Short Bio
I am a globally-respected expert in production and post-production, with a wealth of management experience, a passion for education and earned a PhD at Edinburgh University in 2018. As a senior lecturer at the Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAs), I have taught film and TV production since 2009 and obtained full tenured since 2012.
I currently serve as chair of the BUAs Creative Business participation council and as external examiner for Nord University in Norway. At BUAS, I specialise in documentary filmmaking and impact producing. Productions include “A Safe Haven,” a short documentary about refugee children in the Netherlands, and “God, Church, Pills & Condoms,” a film exploring teenage pregnancies in the Philippines. My documentary “The old normal is killing us” premiered at the 2021 Australian GBIENNALE GECO21 International Festival.
In spring 2020, I had the opportunity to serve as visiting Associate Professor at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), where I designed and taught courses in video journalism, documentary production, and poetic documentary production.
Prior to my academic career, I gained valuable experience in the film and TV industry in the UK, where I received my MA in film and TV production from the Northern Media School at Sheffield Hallam University and my PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
I worked as a location manager on the Channel 4 UK feature film Prometheus, and held various leadership positions in post-production, including head of post-production at Bigfoot Entertainment, where I set up the only Dolby-certified cinema mixing stage in the Philippines.
As assistant director for production and post-production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Singapore campus I worked under Oliver Stone and David Irving. I served as head of productions at the Lux Centre and as post-supervisor for Studio Babelsberg in Berlin on Wim Wenders’ documentary Soul of a Man and Jackie Chan’s 80 Days Around the World.
Selected Achievements – extended bio
Invited Lord David Puttnam to give a speech via Skype to celebrate the 10th anniversary of BUAS, University of Applied Sciences, Breda, Netherlands.
I contributed to the internationalisation of BUAS by recommending media experts and teachers to the school. (i.e. producer Arleen Cuevas, senior lecturer Stephen Paine, documentary filmmaker Koen Suidgeest now work for BUAS. Guest speakers include Oscar winner Greg Curda)
I am course responsible for the flagship TV production programme collaborating with our partner school Bournemouth University, UK. In seven weeks students develop, produce and stream a 30 minute live TV show.
Set up of New York Universities high-profile Tisch Asia Film Programme in Singapore under Oliver Stone. Planned and set up Bigfoot Entertainments Dolby certified post facilities, Cebu, Philippines.
Successful post-production negotiations and strategy implementation on behalf of Studio Babelsberg with Walden Media for ’80 Days around the World’, featuring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Bronze and Finalist Award at the Houston Film Festival. Official selection for documentaries at International Film Festival Sedona USA, Hanoi International Film Festival Vietnam and Cinemalaya Manila Philippines.
Professional Experience
Since February 2009:
Senior Lecturer, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Breda, Netherlands. (www.buas.nl) Teaching Film & TV production, social media and documentary film. Obtained full tenure in 2012.
January to May 2020:
Visiting Professor at the American University in Bulgaria teaching journalism and documentary production.
July 2007 – February 2009:
Assistant Director for Production and Post-production, New York University, Singapore under Oliver Stone (www.tisch.nyu.edu/tisch-asia). Building up and providing post- and production support for NYU students and staff. In charge of all production facilities and technical workshops.
December 2005 – July 2007:
Head of Post-production. Relocated from Europe to Cebu to lead Bigfoot Post-Productions. In charge of a team of 35 editors, CGI-artists and trainees. (www.bigfootentertainment.com) Mentor at the IAFT (www.filmschool.ph)
December 2003 – November 2005:
Teacher. Development and implementation of O-level curriculum to German Youth at risk at the German Youth project Casa Enrique in Benissa. Developing the projects website, producing project promotional video. (www.casahenrique.com) Media production for DVD and internet distribution. Website hosting, maintenance and design.
January, 2003 – September, 2003:
Post-production Coordinator at Studio Babelsberg (www.studiobabelsberg.com), coordinating international projects such as 80 Days around the World, featuring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Cleese. Promo-production for the studios website.
December, 2001 – September, 2002:
Teacher. Media education as part of my social engagement for juvenile delinquents in Spain for Esperanza Juvenil, Altea, Spain. Duties included media training, website development and production of promotional media.
June 2001:
Freelance, London Producer. Pre-production and production of German Soap ‘Marienhof’ for Bavaria Studios, managing and coordinating the production team.
November, 2000 – May, 2001:
Producer at iBeam Europe, London. Supervised field production team, consisting of Senior Encoder, Network Engineer, 2 AV-technicians, 2 Camera Operators and 4 freelance team members throughout Europe. Produced live and on-demand web-casts, including:
- the Merrill Lynch Auto show conference in Genève,
- the State Street Bank conference in Florence,
- the Credit Suisse and First Boston conferences in Barcelona.
April, 1999 – November, 2000;
Head of Production, Lux centre, London. Produced work for new British talent such as James Callis. (Bridget Jones’ Diary) Managed events of established artists such as Blur’s 10th anniversary exhibition and Bjoerk. Management experience for high profile artists such as Turner Award nominees The Wilson Twins, Brian Eno, etc. Developed information architecture for Lux facilities website. Negotiated a £ 125 thousand acquisition with Avid Europe saving the Lux £ 30 thousand in the process. Designed ongoing in-house training program. Managed team of 9 AV-technicians, over 15 freelance camera operators, and sound recordists.
1997 – 1998
Location Manager, Holmes Associates (Channel 4). Organised feature film production requiring 6 meter tall, golden statue of the Greek god Prometheus which was transported across Europe with a crew of 25. Conducted strategic coordination with local government and police. Safely produced a night-shoot at the Dynamo Dresden football stadium requiring unusual and potentially hazardous aerial photography.
1996 – 1997
Floor Manager, The Weather Channel, London. Promoted to Floor Manager 4 month after beginning work as Transmission Controller. Scheduled presenters and studio teams. In charge of maintenance and acquisition of studio equipment. Learned to stay calm under pressure. Successfully lead and motivated a team of 3 transmission controllers and 4 studio operators.
1986-1988
Civilian employee to the US armed forces at their warehouse and maintenance facility. (US Army 89th Maintenance Unit, Böblingen, Germany)
Time out and travel
From 1989 until 1990 I travelled across Europe and the US.
Volunteer work: 1995: 2 month volunteer teacher at the Feltham Young Offenders Institute.
Education
2011-2018
PhD exploring how social media is changing the value chain in documentary production at University of Edinburgh, School of Design.
1995 – 1996
MA in Film and TV production under the supervision of Alan Fountain, former head of Channel 4, at Northern Media School (NMS), Sheffield, UK.
1992 – 1995
BA(Hons) in Film & Video at Surrey Institute of Art & Design (SIAD), Farnham, UK.
1990 – 1991
Pimlico Arts & Media, Pimlico, London. Vocational video production training, covering basic studio and location production.
1976 – 1985
High School in Germany, Boeblingen. Equivalent to 5 ‘A’-levels in Latin, Arts, Ethics, Physics, English and History. (Reifepruefung)
Other Achievements and Skills
Freelance Lecturer in professional practices at the Surrey Institute, the University of the Philippines, the Kensington and Chelsea Media Project. External examiner for Nord University, Norway. Fluent in German and English, conversational in Dutch and Spanish. Apple Mac, Linux and Windows user, knowledge of Word, Excel. Completed online ’Writing for Impact’ course at udemy.com.
Teaching approach
I am less of a lecturer and more of a coach and who likes to ‘flip the classroom’. I discover new knowledge together with my students in small groups and prefer more contact time with students rather than less. Topics include content development, production, post-production and social media with a special focus on factual programming, documentary film and impact producing.