Christopher Hird is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He is chair of the Channel Four Britdoc Foundation (www.britdoc.org); a trustee of the Grierson Trust (www.griersontrust.org), the Wincott Foundation (www.wincott.co.uk) and the freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship (www.indexoncensorship.org). Dartmouth Films is his day job and his fourth career.

From university he went into The City to work as a stockbroker. When he got bored by this, he became a journalist working on The Economist, the New Statesman (of which he was deputy editor) and the Sunday Times, where he was editor of the investigative section, Insight. A casualty of the Murdoch regime, he moved into television starting as a reporter on Channel Four’s current affairs programme before co-founding Fulcrum TV, of which he was joint managing director for more than 20 years before it closed in 2007.

In January 2008 Christopher Hird started Dartmouth Films, of which he writes: In some ways, I felt that everything I had learnt in my previous work had prepared me for this: Finance, business, journalism, television. When we started Fulcrum we named it after Archimedes’ dictum 'Give me a place to stand, a lever and a fulcrum and I can move the world' because we saw documentary and television’s potential to take people to places – intellectual, emotional, cultural and geographical – to which they would not otherwise go. And, in so doing, we hoped to play a part in making the world a better informed, a more liberal and a more tolerant place. Increasingly we found it harder and harder to get broadcasters to fund such films and programmes. But I noticed several paradoxical aspects to this situation. First, there was clearly a need for films in this tradition and there was a taste for them – from the public and – when the films had been made – from broadcasters too. Second, many of the forces which reduced broadcasters’ willingness to fund such films, created the opportunity to reach markets without the broadcasters, through the web and other forms of digital distribution. And third, there were a number of foundations, charities and individuals who were willing to fund such films.

It was from these observations, that Dartmouth Films was born. My aim is to make – and help others make – films which will make a difference: which will tell people things they don’t know, will help change attitudes and change the society in which we live. But an integral part of this is also to do it differently – to fund and distribute the films using methods other than simply television money and a television transmission. In the noisy media world in which we live, one or two showings on television are not going to be enough to get noticed. A key part of this is working in partnership – with individuals, with other production companies and with NGOs, foundations and other organisations outside television. I can bring three things to these projects: First, considerable editorial skill and judgement, including grappling with complex compliance issues. Second, an in- depth knowledge of the UK television and documentary industry and the main personalities in it. Third, a lot of experience in devising different ways of funding films and shepherding them on to television screens.

Listen to an interview with Christo on the Little Atoms show on Resonance FM.
http://www.littleatoms.com/christohird.htm

Rachel has worked on a variety of observational, investigative, and social documentaries for BBC, Channel 4, PBS, and Al Jazeera. She is currently producing Dartmouth Films’ The Top Banana.

Among her screen credits is the award-winning feature documentary Who Am I? The Found Children of Argentina. The film traces the personal stories of several children whose parents were brutally murdered, and themselves were kidnapped during Argentina's 'Dirty War' of 1976-83. Being taken from their parents at an early age, they are now, as young adults, only just finding out their real identities and getting to know who they are. The film is set against the background of the democratic government of Nestor Kirchner and the military trials that are finally bringing the perpetrators to justice.