The 2019 FOCUS programme features a record number of keynotes, panels, masterclasses, workshops and presentations and remains completely free to attend for delegates. 70+ sessions featuring 200+ speakers from film, TV, advertising, animation and games are on offer over the two days 3rd and 4th December.
The over-arching theme of this year’s FOCUS is “Forces of Change – What’s next?”, looking at the impact of change on what we already know and also the potential impact of the changes we know are coming.
George Amponsah is a multiple award winning film maker who first started taking pictures in the 1980s as a photographer and Super 8mm film enthusiast. He is joined by Director Dionne Walker.
Dionne is BAFTA and BIFA nominated filmmaker. Her last theatrically released project, as writer- lead producer, was the critically acclaimed feature-length documentary The Hard Stop (2015). From early stages she perceived the subject crucial for independent cinema and secured funding from Bertha Foundation, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, British Film Institute and Doc Society. Dionne has also been involved with a number of documentary projects including The Fighting Spirit (2007), Black Voters Speak (2010) and The Cold Spell Last Winter (2018). She has been taking photographs and curating debate series for over 20 years.
George’s most recent feature length documentary- The Hard Stop unpeels the true story behind the UK riots of 2011 following the death of Mark Duggan who was shot and killed whilst being arrested in a ‘hard stop’ procedure by armed police. This incident ignited a riot that escalated into a week of the worst civil unrest in recent British history.
George was one of the first filmmakers to produce work for the Guardian Newspaper’s ground breaking website and has since made many online films for the Guardian’s £2.5 million fundraising initiative in Uganda: The Katine Project
George is a graduate of The UK’s prestigious National Film and Television School where he won a Post-Office Scholarship to attend the documentary directing course. He now regularly works as a tutor at the National Film & Television School and The Met Film School and has recently been a tutor at Docubox, a film academy set up for aspiring film makers in Nairobi, Kenya.
The FOCUS programme is developed in consultation with a Content Advisory Board featuring representatives from leading industry bodies, including Pact, The Production Guild, Directors UK, BFI, BFC, UK Screen Alliance, Creative Europe UK, ScreenSkills, Advertising Producers Association and Women in Film & TV. It is curated by Sue Hayes and presented in association with our media partner Variety. This year we are delighted to welcome Production Service Network as a content sponsor.
The talk take place at 11:00 – 11:45am
