Simon Kilmurry New Head of the IDA

Simon Kilmurry will be missed in pitching sessions around the world. He has several times been nominated as the best commissioning editor at idfa in Amsterdam. Personally I have had the pleasure to moderate sessions, where he was a panelist –  always a safe card to play, Kilmurry has always contributed with competence and passion for the documentary genre. Generous and unpretentious in his remarks to the pitching filmmakers.

I have no idea whether this means that the international profile that Simon Kilmurry has given POV will continue or not. Of course I hope it will go on so the Americans can watch good documentaries from outside the US.

Goes without saying that the IDA is happy to get Simon Kilmurry to lead the organization. Here is a clip from the press release sent out yesterday:

“The IDA is proud to announce Simon Kilmurry as our new Executive Director. Kilmurry joins IDA following an illustrious 16-year tenure in public television where he has served as Executive Producer at POV—the long-running PBS showcase of documentaries—since 2006 and Executive Director of American Documentary, POV’s non-profit parent organization. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the IDA.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the International Documentary Association,” said Kilmurry. “Documentary is one of the most exciting forms of cultural expression, it is absolutely vital to a thriving democracy, and I am deeply passionate about it. The IDA has never been better positioned to play a leadership role in the field, advocating for and providing support to filmmakers, and convening an international dialogue for filmmakers telling the most relevant stories of our time…””

For those of you who do not know IDA:

On the website of IDA, the mission is described like this: Documentary storytelling expands our understanding of shared human experience, fostering an informed, compassionate, and connected world. The International Documentary Association (IDA) is dedicated to building and serving the needs of a thriving documentary culture. Through its programs, the IDA provides resources, creates community, and defends rights and freedoms for documentary artists, activists, and journalists.

IDA is a membership organization, again from the website:

Be a part the IDA Family! As a filmmaker or industry professional you’ll get useful benefits including: discounts on our hands-on workshops, networking opportunities, eligibility for fiscal sponsorship, unlimited access to Doc U Online, and much more.

As a documentary film enthusiast, you’ll enjoy perks like our quarterly Documentary magazine and discounted admission to IDA events, including DocuDay, the IDA Documentary Awards and Doc U “Conversations with Filmmakers” programs.

http://www.documentary.org/blog/meet-our-new-executive-director-simon-kilmurry

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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