Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo Series Producer, The New York Times Op-Docs (USA)
Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo is the series producer for Op-Docs, the New York Times’s Oscar-winning short documentary series. Previously, she was at American Documentary/POV, PBS’s flagship documentary strand. Op-Docs is the New York Times’s platform for short documentaries by independent filmmakers from around the world. The collection of over 400 films have sparked global conversations, influenced policies and garnered an array of industry distinctions.
Tony Briggs ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, BIRRARANGGA FILM FESTIVAL (AUS)
Tony Briggs is an Australian stage and screen creative – actor, writer, director, and producer – based in Naarm. A Yorta Yorta/ Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) man, he is the Artistic Director of Birrarangga Film Festival, a celebration of Indigenous screen culture from around the globe. Tony created and wrote the hit feature film ‘The Sapphires’, adapted from his award- winning stage play. He is the co-creator, executive producer and writer of the eight-part ABC TV series ‘The Warriors’. As an actor, Tony has appeared in many highly-regarded productions including: ‘Fires’, ‘The Slap’, ‘Seven Types of Ambiguity’, ‘The Broken Shore’, and ‘The Circuit’, and will soon appear in the feature film, ‘Force of Nature’ with Eric Bana. He runs his Naarm-based production company, Typecast Entertainment, which has various film, television and emerging media projects in development.
Kylie Washington GENERAL MANAGER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BBC STUDIOS ANZ (AUS)
Kylie Washington is BBC Studios ANZ’s General Manager and Creative Director of Production, responsible for BBC Studios’ extensive format catalogue and driving the creation of original content collaborating with some of Australia’s best creative talent across both unscripted and scripted genres.
John-Paul is the co-founder and director of Distil Immersive, an award-winning digital production studio. Building on a career spanning 18 years in the interactive media sector, his work bridges the worlds of documentary, art, storytelling, design and technology. He has produced a slew of interactive experiences across the web, TV and in virtual as well as physical spaces. Having previously led the Digital Creative Lab at SBS, he spearheaded dozens of world-class projects and experiences, garnering international acclaim from multiple Webby and SXSW Interactive Awards to Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. With an emphasis on shedding light on the unseen world, his work has been exhibited at major festivals across the UK, Spain, Latin America and the United States. As a speaker and mentor, he has shared his experience at SXSW, Sheffield DocFest, iDW Switzerland, DocsBarcelona and Mediamorfosis Valparaiso, and he is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Erika Dilday EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY/POV (USA)
Erika Dilday, a producer, journalist and media executive, is the executive director of American Documentary Inc. and executive producer of its award-winning documentary series POV on PBS and America ReFramed on WORLD Channel. Previously, she was the CEO of Futuro Media Group a multimedia organisation that gives a critical voice to the diversity of the American experience and Executive Director of Maysles Documentary Center where she produced the acclaimed documentary, ‘Albert Maysles’ In Transit’.
Cody Greenwood is the founder of Rush Films. Her most recent documentaries include ‘Under the Volcano’, which premiered at SXSW, and the observational documentary ‘Girl Like You’, which won both the AWGIE and Australian Screen Editors award. She is currently in production on the Stan Original documentary ‘Otto on Otto’, and her next feature documentary ‘Renee Gracie’ is moving into production in April 2023.
Cody is currently in development on her first scripted feature film ‘Birthright’ with director Zoe Pepper. The script was the recipient of Screenwest’s West Coast Visions $750,000 production grant, one of the most coveted production funding grants in Australia.
Cody began her career in London, before moving to LA to join production company The Masses, which was founded by the late Heath Ledger. At The Masses she production managed content for the Museum of Contemporary Art and developed TV projects for leading US Networks including MTV.
Emile Guertin Senior Producer ‘Witness’, Al Jazeera English (UK / KL)
Emile is an award-winning media professional originally from the UK. His career spans 18 years in international documentaries and non-fiction, starting as an editor, then moving into directing and later becoming a producer. Currently based out of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, he commissions and oversees films in the Asia-Pacific region for Al Jazeera’s ‘Witness’ documentary strand. He has an MA from the National Film & Television School in London and has lived and worked in Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam.
First Nations filmmaker, Dena Curtis, is a producer, writer and director. Throughout her career, Dena worked at National Indigenous Television as a Senior Editor and Promo Producer, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a Series Producer and Commissioning Editor.
Her directing credits include award-winning short films ‘Hush’, ‘Jacob’ and ‘Nan and a Whole Lot of Trouble’. Comedy series, ‘8MMM Aboriginal Radio’, documentary series, ‘Shadow Trackers’, ‘Colour Theory Underground’, Children’s Series, ‘Thalu’ and two episodes of ABC’s factual series ‘Back to Nature’. Most recently Dena directed a chapter of the anthology feature ‘We Are Still Here’ and feature length documentary ‘A League of Her Own’.
Her producing credits include Logie nominated Children’s Television Series, ‘Grace Beside Me’, Short Films ‘Walter’s Ghost’ and ‘Shed’ and documentaries ‘Ella’, ‘Shadow Trackers’ and ‘Belonging’. Dena co-produced ‘Firebite’ for See-Saw Films/AMC Network and is Producer of ABC’s First Nations Science Series ‘First Weapons’, which is set to reach tv screens mid-2023.
Lynette Wallworth has won two Emmy awards for her innovative VR and XR works. Wallworth’s works include the interactive video installation Evolution of Fearlessness; the DOMIE Award-winning full-dome feature Coral, the AACTA Award-winning documentary TENDER, the Emmy® Award-winning virtual reality narrative COLLISIONS and AWAVENA which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, was in competition at the Venice Film Festival 2018 and in September 2020 garnered Lynette her 2nd International Emmy® Award for Outstanding New Approaches in Documentary. Wallworth has been awarded a UNESCO City of Film Award, the Byron Kennedy Award for Innovation and Excellence, and in 2016 was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the year’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. Currently, she is an Artist in residence at ANU’s School of Cybernetics. She directed the New Narratives Lab for the World Economic Forum to generate opportunities for under-represented voices. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Metaverse Governance Working Group and she is a Trustee on the Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees.
Leah Harris EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, ORIGINAL CONTENT, SPOTIFY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (AUS)
Leah is the Executive Producer, Original Content for Australia and New Zealand at Spotify, and is focused on developing Original podcast content for the audio streaming platform.
Al Cossar is the Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Film Festival, where he has previously held roles of Programmer, Acting Artistic Director, and Associate Artistic Director. He was previously Festival Manager for Flickerfest, a Programmer and Board Member for the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, Program Director for the Portable Film Festival, has worked for ACMI within Public Programs, and was previously a broadcast film critic for ABC News Breakfast. He is permanently square-eyed, and happily so.
Yeesum Lo Head of Development, Paramount ANZ (AUS)
Yeesum joined Network 10 (now Paramount ANZ) in 2020 in the newly created role of Head of Development. In this role,Yeesum is responsible for identifying and developing locally produced Australian content across all channels and platforms including Network 10 and Paramount+.
A Hong Kong native,Yeesum Lo started her career in entertainment at NBC Universal in New York City and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Motion Picture Producing from the University of Southern California’s renowned Peter Stark Producing Program.
With a keen interest in global content, she was appointed Manager of Business Development for Endemol Shine Group in Los Angeles before transferring to Sydney in 2013. At Endemol Shine Australia,Yeesum was the Director of Digital, working across key global formats with a focus on creative content and commercial strategy.
In 2016,Yeesum was named as a B&T Magazine 30 Under 30 winner in the Media category.
Beth Atkinson-Quinton is an award-winning audio producer, broadcaster and co-founder of podcast network Broadwave. Alongside Madison Griffiths, they are the co-producer of ‘Tender: Roia Atmar’ (Broadwave), a six-part series that follows one woman’s story after she leaves an abusive relationship and slowly—but surely—gets to know herself again. Beth’s recent work includes podcasts ‘Bad Taste’ (SBS) and ‘Overwhelmed and Living’ (ABC). Currently, they are an Our Watch Fellow and a Supervising Producer at the ABC Audio Studios.
Alan Hicks FILMMAKER/CO-FOUNDER, FINCH NO WORRIES (AUS / USA)
Alan Hicks is a Grammy Award-Winning filmmaker based in Sydney and Los Angeles. After working as a musician in and around New York, Hicks transitioned to filmmaking, directing his first feature documentary ‘Keep On Keepin’ On’, winning both the Audience Award and Best New Director honors at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, before going onto being shortlisted for the Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature in 2015. In 2022, Hicks launched production company FINCH NO WORRIES which collaborates with filmmakers across the globe to produce creatively ambitious documentaries with a focus on the most iconic figures in music and popular culture. Most recently Hicks directed ‘My Sister Liv’ which premiered at Karlovy Vary and Doc NYC and is currently doing the international festival circuit.
Katy Roberts is a producer and production executive specialised in creative development and programming for global audiences. She spent seven years at global youth media company VICE where she spearheaded the setup and growth of VICE Australia and New Zealand’s production departments and programming slates, before being tapped to lead VICE’s development for Asia Pacific as their Head of Development. Roberts has since produced two documentaries for Al Jazeera’s WITNESS programme, HAKAMADA (2020), CAPTURING CHANGE (2021), and feature documentary, FIRE FRONT (2022), with director Eddie Martin (‘Have You Seen the Listers?’, ‘All This Mayhem’) for Carver Films. She also Co-Produced Sara Kern’s debut scripted feature, MOJA VESNA (2022), which had its world premiere at the 72nd Berlinale in February 2022. Both FIRE FRONT and MOJA VESNA premiered in Australia at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Roberts is currently working with Melbourne based production company Sweetshop & Green, and is co-producing feature documentary PRISONER X, in post production due for release in late 2023.
Charlie Phillips is the Head of Stories at Lyfta and a documentary film commissioner, programmer, producer, and consultant. Charlie commissions all short documentaries for Lyfta, an immersive learning platform for schools, featuring storyworlds including documentaries about inspiring real human story, carefully selected to spark curiosity, empathy and compassion. Charlie was previously the Head of Video at The Guardian, overseeing all moving image for the Guardian’s platforms, including its award-winning documentaries, which included the winner of the short documentary Oscar in 2021, and best short at the BAFTAs 2022. He was previously Deputy Director and EP Industry Participation at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and has led training programmes and mentored filmmakers all across the world.
Ruby Jones HOST & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, @7AMPODCAST (AUS)
Ruby Jones is an award-winning journalist and documentary host who has worked across Australia. Ruby was the host of the 2019 Walkley Award-nominated ABC podcast series Barrenjoey Road, with her book of the same name published in 2021. While working on the daily news podcast 7am, she has won two Australian Podcast Awards, and was nominated for a Public Service Journalism Walkley Award in 2022.
Ingrid Kopp is a co-founder of Electric South in South Africa, a non-profit organisation working with interdisciplinary artists across Africa to develop, produce and distribute immersive work. In this role, she produces and facilitates an annual residential lab, and is an executive producer on award winning VR projects, including ‘The Other Dakar’, ‘Le Lac’, ‘Azibuye – The Ocupation’, and ‘Container’. Along with MIT’s Open DocLab and Dot Connector Studio, she produces ‘Immerse’, a monthly publication on emerging nonfiction storytelling. She is co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Council on Virtual and Augmented Reality. Until 2020, Ingrid curated the Tribeca Storyscapes programme for interactive and immersive work at the Tribeca Film Festival. Before moving back to South Africa in 2015 Ingrid was director of the Interactive Department at the Tribeca Film Institute. She started her career at Channel 4 Television in the UK.