About Folkestone Documentary Festival

Charlie is a documentary film producer working with filmmakers from all across the world. His most recent feature documentaries are Blue Has No Borders and Our Land (both Sheffield DocFest 2025) and All Rivers Spill Their Stories To The Sea (CPH Dox 2026).  He also produced the Augmented Reality folk documentary-style fiction walking experience and exhibition The Folkestone Elephant in 2025. Previously Head of Video at The Guardian, overseeing all moving image for the Guardian's platforms, including its award-winning documentaries, which included the winner of the short documentary Oscar in 2021, and best short at the BAFTAs 2022. Also currently Programme Director for the Documentary Association of Europe.

James has extensive documentary experience, including producing and cinema distribution through his company, Violet Pictures (Hoop Dreams, Burden of Dreams, Beyond Biba, and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project). He has worked across film programming for Folkestone Doc Club, Folkestone Harbour Screen and St Kilda Film Festival (Australia). He has 15 years of experience in programming and audience development, championing emerging talent with UCL, Open City Docs, Screen South, South East Creatives and Kent Film Foundation.

Cheryl 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, a 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.

Ciaran is the founder of Lost Signal Cinema Club, a Folkestone-based community cinema focused on cult, weird and underseen films and documentaries. With a background in artist film, he has screened his own work at various festivals such as Open City Docs and the London Short Film Festival, along with creating a commissioned short for Channel 4’s Random Acts. For the last two years, Ciaran has also worked as an events lead and programmer for the Peckham & Nunhead Free Film Festival.

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.