Daniela KON is EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/ PRODUCER/CINEMATOGRAPHER/ CONSULTANT

Kon is an award winning documentary filmmaker, producer, cinematographer, and consultant with expertise in global humanitarian development. She is driven by the belief in the value of film and creative media as a tool for change, and the subversive potential of social impact documentary, a genre that makes the obvious unfamiliar and animates an understanding of the subjective underlying structures that make up social and ideological realities.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Kon has worked with aid organizations in Cambodia, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Israel, Liberia and Senegal since 2005, creating documentaries and advocacy media about humanitarian and human rights issues. Her film credits range from the award winning documentary TALIBE, the United Nations FAO Ending Hunger Campaign, and the UN Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), to collaborations with grassroots initiatives in Education, Volun-tourism, Youth Leadership, Girls and Women's Empowerment, Water Management, Children's Rights, and Modern-day Slavery. Kon is a member of the US based Creative Activist Community of Creative Visions Foundation, and a freelance consultant for social impact media productions and non-profits, while her films screen at educational and cultural institutions worldwide.

Kon completed her BA in Media and Cultural Studies (w/First Class Honors), and MA in Documentary Production (w/Merit) at The London College of Communications and Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2003 she worked as a production assistant for Killer Films in New York. In 2004/2005 she worked for Emmy award-winning director Marc Levin's NYC Production company, Blowback Productions, and was the researcher and assistant editor for "Protocols of Zion," an Official Sundance Selection. She founded DEEDA Productions in 2006 and has worked in the human rights and development sector ever since.

Dedicated to merging film and philanthropy, Kon's debut feature documentary ‘Changing the World on Vacation - NGO's and the Politics of Compassion' explores the potholes that stand in the way of doing aid work responsibly and raises crucial questions about the nature of giving and each individual's potential to be an activist for change. Awarded Best International Documentary at the British Film Festival Los Angeles 2009, the documentary is made available for audiences and educational institutions worldwide.

Kon's most recent documentary TALIBE- The Least Favored Children of Senegal explores the exploitation of Quranic school children in Senegal (young boys between 4-15 years old) who are forced to beg by their teachers and suffer abuse in conditions akin to slavery. The film premiered at The United Nations Assoc. Film Festival (Stanford University 2011), is currently screening at International Human Rights Film Festivals and Development Conferences, and won Best Documentary and Best Cinematography at the International Movie Awards 2012.

In 2012, Kon founded the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA), an annual global film competition championing creative works of visual storytelling that inspire activism, compassion and social-transformation.
Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA)
http://socialimpactmediaawards.com/?page_id=247

As Executive Director of DEEDA and SIMA, Kon is committed to advance the culture of social-impact filmmaking and to supporting filmmakers and change-makers in their work. She is currently producing a documentary about transgender identity-politics with director Roger Horn, and is developing the SIMA distribution network, which seeks to maximise impact and exposure for SIMA selected films, through partner festivals, advocacy forums, outreach screenings, and targeted audience engagement.

FILMOGRAPHY

PENDING PROJECTS

Miss Wakorlor
DEEDA Productions 2013

The Making of TJ - Tatjana Palkovitz, Experimental Retrospective

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / DP

STORIES FROM THE FIELD: Bangladesh
DEEDA Productions/ RDA 2012

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / DP / EDITOR

TALIBE - The Least Favored Children of Senegal
DEEDA Productions 2011
WINNER - Best Documentary (IMA 2012)
WINNER - Best Cinematography (IMA 2012)

PEPY Tours INFO Video PEPY 2010
Opportunity Collaboration - CNN1 2010

Meeting Mickey - RDI Cambodia
Mickey Sampson Foundation 2010

Tedx Co-inspiring the Future - Lovetta Conto
The Strongheart Fellowship 2010

PRODUCER

United Nations 1Billion Hungry Campaign PSA
UNFAO 2010

DIRECTOR / DP

United Nations GCARD - Bangladesh
Visiontime/ UNFAO 2010

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / DP

Changing the World on Vacation - NGOs and the Politics of Compassion (DEEDA 2009 / 2012)
WINNER - Best Intl' Documentary (BFFLA 2009)

Dubai Cares Promo Dubai Cares 2009

Volunteer Globally Short Film Dubai Cares 2009

The PEPY Ride Notre Dame Social Venture Business Competition Video PEPY 2006

RESEARCHER

O.G.- Original Gangster Blowback Productions 2005

DP

Kooks
Directed by Matt Smith/New York 2005

RESEARCHER / ASSISTANT EDITOR

Protocols of Zion HBO/THINK Films 2005
Official Sundance Selection 2005

Who Killed Christa Worthington HBO 2004

ASSISTANT EDITOR / PA

Last Party 3000: Featuring Andre 3000
MTV/HBO 2004

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Back In The Hood
HBO 2004

Crobar: NYC Nightlife
HBO 2004

Dizzy Rascal Concert Video
Blowback Productions 2004

A Dirty Shame Fine Line Features 2004

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / EDITOR

Maya Saban Live in Concert
Courtesy of Virgin Records/ Frankfurt 2004

4.2 Music Video/ Paris 2004

Our Root Documentary Short/ London 2003

Women who Seek to be Equal with Men Lack Ambition Documentary Short/ London 2003

Source:
http://deedaproductions.com/daniela-kon-biofilmography/