Alex Bingham

I am an Archive Researcher and former Producer specialising in History documentaries. Recent credits include The Soldiers that Saved Britain (Channel 4), Britain Behind Bars: A Secret History (Channel 4) and Tsunami: Race Against Time(Disney+). The films I love watching are overwhelmingly archive-driven, and I have always been drawn to the unique insights that audiovisual archive can offer. I am delighted to have been accepted onto the Focal Mentoring Scheme for 2025, and I'm keen to explore wider opportunities within the industry, with a particular focus on footage libraries and archives.

Alfie Newson

Hi! I am a TV technician, creator and all-around curious person. As a newcomer to archive, I am keen to learn about all aspects of it, from the art to the industry. This programme is a brilliant chance to see how it works from a seasoned professional, and apply their advice, with an aim to broaden my career options in documentary production.

Bea Moyes

Bea Moyes is an Archive Researcher and Producer working with documentary film and oral history. Bea has been a Research Associate at the Derek Jarman Lab at Birkbeck College since 2014, producing films including The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze (2024), directed by Tilda Swinton and Bartek Dziadosz and The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2017), directed by Tilda Swinton, Colin Maccabe and Christopher Roth. Bea has developed a long collaboration as an Archive Researcher with the organisation On-the-Record including her work on Hospital in the Mind: An Oral History of the Cassel, directed by Rob Lemkin, and Textures of Air. She led the oral history project Working River: A Living History of London’s Boatyards with Thames Festival Trust, including a documentary about its recent history made with digital:works, and several projects to document radical land uses on the Isle of Portland with B-side and Portland Museum.

James Madeja

James Madeja is a British-American post-graduate student in film curation and programming, and Assistant Archive Researcher based in London. During his studies at the University of East Anglia, he volunteered with the East Anglian Film Archive, which inspired his pursuit of a career in audio-visual archiving. With an interdisciplinary approach focusing on the intersection of moving image, cultural heritage, and storytelling, James looks forward to the opportunities provided by FOCAL International's Mentoring programme.

Leroy Kirk

I’m from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and have a passion for film, music and the licensing process. I received my production start in Los Angeles from the comedy space working on late night television and then transitioned to working as a Clearance Coordinator and Archival Producer for historical and true crime documentary style television. I enjoy the research it takes to bring a story to fruition and the creative process of licensing and clearing footage and music to best serve the story
 

>I believe the opportunity to learn from experienced mentors and be in collaboration with other mentees will give me the resources to excel in this creative career.

Luca Tommasini

I work with archives to help transform memory into storytelling. I focus on audiovisual research, rights management, and coordination for documentary and cultural productions. My background is multidisciplinary, spanning sociology, photography, editing, and international cooperation. Every project is, for me, a process of listening, relationship, and care—an attempt to craft narratives that connect past and present in an authentic and mindful. I see the archive as a living space, where each image can reactivate forgotten stories and generate new visions that help us interpret this historical moment. This mentorship program offers me a great opportunity to nurture my strong desire to build an increasingly solid path—one that can meaningfully contribute to creating the connection I seek between memory and storytelling.

Margherita Malerba

Margherita Malerba is an Italian filmmaker and archive researcher. She studied visual arts and filmmaking in Italy and Germany. She is one of the founders of the association Reframing Home Movies. dedicated to the study and reuse of family films. Margherita is currently working on her second feature film, The Book of Hours. As an archive researcher, she is working on different docu-series focusing on Italian contemporary history.

Mary Lane

Mary Lane works in rights management and licensing, and is incredibly excited to gain insight into the industry and meet wonderful archive professionals through the 2025 FOCAL Mentoring Programme. Her work in public media distribution, particularly on rights renewals of archive-heavy documentaries, sparked her interest in archival research and producing. This led to her volunteering with the Image and Film licensing department at the Imperial War Museum, where the fantastic team further compounded her interest in historical content. Now based in Washington, D.C., she hopes to combine her love for archives with her experience in rights management and distribution.

May Ziadé

May Ziadé is a French-Lebanese filmworker and filmmaker based in London. She works as a post-production coordinator in film & television and is currently training to specialise in film restoration: binding her interests in post production operations and the histories of moving images. Her film practice often stems from archival research and interrogates the tensions that emerge alongside the recovery and rediscovery of subaltern histories.

Niall Glynn

Niall Glynn is a digital film restoration technician working at Dragon Post Production in Cardiff, Wales. Since beginning his career in film restoration in January 2023, he has worked on commercial feature film restorations for the BFI, Arrow Video and Radiance as well as archival projects. He has worked on titles such as Weird Science, American Gigolo, A Simple Plan and Don't Torture a Duckling with many more currently in the pipeline.

Shannon Sproston

I’m currently working as an Image and Film Research Manager for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, where I focus on copyright, metadata optimization, and workflow development for audiovisual materials. I also freelance as an archival researcher for documentaries and am eager to expand into music clearance and rights. Through the FOCAL Mentoring Programme, I hope to gain insight into the day-to-day realities of working in this field, explore new career paths, and connect more deeply with the international archival community.

Camille Carlier

Camille started her career in Paris. After graduating in journalism with an experience at the Documentary department at ARTE, she worked for several years in the Acquisitions and News Departments of France Télévisions. After which she worked as a freelance for the Very Short Films International Festival as a Development Coordinator. She then moved to London to develop her career in Archives and worked for two years at FOCAL International as the Awards, Events and Membership Coordinator. She developed the awards competition as well as helped in designing, launching and managing FOCAL's first Mentoring Programme for people willing to grow a career in the archive industry. 

Camille is now back in Paris, working at Le Chaînon Manquant (The Missing Link), a sourcing, research and clearance agency, as Archive Researcher and Development Coordinator. Her credits include Surf, le feu sacré, Chaplin, Spirit of the Tramp, Killer Lies: Chasing a True Crime Con Man and the posthumous short film of Jean-Luc Godard, Drôles de Guerres.

Chris Fossey

Chris has a 20+ year career working in Content Services and Post Production facilities in London. A large amount of Chris's career was spent at the BBC working across many archive projects, Post Producer on many BBC programmes including Strictly Come Dancing, Children in Need and Pointless.

Since 2020 Chris has worked at Iron Mountain Media & Archive Services as a Senior Business Development Manager, a role that allows him to work with Broadcasters, Distributors and Sports Associations to name a few to help preserve and protect their historic archives.

Denis Karam

After a long run as an International TV Marketing and Advertising Manager for embedded marketing formats including a F1 sponsorship for a Swiss company based in London and a short spell with a few of the UK based Indie TV companies, Denis joined Zig Zag Productions in 2005. An award winning archive producer with over 200 hours of unscripted programmes made, Denis is a member of the Training Committee at the Federation of Commercial Audio-Visual Libraries and part of the FOCAL Annual Awards jury in London as well as an archive producer expert panellist and a guest speaker at London’s University of Westminster, FOCAL Annual Training Seminars, Broadcast TECH events, New European Market speaker and the jury member for the NEM Zagreb TV Writing Contests Awards. A few of the recent archive produced titles; John Lennon; Let Me Take You Down, Secrets of the Interrogation Room, Seve; Artist, Fighter, Legend, Killing Michael Jackson, Raise Your Game With Gareth Southgate.

Geoff Walton

Geoff Walton is a London-based Archive Producer working mainly in feature-length documentaries; most recently for MGM's Sounds of 007 and the Abbey Road Studios anniversary documentary If These Walls Could Sing.

Graham Relton

Graham is the Archive Manager at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives. Winners of the ‘Footage Company of the Year’ at the 2022 FOCAL International Awards, the Archive is a registered charity, who work to collect, preserve, and make their extraordinary collections accessible for everyone. The Archive operates from two bases (York and Middlesbrough), both with specialist vaults facilities and expertise to ensure the highest standards of care for their collections.

Graham leads on commercial services as well as managing major public delivery programmes across Yorkshire and the North East. He has extensive knowledge of the collections, and works with researchers and clients on end-to-end delivery of content, from delving deeper into the collections to find new unseen content, to licensing and supply of footage. From education and Museum exhibition to in house productions he also project manages a range of access programmes, he also regularly curates and presents archive screenings as part of his commitment to connecting with and delivering a fantastic service to audiences across the regions.

James Macmillan

James has over 20 years’ experience in the film and television industry, covering Post Production, Broadcast Operations, Access Services, Archive Digitisation and Restoration, and Content Operations.

After nearly 2 decades at ITV, James moved to Prime Focus Technologies in 2022 as Head Of UK Operations, working closely with Channel 4.

James is passionate about archive preservation and access services, and has a keen interest in film and music.a

Jeremy Shields

Jeremy Shields has worked for BBC Northern Ireland for over 20 years, working on mainly current affairs and political programmes within Television Current Affairs, but also working on archive based projects like “A State Apart”. Jeremy has also worked on independent productions such as Lyra and was part of the team that won a Focal Award for the Ian Paisley biography.

Kay Page

Kay Page is the Head of Rights and Policy at All3Media, the largest independent television production business in Britain. She represents commercial clip sales for the All3Media Group. Through her consultancy business, Northbound TV, Kay provides advice on television rights management and how to unlock value from media collections. Kay is a member of the FIAT/IFTA Media Management Commission and FOCAL International, serving not only as a mentor but also contributing to the Events and Training Committees. Before All3Media, Kay spent over 20 years at ITV in various senior roles in rights management and the ITV Archive.

Luke Smedley

Luke Smedley is Head of Orchard Clips, the footage sales division of OR Media Group. He is an innovative content and operations manager with extensive experience in the commercialisation of film and video footage. Across 20 years he has handled all types of footage, from nitrate newsreels to viral mobile phone video. Luke has managed the film and video archives of the Associated Press as well as the extensive user generated content collection and content partnerships of social media publisher, LADbible Group. His knowledge spans from film formats and video codecs to metadata and copyright. Luke led the FOCAL International Award-winning AP Archive Digitisation project.

Sheila Maniar

FOCAL Mentor