Anne Vierhout, a former coordinator of the IDFA Forum, was born and raised in the Netherlands. After completing a Masters degree in Film and Television, Anne was contracted by International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). In her capacity as producer she was engaged to coordinate the IDFA Forum – one of the most important European documentary pitching events for the co-financing of documentaries. As part of her role as coordinator, Anne also organised IDFAcademy, a twice yearly intensive educational program aimed at film students and emerging filmmakers. Through these dual roles, Anne has developed an unparalleled working knowledge of the international documentary industry and the European broadcast financing system. In 2010 Anne relocated to Australia, where she works as a consultant and event manager for the documentary industry.

James Franklin, Creative Director of Pixeco, started working with the web in 1995, a time when Netscape ruled, the Microsoft site was run by volunteers and the animated GIF was yet to emerge. Since then he’s worked in the digital and interactive industry as an art director and producer for a number of marketing and digital agencies. In 2004, James started Pixeco, a digital design studio dedicated to providing design and digital tools to filmmakers, covering the development of interactive web tools such as community and campaign websites, widgets and social media strategy, as well as key image and poster design. A boutique operation with a seven strong team based in Shoreditch (London) and Auckland (New Zealand), Pixeco has now been involved with about 130 films, designing 75 of them. The company also created Moviesparx, a set of digital tools that allow filmmakers to define, find and engage with audience and then develop ways to create revenue from that audience.

Leon Coningham, General Manager of Sales and Distribution at ABC Commercial, is responsible for the ABC’s DVD, Merchandise, Events, International Sales, Non-Theatric and Stock Footage sales businesses, which turn over around $50 million per annum. Leon was previously Managing Director and Executive Chairman at Magna Pacific, which he built into one of the largest and most profitable independent distributors in the territory. Documentary distribution has formed a core part of both the ABC’s and Magna Pacific’s distribution. ABC DVD is one of the leading home-entertainment labels in the territory and is the market leader in the children’s segment. It is also a major player in the TV and documentary segments of the market.  ABC DVD, in partnership with Roadshow Entertainment, distributes the BBC Catalogue. ABC International Sales sells a large range of programs, including TV series and documentaries, to the international TV and entertainment markets.  ABC Library Sales licences footage from the vast ABC film archive to filmmakers (primarily factual) in Australia and around the world.

Kym Druitt, General Manager & Publicity Director at eckfactor, works with leading production companies and broadcasters, publicising a range of programming including current affairs, comedy and documentary. Kym has 20 years’ experience in television, radio, film and book publicity. Her extensive experience in the film industry includes roles at ABC Television, Film Australia, Southern Star and Dendy Films. Kym has attended the international sales markets MIPTV and MIPCOM and the Cannes Film Festival in publicity and sales roles and has worked on the publicity campaigns for scores of documentaries, including Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler? (Peter Butt) and Unfolding Florence (Gillian Armstrong). Since joining eckfactor in 2007, Kym has worked on projects including Who Do You Think You Are?, Food Safari and Newstopia. She also handles publicity for subscription television arts channel STVDIO.

Jackson Pellow, Marketing Executive at Screen Australia, has developed marketing and release strategies for more than 60 Australian documentaries and factual websites. He was Promotions Manager at Film Australia (now Screen Australia) where he oversaw campaigns for high-profile and award-winning documentaries including Captain Cook – Obsession and Discovery, Mawson – Life and Death in Antarctica, Rare Chicken Rescue, The Prime Minister is Missing, Rogue Nation, Life at 3, Darwin’s Brave New World and Bombora – The Story of Australian Surfing. At Film Australia he launched marketing campaigns for MobiDocs – a series of mobile phone documentaries with Telstra BigPond and the cross-platform social-change initiative Change the World in 5 Minutes with SBS. Prior to this, he worked at the Australian Film Commission launching the Film Festival Profiles resource, and as a journalist and editor at Inside Film magazine.