Meet our DocFest delegation
Ffilm Cymru and BFI NETWORK Wales are taking five emerging documentary filmmakers from Wales to Sheffield DocFest this month.
The delegates were selected from an open call on the basis of their outstanding creative work and their ambitions to progress to feature documentary filmmaking. They will be attending the full duration of the festival to meet industry and immerse themselves in the various programmes, benefiting from 121 support from Ffilm Cymru / BFI NETWORK Wales and DocFest.
The five filmmakers selected to go to Sheffield are:
Simon Clode
Simon is a Welsh writer, director and video designer with films broadcast on the BBC, screened in competition at BAFTA qualifying festivals, on national and international theatre stages and in contemporary art galleries; his work truly intercuts many disciplines. Isostasy, his latest short film, is currently in competition at festivals and available to watch on the BBC iPlayer, and was a finalist in two categories for the 2021 British Short Film Awards. He worked with Gentle/Radical on their 2021 Turner Prize entry and is currently in pre-production with several short documentaries and narrative films. He is the co-founder of Crowblack Films, a Cardiff & London based production company, and one of the directors selected for the BFI Network X BAFTA CREW 2021 programme.
Leanne Dimant
Leanne was born in Canada and lives and works in mid Wales. She is a filmmaker, writing and directing both documentaries and drama. The Wellcome Trust recently commissioned her to make a documentary about an artist inpatient at Bethlem Royal Hospital, exploring mental health and art therapy. She has created content for the British Red Cross, Glastonbury Festival and the V&A Museum, including an immersive art installation as part of the critically acclaimed ‘Records and Rebels’ Exhibition. She also records theatre for the V&A Museum’s Digital Archive. Leanne is currently working on two Welsh themed documentaries: one exploring the phenomenon of Wales and Elvis impersonators at the Porthcawl Elvis Festival, and the second follows an itinerant bookseller who specialises in Dylan Thomas, travelling around festivals in an ex-mobile library.
Ren Faulkner
Ren is a Welsh non-binary filmmaker, now working at On Par Productions after graduating from Arts University Bournemouth with a degree in Film Production. They are currently in the edit stage of their directorial debut on a short queer documentary, funded by Ffilm Cymru, BFI NETWORK Wales and BBC Cymru Wales through their Beacons scheme. They have credits on BBC productions such as Black and Welsh, Mothers, Missiles, and the American President, and Born Deaf, Raised Hearing. As well as working on music videos and live sessions for the likes of Cate Le Bon, Panic Shack, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, they are constantly developing new ideas for documentaries; namely LGBTQ, trans-centered, or music-based stories. They’re looking to build their career as a documentary self-shooter.
Mo Jannah
Mo is fast becoming an influencing force in the world of TV broadcasting. As a social philanthropist, with strong interests in producing authentic, diverse content, he has created a media footprint that is positioning him as ‘one to watch’ in the UK. Having made an impressive jump from working with young offenders and youth services, to a dynamic career in broadcast television, Mo has become a familiar face on, and behind the scenes of daytime TV programming in Wales. Starting his career in 2018, creating a self-entitled ob-doc called Mo’s World, aired on BBC 2, Mo has gone on to present a wide range of BBC documentaries and daytime shows. As an ‘ideas man’ the last few years has seen him play a key role in the development and production process of well-known formats for both national and regional broadcast.
Anna Winstone
Anna is a Welsh filmmaker and photographer raised on the Isle of Anglesey but now based in Cardiff. Working in the industry since 2018, Anna specialises in documentary and factual filmmaking, exploring what it is that makes us human through finding stories of love, loss, and survival. Working across both Welsh and English language productions, her work has been featured on Channel 4, BBC and S4C, with her short film and directional debut Rhiw Goch selected for the Iris Prize’s Best of British award.
Sheffield DocFest is the UK’s leading documentary festival and one of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects. They champion and present the breadth of documentary form – film, television, immersive and art – in the vibrant city of Sheffield each June. They offer makers and audiences a place for inspiration, debate, development, learning and challenge. Their programming represents our core values – creativity, empathy, freedom, inclusivity and internationalism.
Running from 23rd to 28th June, this year’s film programme features two films from Wales: Ffilm Cymru funded urb-ex documentary Off the Rails and Tomáš Kratochvíl’s European Romani documentary Pongo Calling from Welsh producer David Evans.