Two New Trustees Join the Board

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The Grierson Trust – guardians of the British Documentary Awards – announced two new appointments to its Board today. James Hunt and Chris Harris join the Board of Trustees, chaired by Dawn Airey.

Dawn Airey said: "The Grierson Trust’s aim is to promote and celebrate documentary making in all its forms both on the small and big screen, so I’m delighted to announce the appointment of two new Trustees who bring expertise from both the television and cinema industries.

"James Hunt brings a wealth of knowledge and experience spanning production and commissioning, whilst Chris’ expertise in cinema gives him a unique insight in the trends and audiences for feature docs. It will be very exciting to work alongside both of them."

Channel Director of Sky Arts, James Hunt was previously head of programming for Sky Arts. Prior to this, he was an Executive Producer at Liberty Bell working on projects including Mariella Frostrup's The Book Show on Sky Arts. Other experience includes producing, editing and exec producing This Morning; helping to devise Loose Women and creating Better Homes, Better Gardens and Antiques Auction. He was Controller of Daytime and Lifestyle for Granada and Director of Programming for Granada Sky Broadcasting.

Chris Harris has worked as a cinema programmer for City Screen since 2007. City Screen is the owner and operator of Picturehouse Cinemas, Britain’s largest circuit of Independent cinemas. Formed in 1989, to challenge the modern multiplex, City Screen provides cinemas in city centre locations to serve local communities and offer a broader range of films. In 2009, Chris helped to launch the Picturehouse DOCS programming strand, which works with distributors and filmmakers to bring the best in documentary film to cinema screens. Films featured as part of Picturehouse DOCS include Burma VJ, Erasing David, The First Movie and Just Do It.

James and Chris will serve their three year tenures alongside fellow Trustees Emma Hindley, Charlotte Moore, Terry Back, John Battsek, Emily Bell, Mandy Chang, Simon Dickson, George Duffield, Jill Franklin and Christopher Hird.

The Grierson Trust exists to promote the best in documentary filmmaking. Established to commemorate the work of pioneering Scottish film maker John Grierson (1898–1972), the man widely regarded as the father of the documentary, the Trust both spearheads educational and mentoring initiatives for aspiring filmmakers through its educational programme, and celebrates the best documentary filmmaking from Britain and abroad through the annual British Documentary Awards.

The annual Grierson Awards recognise outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence, and social or cultural significance. The list of past winners – which includes Norma Percy, Molly Dineen, Olivia Lichtenstein, Nick Broomfield, Kim Longinotto, Paul Watson, Angus Macqueen and Pawel Pawlikowski - is testament to the high standard of work which is celebrated through these awards. They are the ultimate UK prizes for documentary film makers from across the globe.