Documentary & Events

Producer

From award-winning documentaries to agenda-setting summits and beloved festivals, I create work with clarity, purpose and impact. I’m an experienced producer, strategist and facilitator. I work well with complexity and I love bringing people together and making things happen.

Documentary Producer

Collage of four images showing people - including Holly Tarquini - engaged in filming and photography activities."}

Before I ran festivals, facilitated teams, and coached leaders, I was behind the camera and in the edit suite. Interviewing Churchill’s secretary for War Months; directing children in Kids Alone; finessing the penis angle for Women Talk Sex (yes, really). Documentary was my first love.

I’ve recently returned to producing films, beginning with Pegs & Bacon, (see below) directed by the brilliant Sarah Mason. It follows the daily rhythm of an 84-year-old shopkeeper on the Pennine Way who has kept her community fed, caffeinated and connected for decades. The film won Best Short and the Audience Award at Hebden Bridge Film Festival 2025 and screened throughout May at the Picturehouse. In June, it picked up Best Documentary Short at the North West Independent Film Festival.

I’m now developing and collaborating on new documentaries that are intimate, character-led and socially relevant. I’m interested in stories that explore psychology, social & environmental justice, identity and change. I look for strong artistic vision, robust story telling and creative integrity; I bring production rigour, clear thinking and emotional intelligence.

Poster for the short film 'Pegs & Bacon' featuring a smiling elderly woman with glasses, holding a film camera, and text highlighting awards at the Hebden Bridge Film Festival.

Pegs & Bacon directed by Sarah Mason

In a quiet Yorkshire village along the Pennine Way, 84-year-old shopkeeper May has been running her beloved farm shop for over half a century, providing more than just essentials-she offers warmth, connection, and a lifeline to the locals who rely on her. Pegs and Bacon introduces us to the small shop with a big heart, and a legend behind the counter.

See more here.

An elderly woman with gray hair and glasses smiling while sitting at a dining table, holding a white cup in both hands, in a cozy kitchen with warm lighting.

An elderly woman with gray hair sitting on a couch, looking thoughtfully out of the frame, in a dimly lit room with a textured wall and dark furniture.

Documentary production skills include

★ Budgeting and production management

★ Fundraising strategy

★ Casting and contributor liaison

★ Narrative structure and story shaping

★ Ethical frameworks and impact planning

★ Scheduling, delivery & distribution for festivals, broadcast and digital

★ Audience development

If you’re developing something and are looking for a producer who will ask difficult questions and nurture your film from cradle to grave, I’d love to hear from you.

Events Producer

I’ve been producing festivals, events and programmes for over 15 years. My work spans climate justice, film, tech, equality, and leadership. I design and deliver events that are logistically tight and strategically bold.

I’ve produced large-scale summits, digital festivals, industry labs, pop-up cinemas and award ceremonies. I thrive in environments that are fast-moving and collaborative. I build strong teams; I move between the macro and the micro; I’m as comfortable with a programme grid as I am with the comms plan. I love spreadhseets!

Global Reuse Summit, 2025

As events producer for City to Sea’s flagship summit, I oversaw every stage of delivery: programme design, speaker curation, content strategy, supplier liaison, technical production and hybrid delivery. The event focused on reuse within food and packaging systems and brought together policymakers, campaigners and brands across multiple time zones. I negotiated a 30% discount with the livestream production company, integrated accessibility features including subtitles and sensory-friendly design, and delivered a seamless, values-led hybrid event praised for its urgency, clarity and inclusivity.

You can watch the summit here.

Audience attending the Global Reuse Summit conference in a modern indoor venue with a speaker and moderator on stage, large screen displaying event details, and potted plants.

Creative Coalition Festival, 2023

I produced the six headline events for Creative UK’s hybrid festival in 2023, which platforms the UK’s creative economy. I managed scripting, technical production, speaker wrangling, rehearsal schedules, and delivery. Involving fast turnarounds, stakeholder management and real-time problem-solving.

You can read all about the festival here (my highlight was hanging out with Lola Young in the green room.)

Two women smiling and posing together at the Creative UK Creative Coalition Festival 2023, standing in front of a black backdrop with event logos and text.

Bath Film Festival 2011 - 2023

As Executive Director, I led Bath Film Festival for 11 years, building it into a nationally respected festival known for championing diverse storytelling. We screened around 50+ features and 35+ shorts each year across six venues, I managed volunteers, sponsors, interns, funders, the board, marketing, the programming team, AV crews and reporting.

Highlights include:

Delivering the UK’s only in-person film festival during COVID (2020), transforming a disused train station into a socially distanced cinema with an inflatable screen and sanitised headphones.
Producing a multi-screen screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc with a 22-piece orchestra inside Bath Abbey, coordinating between musicians, funders, tech teams and church leadership.
Leading outdoor screenings on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, juggling licensing, heritage compliance and safety logistics.

A collage of six photos showing various groups of women and events, including women at a conference, a panel presentation, a TEDx talk, a beach outing, an awards ceremony, and a film festival.

The F-Rating, Founded in 2014

In 2014 I created the F-Rating: a simple tool to champion women in film. It’s awarded to films directed and/or written by women, which are Triple F-Rated if they also feature significant female characters on screen.

What began as a small classification at FilmBath is now used by Cherry Picks, is on over 27,000 of titles on IMDb and by more than 100 festivals and cinemas worldwide. It was never about quotas or box-ticking; it was about shifting the spotlight - creating visibility, conversation and change.

In 2023, Anu Anand and I produced 12 episodes of The F-Rated Podcast which you can listen to here.

The F-Rating continues to be a shorthand for audiences who want to support women in film and a provocation to the industry to do better.

I’m immensely proud of the F-Rating and all of our sister campaigners and organisations who are - still - insisting that the stories on screen are told by the demographic who watch them, and not skewed so dramatically in favour of cis, straight, white, able-bodied, English speaking, middle class men.