Opal H. Bennett Senior Producer, POV / Executive Producer, POV Shorts, American Documentary, Inc. (USA)
Opal H. Bennett is an Emmy-winning senior producer at POV and executive producer at POV Shorts. Under her leadership, POV Shorts broadcast the 2021 NewsDoc Emmy Winner for Short Documentary, The Love Bugs. Previously, Opal was Shorts Programmer and Director of Artist Development at DOCNYC and Senior Programmer at Athena Film Festival. She has also worked with Nantucket Film Festival, Aspen ShortsFest and Tribeca Film Festival. Opal is a member of the AMPAS Documentary branch and is a board member of the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC). She has participated on various festival juries and selection committees for film grants. A Columbia Law grad, Opal holds a Masters from the LSE and received her B.A. from NYU.
Christine Kecher Senior Commissioning Editor, Op-Docs, The New York Times (USA)
Christine Kecher is the senior commissioning editor for Op-Docs, The New York Times’ series of short documentaries by independent filmmakers. Recent Op-Docs include 2022 IDFA winner Away, 2022 Oscar® winner The Queen of Basketball, 2021 Oscar® nominee A Concerto Is a Conversation, and Sundance 2021 award winner Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma. Prior to joining Op-Docs, she worked for A&E IndieFilms on features and shorts including Carol Dysinger’s Oscar-winning Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl), Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land, Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev, Roger Ross Williams’ Life, Animated, and many more.
Sarah Lash Senior Director Acquisitions, Condé Nast Entertainment (USA)
Sarah Lash is the Senior Director, Acquisitions at Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE), responsible for acquiring premium content for the company’s network of digital channels, including Glamour, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and WIRED. Lash started at CNE in 2014 as a consultant, helping to shepherd the acquisition of dozens of short films and series for digital distribution. Prior to joining CNE, Lash was Senior Vice President of Sales and Acquisitions for ATO Pictures where she executive produced the release of TERRI, negotiated deals for all acquisitions, and oversaw ancillary sales. In 2009, Lash produced the No Borders co-production market, organized by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP). Prior to that, she was the Head of Domestic Sales for Cinetic Media where she was instrumental in the sales of various titles for the Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and Toronto film festivals. Lash has also served as an agent at ICM, as Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at IFC, and as Director of Acquisitions at Lionsgate. Lash has a BA in English and Philosophy from Colgate University.
Hollie Fifer Director of Australian Programs, Doc Society (AUS)
As a documentary filmmaker, Hollie’s films have screened at festivals and broadcasted within Australia and internationally. The Opposition is Hollie’s debut feature documentary produced by Media Stockade that world premiered at Hot Docs and IDFA in 2016 before winning the Grand Prize at FIFO, screening at the UN Human Rights Council, winning Best Documentary Feature at the Oz Flix Independent Film Awards and screening in over 35 countries. Hollie’s latest short film Unbalanced recently premiered on Australian newspapers The Age/Sydney Morning Herald’s Vox Dox series. Hollie serves on the Board of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) and the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA).
Mia Falstein-Rush Program Manager, Melbourne International Film Festival (Australia)
Mia Falstein-Rush is a film programmer, talks curator, and event producer who currently lives and works on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). Immersed in the Australian film scene for over a decade, she spearheaded Seen & Heard Melbourne at ACMI, a film festival dedicated to screening the works of women and non-binary filmmakers. Mia has since lent her programming and production experience to other film organisations across the east coast of Australia, such as Sydney Film Festival, the Human Rights and Arts Film Festival, and Stranger With My Face International Film Festival. Currently appointed Program Manager for the Melbourne International Film Festival, Mia co-leads the short film and Extended Reality programming.
Louise Cocks Investment & Development Manager - Online, Screen Australia (Australia)
Louise is an Investment and Development Manager at Screen Australia in the Online Department. She joined the Online team in 2019 having previously worked as a Film Programmer for Village Cinemas Australia and as a creator/actor in web series, theatre shows and more. Her role includes managing development, production and completion funding for multiple online projects across YouTube, Facebook, ABC iView, SBS OnDemand, as well as VR projects. Series she has managed have been selected for SXSW (Austin and Sydney) and CanneSeries. She has worked across initiatives with partners such as SBS, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, this includes but is not limited to Digital Originals, Every Voice and Skip Ahead. Louise is passionate about supporting writers, producers, and other creators to get their start in the industry and to produce work which resonates with an international audience. She loves everything about film, television and all things screen and is most at home in the dark auditorium of a cinema eating popcorn.
Cieron Cody Investment & Development Manager - Documentary, Screen Australia (Australia)
Cieron is a development/production executive with experience overseeing slates across feature film, documentary, broadcast drama, children’s content, innovation, games and VR. His experience encompasses a breadth of development/production programs as well as initiatives designed to advance concepts, elevate talent, build business and meet audience’s needs. In 2017 Cieron departed Screen Queensland as Vice President of Development and Production supporting the creative and commercial outcomes of a diverse range of content. Cieron has supported a range of award-winning productions with some of Australia’s and the world’s most recognised market players and talent. After several years as Commissioning Editor with SBS/National Indigenous Television, Cieron has joined Screen Australia as Development and Investment Manager – Documentary.
Chloe Cassidy joined the ABC’s Factual team in 2021 as Executive Producer – Development, managing the Factual development slate. During this time she has been involved in the development of numerous programs including Magda’s Big National Health Check, Miriam Margolyes Australia Unmasked, New Leash on Life, Australia’s Wild Odyssey, Stuff the British Stole, Better Date Than Never, War on Waste and Queerstralia. Prior to joining the ABC she spent over a decade as Executive Producer for The Walt Disney Company Australia New Zealand’s inhouse production department. In this role she oversaw the development, commissioning and production of Disney’s original local programming for Disney+ and Disney Channels along with Disney AUNZ’s digital and social platforms. She previously worked as a documentary producer at Network Ten where she produced several award winning and impactful documentaries for the Network.
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.
Jess Langley Senior Producer, Truce Films (Australia)
Jess is a producer with over 10 years experience in the film industry. Formerly EP at Vice Australia, Jess oversaw development and production of editorial and commercial short form projects, including Fire Country, How Mullets Saved a Town and Searching For the Tassie Tiger. In 2021 Jess joined leading creative agency Clemenger BBDO to build out the in-house production capability, bringing on a small team of content creators. The team produced a range of quality content for some of the agency’s biggest clients. Jess has produced short films that have screened at festivals around the world, award-winning music videos, short form documentaries, podcasts and TVCs. Now Senior Producer at Truce Films, Jess works with the roster of directors on commercial projects.