The Future Looks Short

On 15 November 2016, we hosted an afternoon of discussion on short documentary for online distribution. Guest speakers included top industry experts – social media and short-form gatekeepers, digital news editors and festival programmers – who shared ideas on how to make short docs go large in terms of audience and impact.

The day featured three different sessions, kicked off by an in-depth discussion with British-Iranian journalist and filmmaker Benjamin Zand, and One World Media trustee Derren Lawford. Then followed a panel discussion titled ‘Make Your Shorts Go Large, moderated by Bertha DocHouse producer Jenny Horwell, and featuring Jordan McGarry, Film London’s Head of Talent Development & Production; Brendan Miller, digital and TV producer with a background in online video and social media; Fred Grace, half of the award-winning documentary film partnership ‘Fat Rat Films’; and Kat Hayes, multimedia producer for Channel 4 News, specialising in short-form edits. The third session of the day gave participants the chance to hear from three top online documentary gatekeepers, including Nasfim Haque, experienced producer and current Deputy Editor of BBC Three; Liz Mermin, Head of Visual at the Thomson Reuters Foundation; and Claudine Spera, Producer at Guardian Global development.

Date: Tue 15 November 2016