TEAM
Gemma Atwal - Producer & Director
Gemma has worked as a freelance director and producer on a variety of international factual and observational documentaries. She has also spent three years working as a development producer for independent UK production houses, earning commissions in human interest, wildlife & adventure, and science programming. Prior to documentary work, Gemma spent four years working as a business journalist in West Africa and South-East Asia for the NOA Media Group in Madrid. She is co-partner in One Horse Town Productions. MARATHON BOY is her first feature documentary. In her spare time, Gemma is a keen runner and snowboarder.
Matt Norman - Producer & DOP
Over the last twenty years, Matt has filmed in all terrains and climates, from the jungles of the Congo to the Amazon and Arctic. Adept in hostile environments, he specializes in both human interest and adventure-wildlife documentary film-making. Matt is co-partner of One Horse Town Productions and has received commissions and produced independent observational films for UK television. He also shoots music promos and commercial spots – clients include: Apple Europe, Def Jam, Island Records America & Ridley Scott Associates.
Documentary credits include: Planet Earth “Pole to Pole” - BBC (Winner Best Cinematography Non-Fiction: EMMY/ RTS / BAFTA/ Jackson Hole); Amazon with Bruce Parry - BBC/ Discovery (BAFTA nominated for best Factual Photography); “Going Tribal” - BBC (BAFTA nominated) and the “Human Planet” – BBC (2011 BAFTA Winner for best Factual Photography).
Alan Hayling - Executive Producer
Prior to forming Renegade Pictures Alan Hayling was Head of Documentaries at the BBC. At the BBC, he was responsible for a wide range of factual programmes shown across all the BBC’s television channels. Whilst there, he and Jon Rowlands co-created Mischief: a populist six part investigative series for BBC3 and Alan executive produced the multi-awarding winning documentary Children of Beslan.
Previously Alan was Editorial Director at Mentorn, one of the UK’s largest producers of factual programmes. There he expanded its range of programming by launching a science department, a factual drama department and factual entertainment group. He initiated the reality show "Paradise Hotel" for Fox, and drama-documentaries like "The Hamburg Cell" for Channel 4 and HBO.
Prior to Mentorn, Alan spent ten years as a Commissioning Editor for Documentaries at Channel 4. He was the Channel 4 executive in charge of work by some of our top filmmakers including Errol Morris’s "Dr Death", Phil Agland’s "Shanghai Vice" and Molly Dineen’s film "Geri", Michael Moore’s series "The Awful Truth" and commissioned his hit film "Bowling for Columbine".
Peter Haddon - Film Editor
Peter specialises in feature length documentary, whose body of work and passion is for telling stories about extraordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. ‘Marathon Boy’ exemplifies this tradition. Previous examples of his acclaimed work include: ‘A State of Mind’, ‘Crossing The Line’, ‘The John Akii Bua Story.’
Peter has recently been BAFTA nominated for his work on “Battle for Haiti”.
Gary Hughes - Composer
Garry Hughes is a composer, producer and musician with over twenty five years’ experience in the record industry. He has worked with international artists as diverse as Bjork, Killing Joke, Tina Turner and Sly and Robbie. As a remixer, he has worked with many artists including Bob Marley, Nusrat Fateh, Ali Khan, Azam Ali and Dizzy Gillespie. He has also scored several films and written documentary scores for the BBC, ITV, Channel four in the UK and Discovery and History channels in the USA.
Some six years ago, along with Andrew T Mackay, he formed the Bombay Dub Orchestra whose recordings typically feature over forty-five musicians from the UK and India. Their albums are released on San Francisco based label Sixdegrees Records.
Purusottam Singh Thakur - Assistant Producer
Purusottam Singh Thakur is a journalist and a documentary assistant producer, currently working as the Editor, Rural Affairs for MBC TV in Bhubaneswar, Orissa State, India. He is also a fellow of PanosSouthAsia. He has worked for 8 years with NDTV and 10 years with Indian print media in different capacites. As well as working on Marathon Boy, Purusottam has worked for many other documentary film-makers as translator, fixer and assistant producer.
Miranda Durrant - Production Manager
Miranda Durrant is a Senior Production Manager who has worked for Renegade Pictures since 2009. Prior to working on Marathon Boy, she has worked on a range of documentaries for many UK and International Broadcasters including “The Girl With 8 Limbs”, for Channel 4 and “Closing Guantanamo” for the BBC. She has also worked for Paramount Films for their International home entertainment division. She lives in Norfolk and likes working on her allotment in her spare time.
