The Worldwide Documentary Affiliation has added 4 members to its board, bringing the whole of distinguished figures serving in that capability to 17.
The brand new members introduced Wednesday embody Jonathan Grey, lawyer and producer; Susan Margolin, producer and a pioneer of digital distribution; Jennifer Tiexiera, filmmaker and co-founder of Girl & Chook, and Katie Townsend, litigator and former deputy govt director & authorized director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The 4 be a part of present board members Ina Fichman (president), Chris Albert (secretary), Maria Agui-Carter (treasurer), Alfred Clinton Perry, Bob Berney, Paula Ossandón Cabrera, Inti Cordera, Toni Kamau, Orwa Nyrabia, Chris Perez, Nathalie Seaver, Joel Simon, and Luis González Zaffaroni.
“Jennifer, Jonathan, Katie, and Susan carry deep information and a shared dedication to advocacy for documentary filmmakers,” commented board president Ina Fichman. “With eleven new members within the final eighteen months, spanning seven international locations, our board represents extra areas of experience and expertise than it has in years — higher positioning us to characterize the total breadth of the group we serve.”
Dominic Asmall Willsdon serves as govt director of the IDA. In a press release, he mentioned, “The documentary group is navigating actual pressures proper now — on inventive freedom, on the flexibility to achieve audiences, and the security of filmmakers doing harmful work. The expertise and dedication of this board make IDA higher outfitted to defend the wants of the sector.”
Worldwide Documentary Affiliation
The IDA, headquartered in Los Angeles, helps the nonfiction filmmaking group by a number of packages: it offers manufacturing and growth grants on to documentary filmmakers, helps them fundraise for his or her initiatives by its Fiscal Sponsorship Program, hosts year-round occasions that includes conversations “with seasoned filmmakers and trade leaders, in addition to academic seminars for documentarians of all expertise ranges to develop professionally by enhancing their information of the craft and enterprise of nonfiction filmmaking,” in line with the nonprofit’s web site.
It publishes Documentary journal, hosts the annual IDA Documentary Awards and mounts the biennial Getting Actual convention, “the one peer-to-peer gathering of its form in North America.” Moreover, “As an advocate for documentary artists, activists and journalists, IDA points statements, calls to motion and op-eds, and coordinates with different organizations, networks and people, relying on the problems being addressed.”
Background on the 4 new IDA board members:
Jonathan Grey has been an lawyer, producer, and advisor within the documentary movie group for over 30 years. He has produced and govt produced quite a few documentary movies, together with Nervousness Membership (2024); Past the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Concern (2024); Afghan Dreamers (2022); Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Dialog (2020); and Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Journey (2011).
Susan Margolin is an award-winning documentary movie producer and a pioneer of digital distribution, with over 25 years of expertise in unbiased movie and media. She co-founded New Video/Docurama Movies in 1992, rising it into a number one distributor of unbiased movies, collection, and documentaries earlier than promoting the corporate to Cinedigm in 2012. In 2016, Margolin based St. Marks Productions, producing critically acclaimed function movies together with HBO’s A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Capturing and Academy Award-shortlisted Determined Souls, Darkish Metropolis, and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (directed by Nancy Buirski).
Jennifer Tiexiera is an award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Girl & Chook, a female-led documentary manufacturing firm centered on telling tales from underrepresented voices. She is understood for guiding Communicate! (2025), Rebbeca (2025), Emmy-nominated HBO collection Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo; Topic (2022), and PS Burn This Letter Please (2020). Her upcoming documentary The Jet examines the lifetime of kickboxer Benny “The Jet” Urquidez.
Katie Townsend is a associate within the Los Angeles space and Washington, D.C. workplaces of Gibson Dunn, a member of the agency’s Litigation and Media, Leisure & Know-how Follow teams, and Co-Chair of the agency’s First Modification and Free Expression Follow group. An achieved litigator with intensive expertise in media and First Modification regulation, Townsend’s apply focuses on representing and advising particular person and company shoppers within the media, leisure, and know-how industries. Townsend beforehand served because the Deputy Govt Director & Authorized Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, overseeing the non-profit group’s authorized companies portfolio.
