Announcing Our 2026 Film & TV Funding Award Judges

We are excited to unveil this year’s panel of judges for the 2026 Film & TV Funding Award!

We are delighted to welcome back resident judges, Whickers’ Consultant Editor, Jane Mote and Sheffield DocFest’s Raul Niño Zambrano.  For the first time we welcome Anna Berthollet from Lightdox, a Swiss and French based international sales and distribution agency representing powerful documentary storytelling.

Alongside them we welcome back for his third year in a row, David Green, Alan Whicker’s longest serving director on Whicker’s World, the hugely popular and influential British television documentary series that ran for over 30 years (1959–1994).  Also, for her third year in a row, we welcome back Fozia Khan, former BBC and Channel 4 executive, now Head of Unscripted at Amazon Studios UK.  They are joined by co-founder of LBx Africa and award-winning documentary filmmaker, Sam Soko.

Each member of this year’s panel brings deep experience from across the documentary landscape; from navigating funding and commissioning, to directing and overseeing production, and the vital worlds of sales and international distribution. Together they reflect the full journey of documentary storytelling, making them perfectly placed to select this year’s finalists.

Learn more about our panel below:

Anna Berthollet is an international sales and distribution expert specialising in creative documentaries.  After earning a Master’s degree in Media and Marketing Sciences from the University of Geneva, she then shifted to the documentary field and graduated from the École Documentaire de Lussas in 2013.  Since 2015, she has been dedicated to international distribution and today she oversees all activities at Lightdox.  Her particular focus is on Acquisitions, Theatrical and Impact Distribution. Alongside her work with filmmakers, Anna regularly mentors emerging talent and sits on international industry juries, supporting emerging talent and innovative voices in documentary cinema. 

David Green is a British film and television director, now living and working in Hollywood.  He has made over 100 feature films, TV dramas and documentaries, including directing 29 one-hour Whicker’s World docs for ITV, the first in Alaska when he was 28. Together they pioneered a new and more immediate way of telling documentary stories. David went on to direct the award-winning TV-film 1914 All Out, and the feature film, Buster (4 awards), with Phil Collins and Julie Walters.  Other movie-directing credits include Fire Birds starring Nicolas Cage & Tommy Lee Jones, Breathtaking and Car Trouble. David was interviewed on stage at the BFI as part of our centennial celebrations of Alan’s life and work. You can see it HERE

Fozia Khan is the Head of Unscripted at Amazon MGM Studios UK where she oversees a varied slate including All or Nothing, Clarkson’s Farm and Last One Laughing UK. Prior to joining Amazon, she was a Commissioning Editor for Documentaries at Channel 4 where she worked across 24 Hours in Police Custody and commissioned many fearless and ground-breaking documentaries such as Damilola: The Boy Next Door and Is Covid Racist?  Before becoming a commissioner, Fozia was a documentary producer for 16 years. Her production credits include The Family S1 (C4), The Audience (C4), Posh People: Inside Tatler (BBC 2) and Extremely British Muslims (C4).

Sam Soko is a Nairobi-based filmmaker known for socio-political and economic storytelling. His work has reached global audiences and premiered at major international festivals. An advocate for freedom of expression and equitable storytelling, he co-founded LBx Africa to amplify African perspectives and expand the global reach of African narratives.

Raul Niño Zambrano has been the Creative Director of Sheffield DocFest since 2023. Prior to this, he served as a Senior Programmer at IDFA, where his journey began in 2008. Over his thirteen-year tenure at IDFA, Raul conducted the pioneering study The Female Gaze (2014), exploring the role of women in documentary filmmaking, and launched the IDFA Queer Day in 2013. At Sheffield DocFest, Raul has led the introduction of TV documentary series premieres, the innovative Podcast Pitch, and most recently, the creation of the Queer Realities Director’s Lab, designed to inspire and push creative boundaries in queer non-fiction storytelling. 

Jane Mote has been Consultant Editor at The Whickers since it was founded 10 years ago. As well as directing and producing documentaries, she mentors and trains documentary makers the world over. She is currently Executive Producer for Blue Sweater With a Yellow Hole (Ukraine) and Concrete Land (Jordan).  She trained as a journalist on newspapers then worked in broadcast media creating and leading BBC London on tv, on radio and online before holding senior roles at commercial broadcasters (Discovery, Turner, UKTV and Current TV in the UK). She now focusses on documentary. 

The 2026 Whickers Pitch will take place at Sheffield DocFest on Sunday 14th June and our five finalists will be announced in mid-April.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE AWARD HERE