ITV has announced the return of Fresh Cuts, the single feature-documentary strand, to be shown in October 2023 on ITV1 as part of the channel’s Black History Month programming, with four up-and-coming filmmakers unveiled who will be making their debut documentaries for ITV1.
ITV also confirmed today the appointment of Shurwin Beckford to oversee the strand for Multistory Media, as series producer.
AWe Are Parable will also be coming on board for the strand, to deliver support for the filmmakers, as well as championing the films through marketing and outreach in their network around launch.
In addition to the support from We Are Parable, ITV’s Diversity and Inclusion team will also be providing ongoing support throughout the process with bespoke sessions, and networking opportunities for the selected filmmakers.
Making their debut documentary features for network television are the selected producer/directors for 2023 – Jordan Thomas, Salomé-Dior Williams, Jessicah North, and Archie Onobu.
Fresh Cuts 2023 will again be produced by ITV Studios owned Multistory Media, with Head of Documentaries and Current Affairs, Mike Blair, as executive producer. Satmohan Panesar and Lara Akeju from ITV’s commissioning team, are joint Commissioning Editors on this year’s series. The films will also be funded via ITV’s £80m Diversity Commissioning Fund which was launched early last year.
The first Fresh Cuts films were broadcast in October 2022 on ITV. Filmmakers Louise Coleman, Yemi Adegbulu, Daniel Dempster, Jason Osborne and David Adeyemi were selected for their innovative, contemporary ideas capturing Black Britishness for their first network long-form documentary for ITV1.
Lara Akeju, Commissioning Editor said “The first series of Fresh Cuts succeeded in uncovering talent and supported ITV’s goal of improving representation in our industry. With Shurwin on board, and the backing of We Are Parable, our new directors stand an even greater chance of making an impact. I’m looking forward to working with these future filmmakers.”
Nahrein Kemp, Creative Diversity Partner said “It was a real pleasure to work with such talented filmmakers for the first Fresh Cuts strand and we are delighted to have found four talented new voices in Archie, Jessicah, Salome- Dior and Jordan.”
Anthony Andrews from We Are Parable says “We Are Parable are delighted to collaborate with ITV on the next iteration of Fresh Cuts. We look forward to working with the chosen filmmakers and providing them with the support they need when creating their documentaries, as well as bringing the finished films to our audiences later in the year.”
(Image left to right – Jordan Thomas, Salome- Dior Williams, Jessicah North and Archie Onobu)
Jon Creamer
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