Industry Day

The day featured five essential and informative panels including conversations with talented filmmakers and execs about documentary features, shorts, and hybrid projects. Open to all, whatever level of experience. The sessions were relaxed and the Industry Day was followed by networking drinks at Kollectiv supported by Dr Jekyll’s mysteriously refreshing beer.

NEW FOR 2025 - this year, we’re offered the chance for filmmakers with a ticket for the Industry Day to book one-to-ones with industry experts during Friday and Saturday of the festival. These slots were offered on a first come first served basis, bookable during Industry Day, and were available only to Industry Day ticket holders.

Schedule

10.15-11.15am - Filmmaker Masterclass with Eleanor Mortimer

We’re delighted that this year’s keynote speaker is local filmmaker Eleanor Mortimer, director of How Deep Is Your Love which is showing as part of this year's festival. The film is her first feature documentary, which explores the last wilderness on earth at the bottom of the ocean. Eleanor’s work centres on re-imaginings of the world through unusual, hidden or overlooked perspectives. Her first short film, Territory screened at over fifty festivals, including Sundance and received a Grierson nomination. Alongside her independent work, Eleanor makes commissions for galleries, publishers and TV and teaches filmmaking to community groups and in film schools. She’ll speak about the transition from shorts to features, and making work that crosses definitions of documentary.

11.30am-12.30pm - Alternative Funding and Distribution 

Documentary funding and releasing have become more complex in recent years, with filmmakers having to be increasingly entrepreneurial. But this can be a positive! Hear from producers, distribution experts and platforms with experience of doing things differently, including crowdfunding and community film tours. Speakers include Max Upton (Crowdfunder.co.uk), Rebecca Wolff (Grand Theft Hamlet), Jonny Tull (Tull Stories independent film distribution), Dan Edelstyn (Power Station), Nikki Parrott (Tigerlily Two) and Margaréta Szabó (Labor of Love Films)

1.30pm-2.30pm - Meet The Funders

Your chance to hear from documentary commissioning, funding, distribution and exhibition executives for films of all lengths, and ask them anything. Speakers include representatives from Alexandra Colta (Scottish Documentary Institute), Jane Ray and Denise Barren (The Whickers), Hannah Bush Bailey (BFI Doc Society), Ekaterina Ochagavia (The Guardian), Sammy Wong (BFI NETWORK), and James Collie (Violet Pictures).

2.40pm-3.30pm - Meet The Shorts Makers

Hear from some of the short film makers in this year’s festival programme - how did they get their shorts funded and made, how long did it take, and what are they making next? Speakers include Tina Pasotra, Usayd Younis and Mos Hannan, Carol Salter and Christian Cargill. Hosted by Sanne Jehoul from BFI Doc Society.

3.45pm-4.30pm - What Do Audiences Want?

We love making our documentaries, but do audiences actually want to come and watch them, and how do you know? This session will look into what documentaries are working well at cinemas and how exhibitors have got audiences in the room.

Speakers include Duncan Carson (Independent Cinema Office), Jenny Horwell (Bertha Dochouse) and Isra Al Kassi (Tape Collective).

4.45pm-6.15pm - Networking Drinks at Kollectiv hosted by BFI Doc Society & Screen South Mix and match with your fellow filmmakers and creative storytellers working across the South East, meet new collaborators and chat with the speakers from the day.

Below are the experts who were available for one-to-ones.

The experts

• Doc Society - Hannah Bush Bailey and Sanne Jehoul

The BFI Doc Society Fund supports and nurtures independent non-fiction films and immersive projects by UK filmmakers, prioritising expansive, director-led storytelling. Our funding is intended to be transformative and representative of all of UK society.

Doc Society also offer multiple programmes outside of the BFI, including the Democracy Story Unit and the Climate Story Unit.

• Myia productions - Katy Southwood and Floury Crum

Founded by friends and colleagues Katy Southwood and Floury Crum, Myia Productions is a production services company set up with one aim in mind: to offer creative, flexible support to individuals with stories to tell across any format.

Whether it's a feature documentary, digital series, podcast or something entirely original, we’re here to support you in bringing your project to life.

Whether you’re at the very beginning of an idea or deep in production, we provide thoughtful, tailored support across development and production. With experience spanning multiple formats, genres, and platforms, we’re here to listen, collaborate, advise, and help steer your project with confidence and care.

• Tull Stories - Jonny Tull

Jonny Tull is a cinema and arts consultant who works across film distribution and exhibition. His specialisms span film distribution, audience development, industry research, fundraising and programming for cinema. 

Following a successful career in programming and audience development for independent cinema and the arts, Jonny now works under the banner of the film distribution and exhibition agency Tull Stories. Since 2017 he has released of dozens of films into the UK theatrical market and supported filmmakers, cinemas, festivals and film distributors to help bring their projects to audiences. 

• Scottish Documentary Institute - Alexandra Colta

Alexandra joined the SDI team in 2019 to work on the distribution strategy for the films produced through the Bridging the Gap programme. Since then, she has continued to be involved in the organisation’s flagship programmes like BTG, New Voices, Stories as well as public-facing series of events and workshops.

Before joining SDI, Alexandra worked in various curation and production roles, including as Festival Producer for Document Human Rights Film Festival in Glasgow, as programmer for the Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) Film Series, as intern/researcher at Tern TV in Glasgow and as Production and Distribution Assistant at Alien Film in Romania.

Since 2025, Alex has been leading Doc Screen, a new initiative run by SDI in partnership with Filmhouse in Edinburgh, aiming to support local and international filmmakers at different stages of their career by offering platforms to showcase their work and to grow audiences around short and feature documentaries.

• Crowdfunder - Max Upton

Max Upton is Head of Campaigns at Crowdfunder, the UK’s leading crowdfunding platform. He works closely with filmmakers and creative organisations, helping them raise funds, grow audiences and bring bold ideas to life, from grassroots documentaries to large-scale cultural projects.

• Screen South - Jo Nolan and Rhidian Davis

Screen South is a Creative Development Agency based in Folkestone delivering and supporting innovative projects across screen-based media and the wider cultural and creative industries. We are a resource and broker that helps people get their ideas off the ground and supports delivery locally, nationally and internationally.

Our overarching aim is to contribute to stimulating a competitive, successful and vibrant creative industry and culture and to promote its growth, enjoyment and understanding locally and internationally.

Areas of activity that Screen South covers include:

-Production & Development service and delivery
-International brokering
-Training
-Creative Project Management

• BFI Network / Independent Cinema Office - Sammy Wong

We are the BFI’s partner for providing support for new and emerging filmmakers across the South East through BFI NETWORK. Thanks to National Lottery funding, we do so via a range of activities, including:

- Advising regional filmmakers on their creative development
-Holding events across the region to encourage networking, filmmaker collaboration and skills development.
- Recommending the filmmakers we work with for BFI NETWORK funding.

Sammy started her career on the film BEAST(2016) as a runner and assistant at Stray Bear Films. Following on she worked at Revolution Films, BBC Film and Home Team across Film, TV and Short Film. Her most recent credits as a development executive include TIFF winning short SHÉ (SNAKE) by Renee Zhan and Sundance winning feature Scrapper by Charlotte Regan. She is currently across BFI NETWORK South-East Short Film Fund and the Early Development Fund as an Executive Producer.

• The Guardian Documentaries - Ekaterina Ochagavia

Guardian Documentaries supports creative, independent storytelling about compelling, contemporary subjects. We commission and curate short films, showcasing stories from around the world.

Katya has worked as a self-shooting director and editor for the Guardian for over 14 years, now specialising in executive producing and commissioning across our award-winning documentary strand. Her core focus is short form docs (15- 30 minutes) that tell compelling, character-led stories rooted strongly in journalism. She is dedicated to innovation and creativity in visual storytelling, and intimately understands the trials and tribulations of filmmaking!

• The Whickers

The Whickers launched in 2015 to support emerging talent in international documentary. Through the generous legacy of its namesake, pioneering broadcaster Alan Whicker, it offers mentoring and training, as well as annual production funds for documentary proposals in TV/Film and The Podcast Pitch Award. The Whickers’ flagship award, the Film & TV Funding Award , is open to filmmakers working on their first full-length documentary as Director. Applications will open from mid-November 2025 until the end of January 2026. Films should be in late development or early production stage at the time of applying. The 5 finalists are invited to pitch their films at Sheffield International Documentary Festival in June each year, with a top award, which will increase in 2026 to over £100,000 going to the winning pitch and a runner-up receiving a £20,000 production grant. 

Jane Ray, Artistic Director

As well as running The Whickers, Jane is a multi-award-winning documentary maker in her own right with 29 years on staff at the BBC. Ten years ago she left the BBC to set up The Whickers, a global production fund for emerging documentary talent built on the legacy of pioneering broadcaster Alan Whicker, with whom she worked in the 1990s. Now she combines this with running her own company, Cat Flap Media. Cat Flap has been a consultant producer on docs selected for Sundance, Sheffield, IDFA and Tribeca and nominated for Emmys, BAFTA and Oscars. 

Jonathan Skurnik (non-theatrical distribution strategist/ impact campaigns / educational distribution)

Jonathan Skurnik served as the Chair of New Day Films, a unique, filmmaker-run distribution company, providing award-winning films to educators, community groups, government agencies, public libraries and businesses since 1971. In addition, Jonathan is an award–winning documentary filmmaker, educator and activist.He founded three ground-breaking, grassroots outreach and audience engagement projects that provide transformational educational experiences through facilitated screenings and deep interaction with communities. He also works as a visual artist.

Jonathan can help you strategise your entire non-theatrical distribution strategy, including impact campaigns, educational distribution and other bespoke innovative ways to get your films into the hands of those who most need to see it.