For this month’s BFI Film Academy Lab, we quiz Doc’n Roll Film Festival’s Colm Forde and Vanessa Lobon-Garcia about the power of music documentaries to attract young audiences and create unique social events.
In this session, they will share their passion for discovering under-the-radar music documentaries and share their experience of finding a niche in the film festival market and growing the distribution, sales and consulting side to their business.
In this session, Vanessa and Colm will share their career story and discuss some of the ways you can develop a USP (unique selling point) for your film festival or screenings, along with tips and advice for programming music documentaries and working with under-the-radar filmmakers.
Doc’n Roll will be in conversation with Uche Odoh, YFP Presenter, Filmmaker and Photographer.
The session will be hosted by Julia Andrews-Clifford who is the YFP NETWORK Manager where she connects YFPs and cinema venues across the region through professional development and events.
About BFI Film Academy Labs
BFI Film Academy Labs are online events for 16-25 year olds to gain industry insight and get professional advice and support to develop their own film programming and filmmaking practices. Programmed by the Young Film Programmers’ Network (South East) they are delivered as practical masterclasses, workshops and networking sessions.
This session will be live-captioned, we will provide instructions on how to access the captions at the beginning of the event. If you have any questions about the event please get in touch at: info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk
You can watch recordings of some of our previous Labs on the ICO YouTube channel.
Speakers
Vanessa Lobon
Co-Founder/CEO/Co-programmer, Doc'n Roll Films
Vanessa Lobon is the co-director at Doc'n Roll Films. Doc'n Roll was founded in 2013 and is a female-led film agency that platforms and champions marginal voices in the music industry. Passionate about independent film and music of all genres, their mission is to celebrate music subcultures by providing a unique platform to support creative, compelling, and unforgettable documentaries that celebrate the performers, labels, scenes, and stories. Vanessa earned an MBA and has worked as a production manager in international companies for over eighteen years before launching Doc'n Roll with Colm Forde. Vanessa oversees the entire Doc'n Roll Film Festival project and manages its 13 regional teams.
Colm Forde
Co-Founder/Creative Director/Programmer/Head of Acquisitions, Sales & Distribution, Doc'n Roll Films
Colm is the co-director of Doc'n Roll Films and its Head of Programming and Distribution. He manages the Acquisitions, World Sales & Distribution side of the business with broadcasting clients including BBC, Sky Arts, and ARTE; Streamers including Netflix, Amazon Music, Showtime, and HBO Europe; Music festivals such as Glastonbury, All Points East, and We Out Here, as well as music labels BMG, Universal, Sony, Trojan Records, Beggars, and Rough Trade. He launched Doc'n Roll TV in 2019 - a global first - as a worldwide on-demand streaming platform that allows the company to present a host of new, cult and classic music documentaries to viewers from 37 countries - and counting - at home. While continuing to program for Doc'n Roll, Colm managed London Screen Archives on behalf of Film London between 2018 - 2020. Colm worked in film restoration for over 12 years at RTE (Irish State Broadcaster) before moving to London where he launched Doc'n Roll.