About Folkestone Documentary Festival

Charlie is a documentary film producer, commissioner, programmer, and consultant. He works with documentary makers from all across the world as producer and consultant on creative and financing strategies. As Head of Stories, he commissions all short documentaries for Lyfta, an immersive learning platform for schools, featuring storyworlds including documentaries about inspiring real human stories. Charlie was previously the Head of Video at The Guardian, overseeing all moving image for the Guardian's platforms, including its award-winning documentaries.

James has a wide range of documentary experience which includes producing with Violet Pictures, programming (Folkestone Doc Club, Harbour Screen), film education (Screen South, South East Creatives, Kent Film Foundation) and cinema distribution. He is now based in Melbourne, Australia and programming for the St Kilda Film Festival.

Cheryl Pierce is an arts manager with over thirty years’ experience of managing venues and producing projects across disciplines. Based in Folkestone, she is Development Director for Moving Memory Dance Theatre, strategic consultant for Confidance, and Producer for Take Up Space and Folkestone Documentary Festival. Previously, Cheryl was Head of Performing Arts & Learning for Creative Folkestone, Creative Producer Theatre & Dance at ICIA, University of Bath, and worked for ten years as an Artists’ Producer for Artsadmin. She worked as General Manager for Chisenhale Dance Space and was Administrator then Deputy Director at the Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton.

Lisa worked on the festival from its founding until the 2023 edition. She is a graduate of NYU Film School. She has worked in the performing arts in Special Events Fundraising with The Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Ballet Theatre, and more recently The Henley Festival and The Henley International Film Festival. She has experience in creating, implementing, and managing patron and membership-based funding streams based around events.

Jess was a programmer for Folkestone Documentary Festival in 2023, working with the team to pull together a brilliant set of documentaries. She's also the Acquisitions/Sales Manager at Together Films.