Board & Leadership Team
Find out about the DFC’s Board of Trustees, Leadership Team and Founder Members. The Board was elected by DFC members in spring 2024, and is the first ever elected board of representatives for UK documentary film.
The next DFC election will take place in spring 2026. Interested? Join our mailing list to keep up-to-date and join the DFC to vote and/or stand for election yourself.
Olu is a neurodivergent filmmaker with extensive experience in film, TV, theatre, and fashion. Her journey into the creative industry was markedly unconventional, overcoming significant barriers as a care leaver who spent years houseless. Olu takes pride in her unorthodox entry, believing it reflects the experiences of many from similar backgrounds. She also hopes her journey serves as a point of connection to others facing similar challenges and wanting to enter the industry.
Olu has directed films, shoots, and shows for clients such as Christian Blanken, Ada Zanditon for London Fashion Week, ID Magazine, Vogue Online, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Fashion TV, Pants to Poverty, and the International Organisation for Migration. Her theatre work includes writing and directing projects featured at the Young Vic, Old Vic Labs, Royal Shakespeare Company Dell, Bunker Theatre, Bernie Grants Arts Centre, Tristan Bates Theatre, and Criterion Theatre.
Despite her previous experience, Olu sees herself as an emerging filmmaker. In 2023, Olu founded Ikenga Creative Lab to consolidate her diverse work experiences, and independently create and develop her projects. Olu is committed to producing impactful work, amplifying diverse voices, celebrating cultural heritage and exploring innovative approaches to storytelling. Her current work revolves around a series of short documentaries exploring the experiences of different communities, emphasizing the dual role of these communities as both audiences and storytellers.
She is also an Associate Artist at B3 Media.
Sandhiya Sophie Argent is one of the founding members of Creators Counsel. She has worked in Ofcom’s Content Standards Team and as a programme lawyer in the award-winning Channel 4 Legal and Compliance Department. Sophie was also Senior Compliance Lawyer at ITN, where she advised on live news and continues to support Channel 4 News as a consultant.
She now advises, primarily, production companies on both scripted and unscripted content broadcast in the UK and internationally. Sophie’s advice ranges from viewings for legal and Ofcom compliance issues, script reviews and clearance advice, to drafting protocols covering legal, ethical and welfare considerations, hostile environment filming and Errors & Omissions insurance.
Sophie has spoken at conferences, in the UK and abroad, about journalist safety and free expression, and is regularly requested to train journalists and programme makers on media law. Sophie is also a trustee for the Rory Peck Trust and is engaged in issues that affect freelance journalists in particular.
Sophie was recently awarded an LLM in Human Rights, Conflict and Justice at SOAS and enjoys applying her developing knowledge in this field to programmes covering human rights abuses and international affairs more broadly.
Julian Carrington is the Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), representing over 1500 independent documentary creators across six regional chapters. Julian leads the organization’s advocacy and research initiatives, which seek to promote an equitable, sustainable environment for documentary production and to strengthen the sector within the broader cultural industry.
Previously, Julian served as the Managing Director of the Racial Equity Media Collective and as a Senior Industry Manager at Hot Docs. In the latter capacity, he administered Hot Docs’ portfolio of production funds, providing grants to Canadian and international projects, including Cutting Through Rocks, a 2026 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature. Julian also oversaw the festival’s distribution marketplace. In addition, he is the founder of For Viola, the Hot Docs Cinema’s community screening series, named in honour of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond.
Prior to joining Hot Docs, Julian programmed for the Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival, was an Associate Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival, and a Distribution Consultant with the Documentary Organization of Canada.
Mandy is a Filmmaker, Executive Producer and Creative Director of Undeniable Productions – the company she founded and has taken from Fremantle. At Undeniable she was involved with a number of feature documentaries like Devo, Buckley, Whatever it Takes, Two Strangers: Trying not to Kill Eachother, Mrs America, Ultra, Kingdom of Dreams and many more, working with the world’s best filmmakers, whilst also nurturing new talent.
Before this she was responsible for setting up Fremantle’s documentary strand, overseeing 19 production companies around the globe. Her experience in and approach to documentaries is one of deep commitment and passion.
For 4 years, Mandy was Head of Storyville – the BBC’s renowned international documentary strand, responsible for critically acclaimed documentary features and series like Collective, Welcome to Chechnya, The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea, Writing with Fire, Misha and the Wolves, The Mole Agent, The Fourth Estate and Corridors of Power. At Storyville she extended the strand’s breadth and diversity, taking risks and supporting upcoming talent globally.
She began her career as an award-winning filmmaker, known for provocative, thought-provoking films like The Mona Lisa Curse and The Camera that Changed the World.
Mandy was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the DFC in March 2026 and took over from Joint Acting CEOs, Emily Copley and Steve Presence. As CEO, Mandy holds a de facto position on the Board of Trustees.
With years of experience in narrative and documentary production in France, Flore joined the core team at Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) in 2010 to manage the Institute’s various training initiatives and industry events, including the Edinburgh Pitch and the short documentary training programme Bridging the Gap. Flore was appointed Managing Director of SDI in September 2022.
Since moving to Scotland, she has also produced short and mid-length docs, as well as the feature documentary Freedom Fields, directed by Naziha Arebi, which premiered at TIFF in 2018. Flore is on the board of the international lab for creative documentary production EURODOC, and a regular consultant for documentary organisations internationally.
Jessi Gutch is a BIFA nominated writer, award winning director and BAFTA Elevate / BFI Insight producer. Living with incurable ovarian cancer, she proudly identifies as a disabled filmmaker. She is passionate about the intersection between fact and fiction and her slate of short films have screened at BAFTA qualifying festivals. Until The Tide Creeps In was a double award winner at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2022 – taking home both Best Documentary and Best of Festival. Blind As A Beat also won the Best Experimental Film award at the Women Over 50 Film Festival 2022. Her debut documentary feature, Blue Has No Borders, is due for release in early 2025 – produced by Tigerlily and I Am Charlie.
Zara Meerza is an Emmy Award-winning British-Indian Writer, Programmer and Consultant who has made films and TV for HBO, BBC, Sky Arts, YouTube, VICE, and Condé Nast. She was a writer on financial drama Industry, Director of Film Acquisitions at VICE, a programmer at Camden, and also writes for magazines like The Fence, Documentary, Lit Hub, and more.
The proud daughter of a refugee and an immigrant, her global perspective informs everything she makes — from news to prestige drama to her best-selling Substack, Documentary Minus.
Founder of Doc Hearts, Andy Mundy-Castle is known for producing high end content that authentically represents diverse communities with immediacy, sophistication and scale. With over 15 years of experience in the industry. Ex BBC staff Mundy-Castle is the owner and creator of the formats Go Green With The Grimwades, Multi award nominated Reu & Harpers Wonderworld, The Black Lesbian Handbook, Britains Abandoned Playgrounds and the standout MIPCOM hit show What Did I Do Last Night?
From the award winning Lenny Henry The Commonwealth Kid (BBC1), the critically acclaimed White Nanny Black Child (BFI / Channel 5), Jimmy Akingbola Handle With Care (Peacock / ITV), Charlene White Empires Child (ITV), to the critically acclaimed The Fade (Netflix), and the RTS / BAFTA nominated Battyman (C4), Mundy-Castle’s work has been regarded highly as work that documents diverse experience with depth and style.
Steve Presence is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Bristol. Outside of his teaching, Steve’s research focuses on the film and television industries and activist film culture, with a particular focus on documentary.
He has published widely in these fields in various books, reports and peer-reviewed journals and has led several large UKRI-funded research grants as Principal Investigator. From 2018-2021, as part of the UK Feature Docs project, he facilitated the policy-focused consultations from which the DFC emerged and co-authored the two reports on its findings, Keeping it Real (2020) and Making it Real (2021). Other publications include Go West 2! Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2022) and Contemporary Radical Film Culture: Networks, Organisations and Activists (2020).
With Emily Copley, Steve held the position of Joint Acting CEO of the DFC until appointing Mandy Chang in March 2026. He now acts as a voluntary Consultant and became a DFC Trustee in July 2026, after being co-opted by the Board.
Jerry Rothwell is a BAFTA nominated filmmaker whose work includes the award-winning feature documentaries: The Reason I Jump, How To Change The World, Sour Grapes (co-directed with Reuben Atlas), Town of Runners, Donor Unknown, School In The Cloud, Heavy Load and Deep Water (co-directed with Louise Osmond). His work has won numerous accolades including three Grierson Awards, a Sundance Audience Award and Special Jury Prize, two British Independent Film awards, the IDA Pare Lorentz Award and two BAFTA nominations.
His latest series, The Enfield Poltergeist, for Apple TV+, reimagines the most famous poltergeist event of the 20th century through re-enactments of the 200 hours of tape recordings made in the house and the testimony of those who were there. The series was described by Indiewire as “a chilling cross between documentary and horror” and by TVInsider as “genre-defying”. Die Welt commented that “a documentary like [this] … has never existed before.”
Sandra Whipham joined Doc Society as a Director in January 2012 and works across all areas of the organisation’s work, with a particular focus on the UK. She oversees the BFI Doc Society Fund, which comprises a features fund, the Made of Truth shorts fund for new and emerging filmmakers, and a talent support programme all enabled by the National Lottery. Previously, Sandra established London Fields Pictures Ltd where she produced and executive produced a range of documentary film and television including multi award-winning Enemies of the People (dir. Thet Sambath/Rob Lemkin). From 2007 – 9 Sandra was Editor, More 4, and commissioned the True Stories international documentary strand.
Mandy Chang
Chief Executive Officer
Mandy is a Filmmaker, Executive Producer and Creative Director of Undeniable Productions – the company she founded and has taken from Fremantle. At Undeniable she was involved with a number of feature documentaries like Devo, Buckley, Whatever it Takes, Two Strangers: Trying not to Kill Eachother, Mrs America, Ultra, Kingdom of Dreams and many more, working with the world’s best filmmakers, whilst also nurturing new talent.
Before this she was responsible for setting up Fremantle’s documentary strand, overseeing 19 production companies around the globe. Her experience in and approach to documentaries is one of deep commitment and passion.
For 4 years, Mandy was Head of Storyville – the BBC’s renowned international documentary strand, responsible for critically acclaimed documentary features and series like Collective, Welcome to Chechnya, The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea, Writing with Fire, Misha and the Wolves, The Mole Agent, The Fourth Estate and Corridors of Power. At Storyville she extended the strand’s breadth and diversity, taking risks and supporting upcoming talent globally.
She began her career as an award-winning filmmaker, known for provocative, thought-provoking films like The Mona Lisa Curse and The Camera that Changed the World.
Mandy was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the DFC in March 2026 and took over from Joint Acting CEOs, Emily Copley and Steve Presence.
Consultant
Emily joined the Documentary Film Council in February 2023 to project manage the launch of the organisation. Alongside Steve Presence, she held the space of Joint Acting CEO until appointing Mandy Chang in March 2026. Emily now acts as a freelance Consultant and continues to work alongside the team on a voluntary basis.
Alongside her role at the DFC, Emily is an Independent Producer and a 2025 Sundance Institute Grantee working on her debut feature documentary. She is also the Programmer and Senior Producer of Talks and Sessions at Sheffield DocFest.
Emily works regularly as a Consultant and Pre-selector for festivals and funds, and prior to joining the DFC, she produced the annual documentary funding awards at The Whickers, a UK-based international fund for emerging directors. Prior to that Emily was Film Release Manager at Journeyman Pictures, and Production Manager at DocHouse, where she was part of the small team that opened the UK’s first documentary dedicated cinema, Bertha DocHouse.
Dr Steve Presence
Consultant
Steve Presence is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Bristol. Outside of his teaching, Steve’s research focuses on the film and television industries and activist film culture, with a particular focus on documentary.
He has published widely in these fields in various books, reports and peer-reviewed journals and has led several large UKRI-funded research grants as Principal Investigator. From 2018-2021, as part of the UK Feature Docs project, he facilitated the policy-focused consultations from which the DFC emerged and co-authored the two reports on its findings, Keeping it Real (2020) and Making it Real (2021). Other publications include Go West 2! Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2022) and Contemporary Radical Film Culture: Networks, Organisations and Activists (2020).
With Emily Copley, Steve held the position of Joint Acting CEO of the DFC until appointing Mandy Chang in March 2026. He now acts as a voluntary Consultant and became a DFC Trustee in July 2026, after being co-opted by the Board.
Rebecca is a qualified psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and freelance documentary producer. She founded Film In Mind, a therapy service for filmmakers, in 2018 to address mental health in the film industry. She combines her therapeutic skills with over a decade of documentary production experience to offer consultancies, workshops and therapeutic support to filmmakers working in difficult situations and with vulnerable people. She is also a co-founder of DocuMentality, an international initiative designed to elevate the conversation around mental health in the documentary community. She has been a guest speaker and mentor on panels and at workshops with organisations such as IDFA, Berlinale, International Documentary Association, Video Consortium, WIFTV and Sheffield DocFest.
LINDSEY DRYDEN is an Emmy® award-winning film producer, director and writer based in Austin TX and the UK. She produced Sundance Special Jury Award-winning Unrest (2017, PBS/Netflix), produced Emmy®-winning Trans in America (2018, ACLU/CondeNast them) and executive produced Ahead of the Curve (2020, Starz). She directed Lost and Sound (2012, SXSW), Jackie Kay: One Person, Two Names (2017, Tate Queer British Art), and Close Your Eyes and Look at Me (2009, True/False). She is a co-founder of FWD-Doc: Filmmakers with Disabilities, a proud member of QueerDoc, a 2022 Sundance Institute Documentary Producers Lab Fellow, a BFI Vision Awardee 2020, and a full voting member of the film and TV chapter of BAFTA. She founded Little By Little Films, which specialises in brilliant storytelling by LGBTQ+, women’s and D/deaf and disabled voices.
Christopher Hird is the founder of Dartmouth Films, producers and distributors of independent documentaries. He has previously been the chair of Sheffield DocFest, a trustee of the Grierson Trust and One World Media and the founding chair of Doc Society.
Steve Presence is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Bristol. Outside of his teaching, Steve’s research focuses on the film and television industries and activist film culture, with a particular focus on documentary.
He has published widely in these fields in various books, reports and peer-reviewed journals and has led several large UKRI-funded research grants as Principal Investigator. From 2018-2021, as part of the UK Feature Docs project, he facilitated the policy-focused consultations from which the DFC emerged and co-authored the two reports on its findings, Keeping it Real (2020) and Making it Real (2021). Other publications include Go West 2! Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2022) and Contemporary Radical Film Culture: Networks, Organisations and Activists (2020).
With Emily Copley, Steve held the position of Joint Acting CEO of the DFC until appointing Mandy Chang in March 2026. He now acts as a voluntary Consultant and became a DFC Trustee in July 2026, after being co-opted by the Board.
