Team

Sonum Sumaria is an award-winning British-Gujarati filmmaker and has been making films with marginalised communities for the past twelve years. She read Spanish and Russian at Cambridge University, and studied at the Cuban film school EICTV, going on to complete an MA in Cinematography at MetFilm School in London. She has a deep interest in indigenous and nomadic communities and is particularly drawn to the themes of identity and belonging.

Sienna Beckman is a queer producer based in London, committed to supporting female-identifying filmmakers and underrepresented storytellers around the world. Working in LA for 10 years, Sienna produced content for NBCUniversal, Scott Free Productions, Verizon go90, Esquire TV, Refinery29, Prettybird Entertainment, Astronauts Wanted, and Disney Maker Studios, among others. Sienna is a frequent mentor with different organizations, such as Global Girls UK, Girls Club, #StartWith8, and Group Effort Initiative.

Christopher Hird is the founder of Dartmouth Films, and has been one of the pioneers in independent documentaries in the UK for more than 15 years. He has produced films that have premiered at Sundance, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs, Berlin and others. He was chair of Sheffield Doc/Fest and Doc Society as well as a trustee of the Grierson Trust, of which he is now a patron. In 2023 Dartmouth won the Screen International Award for the best documentary film campaign in British cinemas.

Atul Lanjudkar is a Production Sound Mixer, Sound Designer, Producer and Educator. Studied Sound Recording and TV Engineering in Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII).  With overall experience of 12 years in the industry, his work comprises several award winning short films, web series, advertisements, corporate films and documentaries. National Award winning film “Mhorkya” for which he was nominated as Best Sound Designer in Filmfare Marathi 2021. Emmy nominated “Amazon Originals: Inside Edge-S3” Similarly . As an educator he is currently working as an Assistant Professor(TV Sound) in Film and Television Institute of India.

Tajdar Junaid is a Film Composer and Music Producer based out of Mumbai with his roots in Calcutta. His collaborations include work across mediums – composing for Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Coke Studio Bharat, Spanish animated feature Sultana’s Dream, Emma Thompson’s Sold, amongst many others. His passion resides with world cinema, long walks in nature and teaching young minds. The films that he has composed for have gone on to be nominated in The Best Documentary Feature category at The Oscars (Writing with Fire, 2022) Nomination for Best Animation Film at The Goya Awards (Sultana’s Dream, 2024) National Film Award (Mukti Bhawan/Hotel Salvation, 2017)

Kausikan Rajeshkumar is a pianist and composer whose work for film has been screened internationally. Film score credits include ‘Single Tumbler’ (2020), Amid the Villus (2021) and Face Cover (2022), appearing at London South Asian Film Festival, Film South Asia Kathmandu,  Dhaka International Cinemaking Festival, Colombo International Women’s Festival and the Indian Film Festival Melbourne. As a pianist, Kausikan has performed extensively across the UK and abroad, including at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and has been broadcast on BBC television and radio.

James has worked in film post production for around ten years as a colourist and online editor and has been lucky to meet some brilliant filmmakers. He loves collaborating with directors who are passionate, confident and trusting to bring his own creative touch to their project. Working for Creativity Media, he’s onlined a huge scope of content from the touching LGBTQ+ film ‘God’s Own Country’ to the much loved ‘Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special’ finale.

Denis is a sound post-production professional with over ten years of experience in film and television. He graduated from the University of Arts, Havana in 2010 and The International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cuba in 2013 with both majors in sound design. He has dabbled in all fields of sound post-production, sound mixing, and music composition. Denis has worked for Paramount+, ESPN, Nickelodeon Latinoamerica, Univision, Telemundo, BeIN Sports, MediaPro, ICAIC, among others.

Shubham is an accomplished production sound mixer and designer with a keen ear for detail. With over three years of experience, he has had the privilege of collaborating with filmmakers based in India, Los Angeles and the UK. He thoroughly enjoys the creative freedom and artistic challenges that come with supporting emerging talents and helping them bring their visions to life through sound. Shubham is also the founder of Syncequips, a pioneering company that assists filmmakers in capturing pristine sound on set.