commissions and produces documentaries under the National Interest Program.

Prior to this, Mark was Executive Producer of ABC-TV's Social History series, "Timeframe", hosted by popular commentator and journalist, Mike Carlton. A former documentary producer and current affairs journalist with both "This Day Tonight" and "Nationwide", he is also a former Head of the ABC's Documentary Department. Successful documentaries during this period included the country's first documentary-soap "Sylvania Waters", the contentious police films "Cop it Sweet" and "So Help me God", as well as the major historical series "the Liberals" and "Frontier", and a review of a century of Australian cinema, "Celluloid Heroes".

Mark also directed historical documentaries with Bill Beach and was a founding member and Executive Producer of the ABC Television Science Unit, which produces "Quantum".

Pamela Hammond

Head of Post Production
Digital Pictures
Australia

Pamela has over thirty years' experience in the film and television industry. Initially trained as an assistant film editor, Pamela joined Victorian Film Laboratories in the late 1970's. In 1990 she joined AAV Australia in client service specializing in Long Form.

From 1994 to 1996 she was General Manager of Digital Film Laboratories.

Pamela joined Digital Pictures in 1996 initially as Post Production Manager and in 1999 she was appointed Head of Post Production. Pamela oversees a team of producers and operational staff responsible for implementing innovative strategies to streamline post production pathways, as well as being responsible for domestic and international Long Form projects.

Cathy Henkel

Producer / Director / Writer
Hatchling Productions
Australia

Cathy and her partner Jeff Canin operate Hatchling Productions from their home in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. Their credits include Losing Layla (ATOM Award), The Man who Stole my Mother's Face, (Tribeca Film Festival and Inside Film Award for Best Feature Documentary) and I Told You I Was Ill: Spike Milligan plus two online documentaries. Their films have played over 25 international festivals and broadcast in more than 10 countries. In 2007, Cathy will be completing a PhD and working with Hatchling Productions on a six part television series, a feature documentary and a feature drama. Cathy is a documentary councillor on the board of SPAA and SADC.

Steve Hewlett

Managing Director
Big Pictures
UK

Steve started as a researcher on Nationwide in 1981, before going on to produce a number of series for Channel 4. Steve took over as Editor of Inside Story in 1990, and the series won the BAFTA Best Single Documentary award and was nominated for the Academy's Best Factual Series.

Steve took over as Director of Programs, Carlton Television in 1998, having previously been Head of Factual Programs and Features at Channel 4. He then became Managing Director of Carlton Productions, 2001, with responsibility for Carlton TV Productions, Planet 24 and Action Time.

Steve is also a former Panorama and Inside Story Editor. While at Panorama he was responsible for Martin Bashir's Diana Interview.

Steve was Executive Producer of the first two series of Children's Hospital as well as The Skipper, Rough Justice, States of Terror and The Diamond Empire.

Steve was elected a fellow of the Royal Television Society and is also a Guardian columnist and broadcasting consultant whose clients have included Ofcom, DCMS and Channel 4 Television.

Chris Hilton

Head of Factual
Essential Viewing Group
Australia

Chris is one of Australia's most prolific and award winning factual producer/ directors who has made films across a broad spectrum of subjects for the world's major broadcasters.

Currently Head of Factual for the Essential Viewing Group and previously a founding partner of Hilton Cordell Productions, Chris has executive produced or produced over 70 hours of quality documentary for broadcasters such as PBS, BBC, Channel Four, ARTE France, ZDF, Discovery as well as local Australian television networks.

Titles include The Floating Brothel, The Colony, The American Ruling Class, The Last Husky, Dying to Leave, Year of the Dogs, The Secret Lives of Sleepwalkers, Bitter Harvest, Shadow Play, Doping to Win, The Shadow of Mary Poppins and The Irish Empire.

Carol Hodge

Acting Business Manager
SBS Independent
Australia

Carol has recently taken over as Business Manager for SBSi. Previously she spent just over a year as SBSi's Production Supervisor, overseeing in-house production and a number of Independently Produced programs, such as In Siberia Tonight, The Movie Show, Rockwiz and Speaking in Tongues.

Carol has spent most of the career working in the UK, primarily with the BBC. She worked in Television Planning, Education and Community Programmes, before becoming Head of Production for Drama Serials, a position she remained in for 12 years. There she worked closely with renowned drama producer, Michael Wearing, and managed a large slate of high profile, award-winning BBC Drama including Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, The Lost World, Our Friends in the North, Common as Muck, Barbara Vine Mysteries and Crime and Punishment.

During this time she worked with most of the top drama talent in the UK and set up productions all over the world.

Carol also worked in the UK's Independent sector as a Producer and Line Producer for several Independent Companies. She was Co-producer of BBC-2 Drama Serial The Key and Producer of Children's Comedy Drama Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw, for C-ITV and Nickelodeon.

Market Interest
Half hour and one hour documentaries, documentary series and factual series, including formats and international co-productions.

SBS Independent
The commissioning arm of SBS TV, where they commission content from Australian producers; drama, documentary, animation and factual entertainment for broadcast and on-line.

Sally Ingleton

Executive Producer
360 Degree Films
Australia

Sally is a partner with John Moore in the new Australian company 360 Degree Films. As well as doing stints as a film bureaucrat and lecturer she has been producing and directing award-winning documentaries for the past 20 years. Specialising in science, the arts, history and social issues Sally has made programs for the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery Channel, ABC, SBS, and NHK.

In 2002 Muddy Waters; Life and Death on the Great Barrier Reef picked up several international science and environment awards and in 2006 Welcome 2 My Deaf World was nominated for Best Documentary in both the Australian Film Institute and Australian Teachers of Media Awards.

Sally is currently in post production for SBS is Two Mums and a Dad, and in development for Seed Hunter, the story of an Australian scientist who goes on a quest to central Asia searching for rare genes that may help save our food from the impact of climate change.

Claire Jager

Project Manager, Film Development
Australian Film Commission
Australia

Claire is an award-winning writer, director, producer and content originator. In mid-2006 she joined the Film Development Branch of the Australian Film Commission.

In 2003 she formed the production company Arcimedia, whose recent productions include, the dramatised doco The Magic Bullet (SBS/A&E/RDF 2006), Troubled Minds- the Lithium Revolution, (SBS/Film Australia 2004) and the interactive on-line adventure A Stowaway's Guide to the Pacific (AFC/ABC New Media 2006) which she co-wrote and directed. She directed the AFI-winning art documentary The Good Looker and a number of short dramas.

Claire has held positions including Commissioning Editor for Documentaries at SBS and Documentary Manager at Film Victoria. She has been an Executive Producer and Series Producer for the ABC's Natural History Unit producing long form series and accompanying websites.

In a previous life she studied fine arts and sculpture and worked as a bookie's clerk and as a deckhand on fishing boats in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Dr Gael Jennings

Development Producer, Specialist Factual
ABC Television
Australia

Gael is Development Producer for Specialist Factual with ABC Television, a consultant, author, speaker, and company director, multi-award winning television science and medical journalist and former TV and radio current affairs presenter.

Gael holds a First Class Honours degree in Science from the University of Melbourne, and a PhD in Immunology from The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Gael has had a national presence on Australian television and radio for two decades as science/medical reporter and presenter with ABC Television, host of 774 ABC radio, anchor of SBS's weekly current affairs program Insight, currently a regular on ABC TV's Einstein Factor and occasional co-host of 774 ABC Radio's Conversation Hour. She is author of the award-winning children's book Sick As…Bloody Moments in the History of Medicine.

In her current position as Development Producer for Specialist Factual ABC, Gael is responsible for the development of program and documentary proposals in the specialist streams of science and technology, natural history and environment, religion and ethics, education and indigenous production.

Daryl Karp

Chief Executive Officer
Film Australia
Australia

Daryl joined Film Australia as Chief Executive Officer in 2004. She was previously Head of Factual Programs at ABC Television, Head and Executive Producer of the Documentaries & Features and Science & Features Departments, and Executive Producer of the TV Science Unit.

As an independent filmmaker, she produced programs for ABC and SBS and worked as a consultant and Executive Producer for PBS's Oregon Public Broadcasting in the United States.

A founding member and director of the World Congress of Science Producers for over a decade, she also served on the board of the Australia Korea Foundation.

Film Australia
Film Australia is one of the nation's leading producers of television documentaries and educational programs.

An Australian Government-owned company, Film Australia’s mission is to create and audio-visual record of Australian life.

Film Australia produces programs under the Nation Interest Program: a contract with the Australian Government to devise, produce, distribute and market production that deal with matters of national interest or illustrate and interpret aspects of Australian life.

Additional funding for a ten-part series on Australian History was provided by the Government in 2005.

Film Australia in the executive producer of these productions, drawing the creative and technical talent needed to produce them from Australia’s independent documentary production industry.

We also provide support to the Australian documentary and independent production sector through a range of services and facilities, under our Community Service Obligations, including library, distribution, site and facilities.

Ross Kauffman

Filmmaker
Red Light Films
USA

Ross is the director, producer, cinematographer and co-editor of Born into Brothels, winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Ross spent eight years working as a documentary film editor from 1992 to 2000. In 2001, he teamed up with photojournalist Zana Briski to direct and produce Born into Brothels, a documentary about the children of Calcutta's prostitutes. Born into Brothels was accepted to over 50 film festivals and has since received over 40 awards, including National Board of Review Best Documentary 2004, LA Film Critics Best Documentary 2004, and the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.

Ross is currently working on a variety of projects including; Rush to Judgment; FLIGHT 587, a film documenting the crash of American Airlines flight 587 into Rockaway, Queens, New York, less than two months after September 11, 2001; In a Dream (executive producer), the story of the Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar; and Project Kashmir (producer/cinematographer), a documentary that takes viewers into the war-zone of Kashmir and examines the conflict from an emotional and social point of view.

Gisela Kaufmann

Producer / Director / Writer
Kaufmann Productions
Australia

Gisela makes up the multi-award winning team of Kaufmann Productions with Carsten Orlt. Independently and together, they have compiled a solid international career over 18 years, spanning Europe, Australia, Asia, the United States and the South Pacific.

Their company has produced programming for major international broadcasters, including National Geographic Channels International, Discovery/Animal Planet, Paramount Pictures, TriStar Columbia and Fox Television in the United States, ARD, WDR, ZDF, PRO7, VOX and ARTE in Europe, CBC in Canada and ABC and the Nine Network in Australia.

In the last seven years their focus has shifted from human-interest stories to the wild challenges of natural history and science. They have just released their latest international co-production Cuttlefish - The Brainy Bunch. Their previous wildlife specials Sea Of Snakes and Tarantula have to date received 22 international film awards and screened on numerous festivals around the globe.

Gabrielle Kelly

Writer, Director
Archangel Australia
Australia

Gabrielle is an award-winning all-media producer and documentary director, with significant executive experience in Australia and the US, as a manager and executive producer of interactive media companies over eight years.

Gabrielle's company Archangel Australia produces digital media on globalisation and social change, as well as delivering powerful leadership, creativity and innovation training for business and communities.

A social innovator, she founded the AIDC in 1987, launched Southtalk, a community leadership program in 2002 and co-founded Digital Journeys, a youth media-training program with Carclew Youth Arts, in 2004.

Richard Kuipers

Film Critic
Variety
Australia

Richard is a film critic for the international trade paper Variety. He also contributes movie reviews and commentary on ABC Radio National and the webzine Urban Cinefile.

Richard has produced and directed several documentaries including Stone Forever (1999), a look at one of Australia's most famous cult films. He produced the national television program The Movie Show on SBS Television from 1992 - 2000.

Cole Larsen

Coordinator Screen Production & Natural History Film-Making Screen Studies
Flinders University
Australia

Cole Larsen is a former research and photo journalist who turned to filmmaking after doing post graduate study at Flinders University in the mid 1990's. He has produced, written and directed short films, independent and broadcast documentary, children's drama, television commercials, government and corporate films.

Cole is currently Coordinator of Screen Production and Natural History Film Making in the Department of Screen Studies at the Flinders University.

His current professional practice includes documentary and experimental narrative with a focus on landscape.

Emmanuel Laurent

CEO, Films à Trois
Founder and Vice-President, Association Science & Télévision (AST)
France

Emmanuel is the director and founding partner of the Paris based Films à Trois, specializing in international coproductions. His recent co-productions include The Killer Cure, a one-hour documentary in partnership with White Pine Pictures for France 2, CBC, SBS, Hitler's Museum, a 2-hour HD miniseries, in partnership with Ottonia Media for Arte, Avro, History Canada, SBS, TSR, Planète and, due for 2007, Four Wings and a Prayer, a feature-length HD documentary to be released in theaters worldwide by Celluloïd Dreams, produced in partnership with Primitive Entertainment for France 2, Planète, The Documentary Channel and NHK. He is currently developing The Magic of the Unicorn written by Wolter Bramhorst and produced in partnership with Dash Films for AVRO and Vision TV and Rose's Journey written with Clay Bryce, produced in partnership with Artemis International-Brian Beaton (TV partners to be determined).

Mark Lazarus

Project Manager
Australian Film Commission
Australia

Mark is an Australian Film, Television & Radio School graduate who started in film as a location scout on Troma's Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. His most recent credit is producer of Ravenswood, a feature currently in post-production. His last picture was Australian Rules (Sundance, Edinburgh Film Fests 2002, International Humanitas Prize Finalist 2002, Australian Film Institute best picture nominee).

Mark was creative affairs executive at Fox Icon Productions (20th Century Fox and Icon Prods. joint venture) and head of development and acquisitions for Ocean Pictures where he was instrumental in acquiring Rabbit-Proof Fence. He recently headed up Filmgraphics Entertainment as well. Early in his career, he worked as an investment assistant at the Film Finance Corporation, helping documentary projects through the financing process.

In August, Mark began working at the Australian Film Commission as a project manager, and as a producer has several projects in development.

Frances Leadbeter

Acting Manager, Marketing
Australian Film Commission
Australia

Frances Leadbeter has been working within the Marketing branch of the Australian Film Commission (AFC) since April 2000. Prior employment includes marketing/event management stints at the South Australian Film Corporation; Edinburgh International Film Festival; Australian International Documentary Conference; Adelaide Fringe Festival and Community Aid Abroad.

The AFC Marketing branch organises and runs Australian stands at various international markets/festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Mip-TV/MIPCOM and Hong Kong FILMART; provides funding for Australian filmmakers travelling and informs Australian practitioners with detailed marketing resources and information via the website. The branch also hosts incoming visits by key international festival directors/selectors each year and organises several key national events including Australia on Show at The Movie Convention; MeetMarket at the AIDC; and an International Marketing Workshop.

Alex Lee

Founder Trustee-Chairman
DOCNZ Trust

Managing Board of Directors
Asia NZ Film Foundation Trust
New Zealand

An entertainment lawyer and film director and producer, Alex is a National Executive Committee Member of the Screen Directors' Guild of New Zealand. He is Chairman of both the DOCNZ Trust and the Asia NZ Film Foundation Trust, and Lecturer (Production) in the Department of Film TV & Media Studies at the University of Auckland.

Alex is an active filmmaker and currently finishing off production of a feature drama and feature documentary film, and executive producing other filmmakers' projects. He is passionate about documentary and the importance of documentary film festivals in stimulating and promoting dialogue, debate and understanding.

As one of the founders of the DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival, Alex has jointly directed the selection and programming of both the festival films and the finalists of the DOCNZ Competition. He is keen to meet and talk to filmmakers and other industry colleagues about their inclusion into the 2007 DOCNZ International Film Festival/Competition/Pitching Panel and co-productions. He is also a director of Smiley Film International Documentary Film Distribution Ltd.

Andrew Lowenthal

Co-founder
EngageMedia
Australia

Andrew is Melbourne based media and technology activist. He is co-founder of EngageMedia, a free software project and video sharing site about social and environmental issues in Australia, South East Asia and the Pacific. He also works with the Tactical Technology Collective as the editor of the NGO-in-a-box series, a collection of free software toolkits and guides for NGOs, non-profits and activists. The editions focus on tools for audio and video, open publishing, security, telephony and more. Additionally Andrew has been involved in the Indymedia network of grassroots news sites since 2001 as an editor and organiser.

Susan MacKinnon

Executive Producer, Independent
Executive, Documentary Australia
Australia

Susan worked as an independent producer for many years. She won many awards and gained international acclaim for her documentaries. Her very popular short drama, Fetch, screened in over 50 world festivals, including official competition at Cannes. Her successful documentaries include: Eternity; Loaded - The Gun Lovers; You Must Remember This; Dinner for Six; Somewhere Between Light and Reflection; and Men and Their Sheds. This year she is executive producer on a number of films including the animated feature documentary Global Haywire directed by Oscar winning Bruce Petty, and the musical feature entitled '4', both of which are nearing completion.

Susan is also working with the new initiative Documentary Australia which aims to attract private money to the documentary industry.

From 1998 to 2005 Susan was the documentary Investment Manager at the Film Finance Corporation, where she assisted filmmakers in negotiating finances for their documentaries. During this time Susan helped internationalise the Australian documentary industry and promote many of the Australian filmmakers, raising their profiles outside Australia.

Susan is a board member for the AIDC and the South Australian Film Corporation.

Catherine Marciniak

Director, Cinematographer
Pandanus Media Pty Ltd
Australia

Catherine is an independent director and cinematographer who has an insatiable curiosity about people and a passion for telling stories that explore the society in which we live. She is currently the Series Director and Principal Cinematographer of Film Australia's landmark cross-platform project The Life Series with the first installment Life at 1 being launched in 2006 by the ABC. This series blends reality television with the scientific findings of the largest longitudinal study ever conducted on Australian children.

Catherine's past credits include: Steel City, Grey Voyagers, Hospital - an Unhealthy Business, Stories from a Children's Hospital, Aussie Animal Rescue and The Gamblers.

From 2004 to 2005, she was the Series Producer for ABC-TV's Compass program.

Sue Maslin

Producer
Film Art Doco
Australia

Sue Maslin is an award winning screen producer with credits including A Mirror to the People, The Highest Court, The Edge of the Possible, Conspiracy, Mr. Neal is Entitled to be an Agitator and Thanks Girls and Goodbye. The Edge of the Possible, a film about Jorn Utzon and the Sydney Opera House, won the Gold Plaque for Best Television Documentary at the 1999 Chicago International Film Festival. Her most recent projects with Film Art Doco include the broadband interactive documentary William Bligh launched on ABC On-Line and the non-fiction feature film, Hunt Angels which won three Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards including Best Documentary Film, the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Feature Documentary and the ATOM Award for Best Feature Documentary. Hunt Angels was released nationally on cinemas in 2006 and will screen on ABC Television in late 2007.

Ross Matthews

Investment Manager
Film Finance Corporation
Australia

Ross is the Investment Manager in the Melbourne office of the Film Finance Corporation Australia.

As an Investment Manager he is the first port of call for discussions about proposed investment in Australian feature films, television dramas and documentary.

He works closely with producers on their funding applications and in negotiating investment structures and production planning.

Ross' previous credits as an independent producer include Airtight, Correlli, Gino, The Seven Deadly Sins, Waiting and Bodysurfer.

Paul Melville

Independent Producer
More Media
Australia

A summer job as a postman at age 15 first alerted Paul to the power of carefully edited words and selective late delivery. Unable to pursue his first love, painting, due to a profound lack of talent, Paul trained as a reporter at the ABC.

Since then he has worked for every network as a Producer, Director and Executive Producer, except SBS. His production credits include The Mike Walsh Show, Midday with Ray Martin, Coast to Coast with Graham Kennedy, News and Current Affairs specials, a Royal Wedding and several sports events including the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

In the mid to late nineties, Paul led the team at XYZ Entertainment that created and launched a bouquet of cable and satellite channels for Foxtel, Austar, Arena and Channel V. He spent the internet boom as director of product development at the search directory LookSmart trying to get the help-desk person off the phone to his girlfriend.

Recently, while head of development at Southern Star, Paul created and produced runaway format success Strictly Dancing. To date it has been sold to a dozen territories worldwide. As an independent producer Paul is now developing multi-platform programs to offer to the ABC and others.

Shaun Miller

Senior Associate
Marshalls & Dent Lawyers
Australia

Shaun holds a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) degree and a Bachelor of Commerce degree, both from the University of Melbourne. He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Melbourne. Shaun is a Senior Associate at Marshalls & Dent Lawyers' Media and Entertainment Department, based in Melbourne. He is currently on the Board of the Victorian College of the Arts' Film and Television School course advisory committee. Shaun also lectures in film and entertainment law at Open Channel, VCA, AFTRS and RMIT. Shaun has acted for producers on a multitude of features, documentaries, shorts, television series and animations.

Shaun sees the role of today's film and entertainment lawyer as a "facilitator", that is, liaising with producers, government funding bodies, distributors, financiers and creative talent in order to get films and television programs onto the big and small Screen.

Dan Monceaux

Filmmaker, Artist
danimations
Australia

A self-taught and largely intuitive filmmaker, Dan's background as an artist and illustrator dominates his work in the moving image.

Paying a detailed attention to aesthetics, music and sound, he will discuss his personal efforts to find suitable and harmonious ways to present a documentary subject. The artistic decisions that can be made in response to a thorough deconstruction and understanding of the raw material of documentary is his field of fascination.

Dan recently directed A Shift in Perception in 2006, which is screening at the Adelaide Film Festival and is currently in pre-production for his next documentary.

John Moore

Executive Director
360 Degree Films
Australia

John is a partner with Sally Ingleton in the new Australian company 360 Degree Films. He has been producing award winning documentaries for nearly 20 years. His programs have sold to ABC Television, SBS, Channel 4, ARTE, The Canadian History Channel and TV Ontario. His programs have won numerous awards in Australia and have been screened at several international festivals.

In 2001 John produced and directed Thomson of Arnhem Land for Film Australia and the ABC. Thomson won the $15,000 NSW Premiers History Award, an Australian Film Institute Award (AFI) for Editing and was nominated for awards at Banff and Shanghai TV Festivals.

His most recent project Abortion, Corruption & Cops was nominated at the 2005 AFI Awards and the 2006 Sydney Film Festival.

As well as producing documentaries John plays an active role in the documentary industry and is a current board member of the AIDC.

Simon Nasht

Producer, Director
Real Pictures
Australia

After sixteen years abroad running leading factual companies, Simon has opted for the easy life of Australian documentary. Making international stories about Aussie icons has meant juggling the often competing interests of half a dozen broadcasters, three film agencies and a family who rarely sees him. And did he mention the struggle to uncover the true owners of historical footage? Simple really.

Philip Nelson

Managing Director
LIC Australia
Australia

Philip has worked in the film and television industry since 1976. Currently he is Managing Director of LIC, the largest importer of documentaries into China. 70% of these are screened on LIC's daily primetime timeslot on 102 channels. LIC also distributes a VCD/DVD label and publishes books. LIC is involved in documentary production in China and other countries.

Prior to working at LIC, Philip spent six years at Film Australia as Director of Sales and Marketing, 11 years at SBS Television in various program sales, merchandising and program acquisitions positions, and five years at the Australian Film Commission.

Andrew Ogilvie

Executive Producer & Managing Director
Electric Pictures
Australia

Andrew is the principal of Electric Pictures. Established fifteen years ago Electric Pictures is one of Australia's most respected independent producers with a reputation for the production of high quality, award winning documentaries and documentary series across a range of subject material and genre including: history, science, arts, international affairs, human interest, travel and adventure.

Current productions and past highlights include: BomBali, Race Against the Killer Flu, Submariners, Hula Girls, Stories from a Children's Hospital, Tug of Love, Child Soldiers, Playing the Game and The Human Race. Electric Pictures' productions are produced with the support of major broadcasters and distributors in the UK, Europe, Asia, USA and Australia.

Carsten Orlt

Film Editor / Producer
Kaufmann Productions
Australia

Carsten makes up the multi-award winning team of Kaufmann Productions with Gisela Kaufmann. Independently and together, they have compiled a solid international career over 18 years, spanning Europe, Australia, Asia, the United States and the South Pacific.

Their company has produced programming for major international broadcasters, including National Geographic Channels International, Discovery/Animal Planet, Paramount Pictures, TriStar Columbia and Fox Television in the United States, ARD, WDR, ZDF, PRO7, VOX and ARTE in Europe, CBC in Canada and ABC and the Nine Network in Australia.

In the last seven years their focus has shifted from human-interest stories to the wild challenges of natural history and science. They have just released their latest international co-production Cuttlefish - The Brainy Bunch. Their previous wildlife specials Sea Of Snakes and Tarantula have to date received 22 international film awards and screened on numerous festivals around the globe.

Julia Overton

Investment Manager, Documentary
Film Finance Corporation
Australia

Julia is the Documentary Investment Manager at the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) where she assists filmmakers in negotiating finances for their documentaries. The FFC is the Australian Government's principal agency for funding the production of film and television in Australia.

Prior to this Julia worked as a development executive for the Australian Film Commission, developing a number of successful projects such as the Oscar winning animation Harvie Krumpet, the Cannes selected dramas Jew Boy and Sexy Thing and the multi award winning documentary Jabe Babe a Heightened Life.

Julia also has a multi-faceted track record as a producer, encompassing feature films (Cut, Spider and Rose, Fistful of Flies, Until the End of the World, Travelling North), television drama (Aftershocks, The Long Ride, Tudawali), short drama (Entertaining Angels, I Eugenia) and documentary (Black Man's Houses).

Julia is on the AIDC board and is a member of Australian Screen Directors Association.

Sonya Pemberton

Writer, Director and Executive Producer
Independent
Australia

Sonya is one of Australia's leading science directors and executive producers, consistently creating intelligent, distinctive, high rating programs.

From 2004 to 2006 Sonya was Head of Specialist Factual at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a portfolio including Science, Natural History, Religion and Ethics, and the Indigenous Programs Unit. She commissioned over 150 hours of programming per year, managing over 100 staff and four weekly program strands.

Previously Sonya worked within the independent sector where she wrote, directed and/or produced over 40 hours of television documentary. Her films have won multiple international awards, including the Grand Prix, Beijing International Science Film Festival (2002) and the Silver Prize, Beijing International Science Film Festival (2004). Sonya has been twice honoured with Australia's elite science communicators award, the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism (2003, 2004).

In 2007 Sonya resumes her independent career, writing and directing science films.

Ann Porcino

Director, Principal Consultant
RPR Consulting
Australia

Ann is currently a Director and Principal Consultant with RPR Consulting.

She is frequently used by government and non-government agencies to facilitate forums, large and small, involving complex stakeholder and policy issues. Her key strength is in assisting groups of people to talk together successfully and to work towards solutions in even the most difficult and conflicting situations. She has facilitated processes in a wide range of sectors including in the community, public and private sectors and in the fields of family and community services, health, broadcasting, Indigenous affairs, housing, legal services, disability services and overseas development.

Ann has extensive training and experience in what makes organisations work effectively and provides practical, hands on assistance that is highly valued by her clients. Her background in quality management is the foundation for her organisational development work and she has assisted a wide range of organisations through strategic planning processes.

Paul Remati

Head of Television
National Indigenous Television Channel
Australia

As a twenty-five year veteran in the Australian television industry, Paul Remati's career ranges from senior executive management in broadcasting, through developing and producing programs for commercial, subscription and public television networks to leading future industry direction as an educator.

With over a thousand hours of television to his credit as producer, director and editor, Paul has worked in areas as diverse as drama, reality, children's and lifestyle. As Head of Production and Planning for ABC Television, his commission was to oversee all aspects of production for Australia's premier public broadcaster. Paul comes to the NITV from his position as Head of Television for the prestigious Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

Molly Reynolds

Cross-media Producer, Director
Independent
Australia

Molly has been Head of Development and Investment for the South Australian Film Corporation. She has also worked as a media consultant and producer, her clients including the New South Wales Government, the Australian Film Commission, CREATE Australia and Film Australia.

Previous roles include Executive Producer with Beyond Online, which developed three award-winning broadband channels. She has also worked at the ABC, involved in producing, designing and creating content and policy in a multi-platform environment. Molly teaches digital media and is a published industry commentator and broadcaster.

Molly has a MA

in Media Arts and Production, a BA in Communications and qualifications in Business Systems, Business Management and Education. She has worked in print media (Australian Consolidated Press) and radio (2SER FM, ABC Radio).

Molly Reynolds

Cross-media Producer, Director
Independent
Australia

Molly has been Head of Development and Investment for the South Australian Film Corporation. She has also worked as a media consultant and producer, her clients including the New South Wales Government, the Australian Film Commission, CREATE Australia and Film Australia.

Previous roles include Executive Producer with Beyond Online, which developed three award-winning broadband channels. She has also worked at the ABC, involved in producing, designing and creating content and policy in a multi-platform environment. Molly teaches digital media and is a published industry commentator and broadcaster.

Molly has a MA

in Media Arts and Production, a BA in Communications and qualifications in Business Systems, Business Management and Education. She has worked in print media (Australian Consolidated Press) and radio (2SER FM, ABC Radio).

Dr Jane Roscoe

Programme Executive
SBS
Australia

Jane is the Programme Executive at SBS and is responsible for the day-to-day creative management of the SBS Television schedule. She was formally the Head of the Centre for Screen Studies and Research at AFTRS.

Jane has published widely in the area of television and documentary, and her last book was Faking It: Mock-documentary and the Subversion of Factuality Co-written with Craig Hight, MUP, 2001.

Katrina Sedgwick

Festival Director
Adelaide Film Festival
Australia

Since 2002 Katrina has been the founding Director and CEO of the biennial Adelaide Film Festival (AFF), and the AFF Investment Fund. She has an extensive background as a performer, creative producer and festival director.

Katrina co-founded the Sydney Fringe Festival (1995), was the Associate Producer of Red Square (1996) and Special Events Producer (1998, 2000) for the Adelaide Festival of Arts. She was the Artistic Director of Come Out 1999, the Australian Festival for Young People, and whilst Artistic Director for Adelaide Fringe 2002 achieved an increase of 60% in ticketed attendances across the program, increasing box office takings from $2.1 million to $3.85 million.

She has is currently the Chair of the South Australian Youth Arts Board, and a Board Member of Chunky Move and the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

Gef Senz

Writer/ Director / Editor / Sound
Independent
Australia

Gef is a qualified lawyer, musician, sound engineer and documentary filmmaker.

In 2005 Gef completed a Graduate Diploma in Film & Television (Documentary) from the Victorian College of the Arts and has written, directed, edited and produced a number of short documentaries including Transformers - The Art of Circuit Bending (which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2006), Burmese Kitchen, Pool Comp and Virtual Freedom a hybrid documentary and online project for the AFC-SBS Podlove series.

With over fifteen years professional experience as a live and recording musician and seven years as a studio mix engineer, sound design is a crucial element in Gef's documentaries.

Lawrie Silvestrin

Editor, Post Production Supervisor
Independent
Australia

Lawrie has worked as a drama and documentary picture and sound editor and post-production supervisor for more than 25 years. He has been nominated for three Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards and a Golden Reel Award, winning an AFI Award for Best Sound Editing.

Lawrie's drama credits include the feature films Justice, Blackfellas and Babe and the television series Sleepover Club, Foreign Exchange, and Ocean Star. His documentary credits include Bom Bali; The Black Road as Editor and Co-Writer (Winner of Best Documentary and Best Film in Festival at the 2006 Mumbai International Film Festival, AFI Nomination Best Editing); Submariners; Stories from a Children's Hospital; Selling Australia; Playing the Game; and Paying for the Piper (AFI Nomination Best Editing).

Lawrie has numerous documentary writing credits and has conducted courses for the Australian Film, Television & Radio School and the Western Australian Screen Academy. He also lectures and administers the post-production strand of the Advanced Diploma of Screen at Central TAFE in Perth.

Karena Smith

Director of Development
ITN Source
United Kingdom

Karena is Director of Development at ITN Source, the world’s leading provider of motion imagery. From news to classic drama, entertainment, reality, comedy, music, natural history, science and film, ITN Source is the most diverse archive footage business in the world. As well as all ITN news output, ITN Source also represents the entire Reuters TV library, British Pathe, Channel 4, Granada, Fox News and Fox Movietone, and a number of specialist collections. An experienced film researcher and archive consultant in the television production sector, Karena joined ITN Source in 1991. Since 2000, Karena has been an Executive Committee member for the archive trade association Focal International, and is also involved in a number of charitable and community organisations and projects. Karena was a key player in the recent launch of ITN Source’s advanced new digital website, which gives customers the ability to search for, view, download and now purchase high quality footage at the touch of a button.

Richard Sowada

Head of Film Programs
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Australia

Richard has been an active player in the Australian screen culture sector for nearly two decades. As founder and director of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival from 1997 to 2006, Richard built a considerable reputation as an inventive and uncompromising film curator and vocal advocate of screen culture activity.

Since late 2006, he has ensconced himself as Head of Film Programs at the country's leading screen culture organisation, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). Richard has previously acted as script and project assessor for the ScreenWest and the Australian Film Commission (AFC), curator and tour manager for the regional film festival Big Screen, Conference Director for the 2001 AIDC and lecturer in documentary.

David is currently completing a PhD examining the works of Frank Capra for the US Government in WW2.

Peter Tapp

Publications Manager
Australian Teachers of Media
Australia

Peter has worked in publishing for over 20 years. He is currently the Editor of Metro magazine, Screen Education magazine and the Moving Image series of monographs. He also manages the publishing of print and online study guides and educational kits, the design of websites for feature films and documentaries, The Speakers' Bureau, and The Education Shop for the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM).

Sue Thexton

Managing Director
ITN Source
UK

Sue is the managing director of ITN Source, one of the biggest archive film footage collections in the world representing British Pathe, Channel 4, Granada, Reuters and Fox Movietone. Prior to that she was Vice President for Macromedia Europe, the multimedia internet software company, for 10 years. She also set up and built Adobe UK, the company responsible for Photoshop.

Sue is well known in the new media industry, she speaks regularly at conferences. She is Visiting Professor at Middlesex University and Trustee of NESTA Futurelab, and has been the Chairman of the British Interactive Multimedia Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and also a Governor of Thames Valley University.

Sue has been an active member of the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Committee since its inception in September 1997 (Chair between 1999 and 2004) and a member of BAFTA Council since 1999.

David Tiley

Magazine Editor/ Documentary Film Writer
Screen Hub
Australia

David Tiley is a documentary film writer, online content manager, fiction script editor, and teacher. He has been a project manager at both the Australian Film Commission (AFC) and Film Victoria.

At the moment David is the editor of Screen Hub, www.scrennhub.com.au, the online newsletter for the film and television industry, and continues to develop documentary projects for television.

Steve Thomas

Producer / Director
Roar Film
Australia

Steve is a Hobart-based producer/director working in television and multimedia. He wrote and directed the documentaries, The Fisherman, No1 Doctor's Rocks and Titania's Palace and Real Life Water Rats.

He also wrote and directed Roar Film's landmark interactives, Five Bells, The Tragedy and Myth of the Tasmanian Tiger, Mining the Imagination and the iconic ABC/AFC broadband project Dust On My Shoes.

In addition to producing and directing Film Australia's Wilderness DVD, he also produced the award-winning From Wireless to Web, a Film Australia education broadband website.

Other writing and directing credits include the short dramas Left Luggage and Albert's Chook Tractor, documentaries Song for Fanny, Pulp, and The End of the Game. Steve has also written several plays, including The Tank, which toured nationally for its fifth season in 2005.

Pat Turner

Managing Director
National Indigenous Television Channel
Australia

Ms Pat Turner AM is the newly appointed CEO of National Indigenous Television (NITV). An Arrernte woman from Alice Springs, Pat had a 28 year career in the public service, and was the most senior Indigenous person in the APS. Her previous positions included CEO of ATSIC, Deputy Secretary for the Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Deputy CEO, Centrelink. Pat also held the Monash Chair in Australian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC, USA. She was awarded the Order of Australia for public service in 1990

Safina Uberoi

Director
Divana Films
Australia

Safina is an Indian-born Australian filmmaker. Her best-known documentary is My Mother India, a personal story which won several major awards including the Australian Film Critics Circle Award for Best Australian Documentary.

In 2004, she directed a film for the BBC as part of the high profile BAFTA nominated series Who Do You Think You Are?

Safina has made documentaries for SBS, PBS and Indian National television and is currently working on a film for the ABC.

Michael Waldman

Series Producer, Director
Diverse Productions
UK

Michael has made a wide variety of programs, from observational documentary series; The House (BBC2), about a turbulent year in the life of the Royal Opera House; The Greatest Show On Earth - the Olympic Games (BBC1), through political/social docs; Water Wars (BBC2) to factual entertainment; Hot Wax; Ruby Wax With...(BBC1) and, most recently, constructed arts performance shows Operatunity; Musicality; My Shakespeare; Ballet Changed My Life -Ballet Hoo! (all Channel 4).

In the process he has won a BAFTA, an Emmy, Royal Television Society awards and the PRIX ITALIA. Freelance, he works both as a series producer/director and filmmaker, and occasionally as an executive producer.

Lynette Wallworth

Artist
FORMA
Australia

Lynette is an Australian artist whose practice spans video installation, photography and short film. Her installation environments rely on activation by the participant/viewer.

Lynette is a recipient of a New Media Arts Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts and an Arts Council England International Fellowship. She initiated the Big New Sites project with The Performance Space, which placed artists works on cinema screens across Australia and was a member of the Artistic Directorate for the 2002 Adelaide Festival.

Lynette's most recent presentation was at the New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna 2006 where she presented five installation environments including two new commissions, The Evolution of Fearlessness and Damavand Mountain.

Dafang Wang

Vice-President
Tianjin Broadcasting Group
China

Dafang has worked in Chinese television for over thirty years. In this time he has established himself as an expert in the fields of television and documentary production. He has published a number of in-depth studies that explore the broadcasting and television production industries in China, and has published many articles on documentary production.

Throughout his career, Dafang has received many awards for his work, including the Feitian Award for Television, the Jingying Award and the China Movie Huabiao Award.

Michael Ward

Head of Policy and Administration
ABC Television
Australia

Michael joined the ABC in 1999. He has been Head of Policy and Administration for ABC Television since 2000.

Prior to coming to the ABC he worked from 1994 to 1999 for the Australian Film Finance Corporation (Policy Manager) and the Australian Film Commission (Policy Advisor), working with the independent production sector, broadcasters and the government agencies on film, television and new media industry issues. Before coming to Sydney in 1994, he was head of the Western Australian Film and Television Institute.

He is a graduate in Communication Studies from Murdoch University.

Catherine Waters

Manager, Legal Affairs and Co-production
Australian Film Commission
Australia

Catherine is the Head of Legal Affairs at the Australian Film Commission and also manages the Official Co-production Program. She is a lawyer with over ten years of experience in the film and television industries and has been a solicitor at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Legal & Business Affairs Executive at Beyond International. She has a Master of Laws degree, specialising in Media, Communications & Information Technology Law.

Catherine is currently working with the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts on film treaty negotiations with China, Singapore and South Africa.

Professor Chris West

Chief Executive Officer
Royal Zoological Society of South Australia
Australia

A former Director of London Zoo, Chris immigrated to Australia to take up his position as chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, which runs both Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Zoological Park.

Chris spent his formative years in West Africa, where his interest in wildlife was nurtured. He qualified as a vet in the early 1980s and later followed an academic path, teaching surgery and undertaking anaesthesia research before accepting a managerial position with a large pharmaceutical company. His interest in conservation and wildlife led to a senior curator's position at Chester Zoo and then the Director's job at London Zoo.

Chris is currently the Chair of Zoology at the University of Adelaide and Chair of Biodiversity Conservation at Flinders University.

Steve Westh

Writer, Director
Independent
Australia

Steve's documentaries have screened on networks around the world. In addition to Bom Bali, his credits include: Divorce Stories, a three part series showing the personal and cultural impact of divorce in contemporary Australia; Stories from a Children's Hospital, a one hour special and three half-hour series in which the latest developments in paediatric medicine are delivered to the young patients in Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; Grey Voyagers, a six-part series featuring older people travelling the world to explore the possibilities of their Third Age; An episode in this series, Mavis Goes To Timor, received a United Nations Peace Award; Soccer Dreams featured China's footballers attempts to make it into Europe's 'big leagues'; Auto Stories looked at Australians and their relationships with cars; Grey Nomads followed Australian retirees exploring the country in caravans and motor homes; and What's So Funny? charted the successes and failures of Australia's 'ethnic' stand up comedians.

Peter Wintonick

Filmmaker / Producer
Necessary Illusions Productions
Canada

Circumnavigating the globe and documentary reality, Wintonick produces and directs indie film and next-media - including theatrical docs and socially active work.

Credits include Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment, Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News (with Katerina Cizek) and with Mark Achbar, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, one of the most successful theatrical docs in Canadian history.

Co-founder of the Documentary Organization of Canada and international editor of P.O.V., the documag, Wintonick advises festivals, and organises digidoc conferences.

Anna Yates

Web Editor
EnhanceTV / Screenrights
Australia

Anna has a background as an actor and producer in theatre, film and television. She has worked for Screenrights for seven years and has been Web Editor of EnhanceTV for the past four. Anna is responsible for selecting television content on the website and weekly email guide currently sent to 7,000 educators each week. She also produces a weekly podcast for educators recommending upcoming programs.

Anna’s role at EnhanceTV allows her to indulge her love of documentary film.