Festival Concierge

Claire Aguilar is a programmer, producer, and independent consultant, and strategist. She is formerly the Director of Programming and Policy at IDA (International Documentary Association), overseeing professional development, education, mentorship, and training initiatives and she served as the primary programmer for IDA’s biennial “Getting Real” documentary conference. She is the former Director of Programming and Industry Engagement at Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the leading festivals for documentary and digital media where she curated and directed the film program for Doc/Fest 2015 and 2016, programming over 350 films and working with over 200 filmmakers and media creatives. At the Independent Television Service (ITVS), she served as Vice President of Programming and Executive Content Advisor, working on program content and strategy for the organization, including commissioning programming from international and U.S. independent producers. She co-curated the Emmy and Peabody awarded series Independent Lens, PBS’s prominent showcase of independently produced films. She has served as a festival juror, programming consultant, and panelists for IDFA, Dok Leipzig, DocAviv, the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Rockefeller Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, and many other media organizations and film festivals. She is Vice President of the Board of Women Make Movies and serves on the Executive boards of Firelight Media and the Why Foundation. She is a second-generation Filipina American and lives in Los Angeles.
Claire has worked on many documentaries as a commissioning editor and editorial consultant, including Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman, Steve James’s The Interrupters, Frederick Wiseman’s State Legislature, At Berkeley and In Jackson Heights, The Invisible War by Kirby Dick, and many others. She recently executive produced Final Account by Luke Holland, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2020.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

• Editorial service – reviewing proposals, synopses, loglines, titles, and treatments. Notes for assemblies, rough cuts, and up to fine cut (picture lock)
• Festival strategy – strategy for festival placement with deadlines
• Distribution strategy – Contacts for sales agents, distributors (theatrical, educational), and online platforms, publicists
• Fundraising – advice for US grants open to Canadians/international producers, or financiers

Sean Farnel provides creative, marketing and distribution services to documentary producers, companies and institutions. He was the first director of Programming for Hot Docs, which tripled its audience during his six-year tenure. Prior to joining Hot Docs, Sean created the popular screening series Doc Soup and founded the documentary programme at the Toronto International Film Festival. As well, he developed and launched TIFF’s initial strategic plan for Learning programmes. Sean has done research and strategic consulting for the National Film Board of Canada, Telefilm Canada, the Documentary Organization of Canada. FilmFreeway and other media companies in the private and public sectors. Along with writing for numerous publications. Sean has served as a mentor, facilitator, panelist and juror at hundreds of film events.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

• Producer-driven marketing and distribution
• Digital engagement and marketing
• Creative and story consulting

Berry Hahn is currently representing fiction and documentary features at Square Eyes. Regularly serving as jury member and decision maker on various international events, she is also a consultant on film festival strategies for the Documentary Organization of Canada’s Festival Concierge program. Berry was previously on Generation Africa, a STEPS pan-African collection of documentaries about migration experienced by African youth, and a Producer on Mzansi in the time of Covid-19, a collection exploring the pandemic’s impact on marginalised South African communities. Getting Real fellow (2024) and Realness Institute alumna, she participated to U30 (2023) with Locarno Pro and to the Southern Africa-Locarno Industry Academy (2021). Berry is a European Film Academy, Documentary Association of Europe, and International Documentary Association member.