The Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture 2025

The Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture: In Conversation with Sonia Khan and Emma Alldis:

Collaboration at the Heart of Storytelling – The Archive Producer and the Production Team

To celebrate World Day for Audiovisual Heritage this year, we continue with our successful series of the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture. We are pleased to have Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year 2025 winner Sonia Khan, and Production Manager Emma Alldis discuss their work on the FOCAL Award-winning documentary ‘Atomic People’. The partnership between an Archive Producer and the wider production team is crucial in crafting powerful, historically grounded storytelling. 

In this webinar, we’ll explore how Sonia and Emma collaborated closely to bring to life the harrowing and deeply human story of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Nearly 80 years later, their film weaves together rare archival footage with intimate testimony from some of the last surviving Hibakusha, the victims and survivors of the bombings, ensuring their voices are preserved before they are lost to time.

Join us to discover how this unique documentary was shaped through archive, narrative, and trust.

Date: Wednesday, 22 October 2025

Time: 16:00 - 17:00 hrs (BST) | Admission: 15:50 (BST)

Location: Online, Zoom 

FOCAL Members & Non-Members: Free

Guest Speakers

Sonia Khan

Sonia Khan is a London-based Archive Producer with experience of working on a variety of documentaries across prominent broadcasters. Starting her career as a Production Coordinator, Sonia’s passion for storytelling and visual history led her to transition into archive production with the critically acclaimed Mother Teresa: For The Love of God? (SKY).

Since then, Sonia has worked on several archive-led documentaries, including Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast (BBC), Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile (ITV), Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal (Netflix), Britain Under the Nazis: The Forgotten Occupation (BBC), and the recently acclaimed Atomic People (BBC). Atomic People won the 2025 BAFTA for Best Specialist Factual, an RTS Award for Best Historical Documentary, and has been nominated for the Grierson Award for Best History Documentary, alongside winning this year’s FOCAL “Researcher of the Year” Award.

Having honed her skills in production management, Sonia has carved out a niche in Archive Producing, particularly in budget management, legal & compliance, and ensuring the feasibility of projects for distribution. A strong advocate for archive-led documentaries, Sonia also lends her expertise to developing new projects and promoting the power of archives in storytelling. 

Sonia thrives in the True Crime and Biographical Documentary genres but remains equally inspired by the diversity of projects she’s been able to contribute to. Her expertise lies in unearthing unseen archival footage and negotiating for rare materials that elevate each story, all while collaborating with the editorial teams to uphold the integrity and vision of the project. 

Emma Alldis

Emma Alldis is an accomplished television Production Manager with over a decade of experience across the UK and international broadcast industry. Based in London, she has managed a wide range of factual and scripted productions, collaborating with leading broadcasters and global streaming platforms including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix, and Discovery. Her recent credits include The Real Top Boy (Netflix/Minnow Films), Atomic People (BBC/Minnow Films) — winner of the 2025 BAFTA for Best Specialist Factual and RTS Award for Best Historical Documentary — as well as The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Con Man (Netflix/Raw TV) and Britain’s Notorious Prisons (ITV/Minnow Films).

Throughout her career, Emma has worked behind the scenes to help bring powerful stories to the screen, thriving on the unique challenges of each project she joins. Recognized for her dynamic editorial/production approach, she believes the strongest work comes from well-supported and collaborative teams and is always eager to connect with fellow professionals who share that vision.

About Jane Mercer

Jane Mercer was passionate about film research and film archives. Throughout her career, she inspired and encouraged new entrants to the profession and was an advocate to ensure production see the merit of good film research and by extension how the relationship between researcher and archive brings the best in archive programming.

Jane was Chair of FOCAL International 2000-2005, during which time she championed professional development and training. She received the FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.