Meet professionals: in these sessions, we talk to those whose job it is to fund, program and distribute documentary films.

At the second session, you will meet commissioning editors from some of the major public broadcasters in Europe to discover how they operate, their editorial strategies, acquisition territories, and the most effective pitching approaches.

You can also attend this event at KINO42. The moderator and one of the speakers (Fabrice Puchault) will be present in person.

Speakers: 

Thomas Beyer (MDR, Germany); 

Fabrice Puchault (Arte France); 

Asta Dalman (SVT, Sweden); 

Emma Hindley (BBC, UK); 

Bernd Seidl (SWR, Germany).

Moderator: Brigid O'Shea

MDR is the public broadcaster for the federal German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony- Anhalt. Founded in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig and Halle, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt, and Magdeburg. MDR is a member of Germany’s public broadcasting consortium, ARD. They broadcast their own television and radio stations, as well as programming for the first German television channel (Das Erste) and ARTE.

Thomas Beyer studied journalism and geography and has worked as a journalist, producer, and documentary filmmaker in Leipzig and Hamburg. He is the commissioning editor for feature-length documentaries at Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting). MDR is the public broadcaster for the federal German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. Founded in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig and Halle, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt, and Magdeburg.

ARTE is a European public television channel dedicated to culture. For more than 30 years, ARTE – a channel with a cultural and European vocation that has become a label of excellence and creativity for audiences across Europe – has been determined to deliver on the mission entrusted to it: to bring Europeans closer together through culture.

Fabrice Puchault studied literature and is a graduate from the French National Film School (FEMIS). Independent producer from 1992 to 2003, he then joined the documentary Department in France 3 as Commissioning Editor for Science and Wildlife. In November 2005, he joined the factual department at France 2, the main French Public Broadcaster, and became Commissioning Editor for Specialist Factual. In 2008, he was appointed Secretary General of Programming at France 2. He was notably in charge of coordinating programs between the channel and digital media. From February 2011 to January 2016, Fabrice Puchault served as Director of the Documentary department at France 2. Fabrice is now Head of Society and Culture Department at ARTE France.

Swedish Television (SVT) is the public broadcaster in Sweden. They are a publicly sponsored state-independent company with the greatest range of programs.

Asta Dalman, a commissioning editor for SVT, is originally from Finland. She oversees SVT's current affairs and foreign feature documentary strands.  Managing pre-buys, acquisitions, and co-productions, primarily in Sweden. 

Storyville is a BBC documentary strand that has been a trusted partner for filmmakers for over 25 years, bringing the world’s best feature documentary tales to diverse audiences. It has presented over 700 films from 70 different nations, including Olympic Massacre: One Day in September, Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge, The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea, Casa Susanna, and many more. The strand primarily seeks ambitious, narrative-driven stories to co- produce with other investors. While being highly diverse in range, their films must be ambitious and cinematic in order to be released in theaters and online via iPlayer. Still, Storyville are creative-facing and work with both experienced filmmakers and new talent.

Emma Hindley is a Strand Editor at Storyville and has 25 years of experience working in documentaries as a film editor, director, executive producer, and creative director. Her work has been nominated for and received numerous awards from BAFTA, Grierson, and the RTS. Her dedication and enthusiasm for subjects such as women’s history (with the BAFTA award- winning Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley), mental health (BAFTA and RTS nominated David Harewood: Psychosis and Me), and LGBT stories (Gentleman Jack Changed My Life; Tom Daly: Illegal To Be Me) have helped her pioneer the recruitment of fully representative crews and contributors alike.

As a public broadcasting corporation, SWR offers an independent program for radio, television, internet and social media. The focus is on information, education, culture and entertainment. SWR is part of the First German Television group (ARD) that provides content for other ARD community programs. SWR is also a partner of the French-German-broadcasting company Arte.

Bernd Seidl, German director and editor that has more than 35 years of experience in journalism, broadcasting and the television industry. After studying theology in Tübingen, he worked at Südwestrundfunk (SWR) / Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (ARD). His current position is in the editorial department for documentaries and for co-productions with the German-French broadcaster Arte. He is responsible for feature-length documentaries and international co-productions.

Brigid O'Shea is a tutor and consultant who helps documentary projects and filmmakers reach their full global potential. She has worked with ARTE on Generation Africa and Generation Ukraine, developing festival strategies for film collections, and sat on the boards of B2B Doc, Circle Women Doc Accelerator, and Dokufest in Prizren, Kosovo. Brigid co-founded and serves as co-director of The Documentary Association of Europe, a network and support system for documentarians. As an internationally known curator with a diversified network, she teaches festival strategy, international co-financing, pitching, and cultural management.