TUTORS

Journalist, storyteller and TV executive Jane Mote is a champion for the power and accessibility of documentary. She is Consultant Editor for documentary funding foundation The Whickers nurturing and supporting audio and film documentary-makers who share a curiosity for the world. She was tutor for a BFI short documentary course and has worked as a story lab mentor for Docs By the Sea and Asian Network of Documentary (AND). She frequently mentors and supports documentary makers from across the world.
Previously, Jane was UK MD of Al Gore’s documentary channel Current commissioning and executive producing feature and TV-length documentaries and ran six factual and lifestyle TV channels for UKTV commissioning programming across genres.
Apart from working in management at Discovery, Turner Broadcasting, BBC Worldwide, STV, ESi media and the Africa channel, Jane has also worked for sixteen years in the BBC creating and running BBC London across News and Current Affairs.
Currently she is also the director of the media production and consultancy company Beechtobeach based in West Sussex, England.

Karolina Lidin is a documentary consultant with 25+ years of experience on international documentary scene, primarily engaged at Nordisk Fil & TV Fond as Documentary Advisor and at Sheffield Doc/Fest as Executive Producer, Marketplace & Talent. In addition, Karolina Lidin is continuously involved in mentoring/training schemes, developing projects with international potential, lately with DocsPort Incheon, Docs by the Sea, DocEdge Kolkata and Dhaka Doclab. Karolina has previous experience as producer, film commissioner, distributor. She has worked as the CEO of Nordisk Panorama and Nordisk Forum. In addition to her role as festival jury, panel-selection committee participation, and tutoring worldwide, Karolina’s activies also include moderating the IDFA FORUM and numerous other film festivals and market events.

Boris Mitić (b. 1977) is a Serbian film director, scriptwriter, and producer known for his satirical approach and “creative documentaries.” His films In Praise of Nothing (2017), Goodbye, How Are You? (2009), Unmik Titanik (2004), and Pretty Dyana (2003) have been showed around the world and presented in more than 150 festivals. His most recent film, In Praise of Nothing was screened at Locarno Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, El Gouna Film Festival, Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Geneva, MOMENTA Biennale de l’Image, Montreal, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Faena Art Center, Miami Beach, Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires.
Boris Mitić is a filmmaker known for the satirical and critical tone of his films. In Praise of Nothing is a humorous video essay based on questions relating to the dramatic framework, on the one hand: “if Nothing could speak, what would it tell us?” and on the other hand, to the cinematic aesthetics: “how can you show Nothing in a documentary manner?” Inviting dozens of cinematographers to participate in this fictionalized portrait of Nothing, Boris Mitić takes us on a global journey in which Nothing comments on the state of humanity from its unique point of view. The mosaic-style editing brings various images on the subject to complement and enrich one another to excess, up to the moment when, paradoxically, Nothing encompasses everything.

Margje de Koning, after finishing her studies, made various kinds of documentaries for many different broadcasting companies for nearly 12 years. In 2004, she became a part-time teacher of Culture & Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam (Dept. of Film & Television). In August 2004, she became Commissioning Editor for a documentary slot of 52’ docs, producing and co-producing creative single documentaries on contemporary social, social-cultural and moral issues with a strong human interest angle. Margje had been responsible for the Television Department of IKON since January 2005 and in January 2012 she became Head of TV, Radio and New Media programming at IKON. She is now working as Artistic Director of Movies that Matter festival of Netherlands.

Heejung Oh started producing feature documentaries in 2016 and has been working with strong talents. She has expertise in theatrical distribution as well as international co-production. Her first feature documentary For Vagina’s Sake(2018) has won many awards in Korea, and other titles such as The Plan(2017), Intention(2018) had big box office successes. The latest title, Pearl of the Desert(2019) is selected for the feature-length competition at IDFA. She also produced video art installations at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. She is dedicated to challenging the form of cinema and exploring various platforms to meet international audiences.

Emmanuel Moon-chil Park is a documentary filmmaker based in South Korea. His work has been screened at Hot Docs, Jeonju International Film Festival, DMZ Documentary Film Festival, and have won awards such as Best Documentary Prize (JIFF), Beautiful New Docs Award (DMZ Docs), and multiple Audience awards, among others. His films deal with issues of migration, identity, minority rights, and peacebuilding in the Korean peninsula.
My Place (2013)
Blue Butterfly Effect (2017)
Queer053 (2019)
Comfort (2020)

Ryota Kotani has worked with the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) as director of documentaries and news operations, since 1986. He has produced, co-produced and executive produced some of the finest documentary films in Asia and beyond, over the last three decades.
His filmography includes, but is not limited to ‘European Picnic Plan against Iron Curtain’ (1993); ‘Why Democracy’ (2007); ‘Series of Indian short stories’ (2007 & 2008)’; ‘New Chinese’ including ‘Spiral stairs’ (award in Yamagata), ‘Japan; Love and Hate’ by Sean McAlister (2009) (award in Yamagata); ‘Queen and I’ (2009), ‘A Normal Life: Chronicale of a Sumo Wrestler’ by Jill Coulon; ‘Bom’ by Amlan Datta (2011), ‘Things Left Behind’ by Linda Hoaglund and ‘The Keriya, the last catcher in desert’ (2016) with Beijing TV in China. Recently he is also working for 8K-TV with Indian Filmmaker Tamal Chakraborty.

Nilotpal Majumdar is the Founder President of Documentary Resource Initiative that organizes Docedge Kolkata, an Asian documentary Project pitching forum that is engaged with filmmakers for intensive incubation, mentoring and international co-production opportunities. A postgraduate from the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, he has received a National Award in 1997 for his film Dhatu Jhar. He is a frequent jury member and a tutor-mentor at the international documentary film festivals and incubation-cum-pitching sessions. Presently, he is the Director of the Manipur State Film & Television Institute, Imphal.