Global Career Accelerator

Alex Wieser, an Austrian filmmaker based in Vienna, graduated with a degree in Media Technology from St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in 2011. She began her career as an editor for Austria's national public broadcaster, ORF, and later directed documentary segments for a science television magazine that aired in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. After several years as a freelance director and editor, Alex Wieser founded her own production company, V-set, in 2021. Since then, she has produced approximately 25 television documentaries, including co-productions with ZDF/arte. Two of her documentaries won "Best TV Documentary" awards in 2020 (Kurier Romy Academy Award) and 2024 (Franz-Grabner-Preis/Diagonale). Her work spans a wide range of subjects, with a focus on current affairs and historical topics.

An enthusiastic storyteller with an educational background in science and journalism, Alison’s career in factual television began with the world's first daily science program, Daily Planet. There, she honed her skills in producing, writing, and directing short-form documentaries and covered major tech events such as CES and Mobile World Congress. In 2018, she transitioned to long-form content with Smithsonian Channel’s Disasters at Sea and History Channel's Salvage Kings. By 2021, Alison had advanced to Senior Producer for Smithsonian's Impossible Repairs and helped develop Discovery Canada's East Harbour Heroes. Currently, she freelances as a story producer, writer, and story editor for shows such as Engineering Evolved and Deadly Science while also producing scripted content and developing her own factual projects. Alison is passionate about highlighting women’s often-overlooked contributions to STEM fields and exploring the complex history of science’s relationship with women and how scientific practices and institutions have historically failed them.

Carina Thomas is a Natural History Producer Director with over a decade of experience working on high-profile series for the BBC, Netflix, and National Geographic, including EarthSounds, David Attenborough’s Life in Colour, and BAFTA-winning Big Blue Live.

In 2018, she joined Offspring Films, progressing from Assistant Producer on Earth at Night in Colour to Producer Director on EarthSounds for Apple TV+. As Development Lead, she secured a slate of factual commissions and supported emerging talent.

Carina is also the founder of Wild Film Hub, a platform and podcast championing Global Majority and underrepresented talent in wildlife filmmaking, and advocates for greater inclusivity in the industry.

Christine Lin is a documentary filmmaker with a focus on ocean conservation, birds, and Indigenous storytelling.

A 2021 National Geographic Explorer and 2020 Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, she is based in San Diego currently working as a producer for a PBS documentary series at Roller Coaster Road Productions. Before that, she produced and edited a PBS digital series, Human Footprint, at Day's Edge Productions. She also led video and media projects as the senior producer of visual storytelling at the National Audubon Society after graduating from New York University in 2017. Her love for visual storytelling goes hand-in-hand with her passion for making our planet a more habitable home.

Christine grew up in Dallas where she first found her love for nature and the outdoors by digging for fossils around Texas. Now she enjoys looking at tide pool creatures and connecting with the Pacific Ocean from California.

Courtney Miceli is a Canadian producer and writer who is passionate about the art of storytelling. With a focus on science and history content, she crafts narratives that both captivate and enlighten viewers about the fascinating world around us. Following several years as a freelance journalist, her career in television began at Discovery Canada's nightly national news program, "Daily Planet," which ignited an enduring interest in science communication and visual media. Over the past eight years, she has worked with various studios contributing to factual series and award-winning documentaries for international broadcasters such as Smithsonian Channel, National Geographic, and Amazon Prime. Eager to share narratives about relationships between the natural world and the human condition, her experience spans a diverse array of content from a ten-part series on the science of extreme weather and climate change, to a feature documentary about the history of one of Canada’s most prolific bands, which received the People’s Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival ‘24. Currently, Courtney is a story editor, director and writer overseeing factual series for international distributors such as ZDF and Autentic. When not in the field or the edit suite, she can often be found pursuing her first love of feature writing, with contributions in publications such as Science Magazine and Mongabay.

Fatima Ezzahra Mahdar is a neurodivergent animation producer based in Casablanca, Morocco. With a passion for storytelling that transcends cultural boundaries, Fatima is dedicated to crafting imaginative and heartfelt narratives. She has pitched projects to major studios like Disney, Netflix, and Sony, securing shopping agreements with authors from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

As a participant in Women in Animation’s mentorship program and the Children’s Media Association Accelerator Program, Fatima is shaping her role as a key voice in the animation industry. She draws inspiration from her collaborations and remains committed to bringing bold, unconventional stories to life.

Fatima believes that "Storytelling is the craft of souls and heart, and it takes immense courage to share those stories with the world." She takes pride in her journey and the progress she has made in the industry.

Harriet is a producer specialising in underwater natural history productions. Harriet has over a decade of diving experience in temperate and tropical environments worldwide and has worked on blue-chip series for companies such as National Geographic and Disney+. Harriet collaborates with top production houses and not-for-profit organisations through her company, Grumpy Turtle Films, to create compelling long and short-form content. Harriet has worked as a Producer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is an Emerging League Member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), a global group of media professionals dedicated to conservation storytelling. Her work has been published in the Guardian, Australian Geographic, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Oceanographic Magazine, and the Sydney Morning Herald. With an extensive and diverse portfolio, Harriet aims to make a meaningful impact in filmmaking through authentic storytelling and an unwavering commitment to preserving our planet's natural wonders.

Jonathan Qu is a documentary producer, writer, director, and cinematographer based in Toronto Canada. With a science background and a storyteller’s intuition, he aims to redefine science storytelling by blending cinema verité with a bold, new wave aesthetic. 

In 2024, Jonathan Qu and Kevin Li founded Curiosity Films to produce original, character-driven documentaries that explore the intersections of science, culture, and philosophy. Their mission is to share unique science stories, captivating audiences while advancing scientific literacy. Their first feature, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, was recognized as a 2024 Sundance Institute Grantee. Currently, they are developing and producing multiple projects for CBC, TVO, and the NFB, including the docuseries The Scientist’s Guide: To Putting out Fires and Other Wicked Problems. Jonathan and Kevin’s work has also been featured by leading platforms such as National Geographic, Vice, Google, Facebook, Novo Nordisk, and NASA.

Kahlil Greene, also known as the “Gen-Z Historian”, is a 2x Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning, and New York Times, WSJ, and Forbes Magazine recognized digital educator with over 800,000 followers and 50mm views across his profiles. Kahlil also graduated from Yale with a degree in History and served as the college’s first-ever Black student body president. Kahlil is now a full-time, self-employed speaker, influencer, and educator and is known for his TikTok series, Hidden History–which dives into stories of American injustice–and for his commentary about politics and culture. Throughout his nascent career, Kahlil has already worked with organizations like Meta, the Smithsonian, and the White House. He is a correspondent on Nickelodeon’s revival of the critically acclaimed Nick News series, and is currently producing a historical docuseries on National Geographic. Kahlil’s main goal is to share knowledge about history, culture, and politics from a new, engaging perspective and to make young people more informed on the world around them.

Kiki Cheptoo Ng’ok is a Kenyan documentary producer/director and speaker, engaged in the pursuit of nuanced storytelling around African people, environment, societies and cultures. She’s currently working on a short film series on the decline of vultures and other raptors from anthropogenic threats, and the scientists and community volunteers working to bring them back from the brink of extinction.  A different media project involves documenting life in the Tana Delta estuary where Kenya’s longest river enters the Indian ocean, and the site of the last hammerhead shark nursery, at the (Kenyan) coast.  Ng’ok is also a co-founder of the African Shark and Ray Conservation Project (ASRCP). She’s working on an African Biodiversity Curriculum pilot in three local schools, with plans to work with schools all over the continent. 

Ng’ok is an African Conservation Voices Fellow, a Justice for Nature filmmaker, a National Geographic Explorer and a NEWF Fellow/Mentor.  She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Kristina is a bilingual Gabonese writer/producer currently residing in Libreville, Gabon. She has been a panelist on the weekly talk show "Weekend-Loisirs" which aired on Gabon Télévisions, and prior to this, she worked at the Nature Conservancy in Arlington, Virginia USA. In 2021, she founded Gaboma Multimedia & Production Studios, an independent production company which specializes in production for tv and film. Her goal is to produce nature documentaries, particularly ones that explore the intersection between nature and African cultures: our ancestral and cultural relationship with the land as it relates to conservation. She was part of the NEWF producer’s lab in 2022-3023 where she wrote and produced a wildlife film about a young gorilla in the south-west of Gabon. We are transported into the deep rainforests of Gabon, full of medicinal plants and intriguing secrets, as we learn the lessons passed down to our ancestors by its animal inhabitants.

Marc Chica i José, born in Barcelona in 1993, is a filmmaker, producer, historian, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Limmat Films S.L., a film production company, and At Your Service Production S.L., which specializes in international production services.

An expert in ancient history and Egyptology, Mr. Chica is a member of the Egypt Exploration Society. He is currently collaborating with the renowned British Egyptologist, Professor Joann Fletcher, on multidisciplinary historical projects.

Quentin Lazzarotto is an award-winning director of scientific documentaries, known for works such as "Einstein and General Relativity", "The Mathematics Engraver", and "Man Ray and the Shakespearean Equations". He co-authored the book "Crazy About Math", which won the Tangente Prize, and "Astronomy, the Great Challenges", solidifying his role as a key figure in science communication in France.

In 2022, he co-founded Good To Know, a production company focused on scientific films, with a unique scientific committee fostering collaborations between art and science. The company quickly gained recognition, winning Best Pitch at Sunnyside of the Doc for "The Forgotten Scientists". Good To Know also starts to develops international co-productions. In 2024, Quentin’s new film « Michée », inspired by the Jura witch trials in the 17th century, aired on France Télévisions, adding a historical perspective to his work.

Sophie Arnstein is the Founder and CEO of the non-profit film production company, Daughter Dragon Productions (DDP). DDP is currently producing its first major project: a mid-length feature about Kim Pham, the creative genius behind Boston-based alteration and retail clothing shop, Kim’s Fashion Design. The anticipated 40-minute documentary sheds light on the unassuming heroine’s origin story, from her humble upbringing in rural South Vietnam, through the political crises of her young adulthood, to her evolving legacy as a staple of Boston’s cultural fabric. 

Fascinated by human history, Sophie is keen to explore how visual media can reveal the intricate narratives that color our shared world. The 2024 World Congress of Science & Factual Producers will be Sophie’s first time attending the conference.

Tara Roberts Zabriskie is an independent documentary filmmaker focusing on films about nature, science, health, and history. Tara is passionate about sharing stories through documentary filmmaking that serve a purpose in informing and inspiring audiences. Tara has formed partnerships with nonprofits to elevate important messages through visual storytelling for PSAs, documentaries, and educational videos. She has worked with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, Dark Sky Maine, Wild Seed Project, National Park Service, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Her film Defending the Dark (2022) was nominated for 2 awards, has aired on public broadcasting stations on more than 80 channels across the United States reaching major markets coast to coast and audiences worldwide on the PBS app. She is currently working on two feature documentaries and one short.