Devichand to head docs at Mindhouse

Mindhouse has announced the appointment of international filmmaker Aloke Devichand as Head of Documentaries, joining production company co-founded by Louis Theroux, Arron Fellows, Nancy Strang and Sophie Ardern.

Devichand previously led Netflix’s original documentary slate across Asia.

The newly created role comes as Mindhouse bolsters its international growth, ahead of debuting a new feature length documentary at the Hamptons International Film Festival next month, Sky & Topic co-production Tell Them You Love Me. Other upcoming global titles include Columbia: The Final Flight for CNN and the BBC and Lockerbie for Sky.

During a four year tenure at Netflix, Devichand was responsible for commissioning The Elephant Whisperers, the first Indian-produced film to win an Academy Award and Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice which won the International Emmy for best documentary, as well as hit series such as The Hunt for Veerappan and House of Secrets, and doc features including 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case, Blackpink: Light Up the Sky and King of Clones.

Devichand was previously a global commissioner for Al Jazeera English’s flagship human interest strand Witness, helped launch the Webby-winning digital platform AJ+ in San Francisco, and was a planning producer at CNN International’s broadcast hub in Hong Kong.

Since returning to London last year after a decade in Asia and the US, he has overseen ambitious documentaries at Rogan Productions and Mindhouse as a freelance executive producer.

Aloke Devichand said: “I am thrilled to be joining the fantastic team at Mindhouse. Having worked with them over the past year as a freelance exec producer, I’ve been struck by the company’s creativity, dynamism and empowering work culture. I can’t wait to begin this new role and be part of its next wave of captivating and thought-provoking docs”.

Mindhouse said: “We are delighted that Aloke is going to be joining the Mindhouse team on a permanent basis. He has a brilliant track record and we’re looking forward to cultivating new international partnerships and expanding our documentary slate with him on board. Most importantly, he’s a joy to work with.”