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Do you love movies? Want to learn how they’re made—and talked about? Join us for a series of creative workshops that will help you think like a director and film critic. Our workshop leaders, professionals in the field, will discuss the basics of visual storytelling, explore how documentaries turn real life into compelling films, and break down how to make film journalism connect with readers. Absolute beginners welcome—no experience needed. Just bring your curiosity and your love of cinema.
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Francesco Merini, director, has a degree in art history from DAMS in Bologna. He has directed numerous documentaries including The Madness of Others (2018), winner of the MigrArti call and presented at the Venice Film Festival, The Orchestra. Claudio Abbado and the Musicians of the Mozart Orchestra (2014) distributed worldwide by Euro Arts Berlin, and Palestine for Beginners (2012). His works have been broadcast on television, published on DVD, distributed in cinemas and have been screened in dozens of national and international festivals including Al Jazeera Film Festival, FIFA Montreal, Sacher Festival, Torino Film Festival, Biografilm Festival. He has held workshops at Dams in Bologna, and has been teaching at the storytelling school Bottega Finzioni since 2011. In 2005, he is a founding partner of Mammut Film, and creative producer of the documentaries Kemp (2019) by Edoardo Gabbriellini and San Donato Beach (2020) by Fabio Donatini.
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Martha Bird is a writer, filmmaker, and curator currently based in Rome. She holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the Universities of Bologna and Granada, and a BA in Literature, Politics and Philosophy from the Universities of Birmingham and Utrecht. Later studying cinema at the Art on the Run Film School in Berlin, Bird has worked extensively in documentary film and audio. Serving as a documentary script writer and researcher for BBC Radio 4 from 2018 to 2025, Bird has developed her own documentary film-making practice. As a filmmaker, she directed the documentary short film Lust For Life (2023), screened at the British Short Film Festival in Berlin, and co-wrote and co-produced the feature-length experimental documentary Mezzogiorno (2023–25), currently in post-production. Alongside her filmmaking, Bird has worked as a cultural journalist and critic, covering Berlinale (2024, 2025) and Rome Film Festival (2025) as lead journalist for FilmFest Report, writing for cinema on publications across Europe. Her curatorial work includes working as a curatorial assistant for the Hebden Bridge Film Festival, and as a production and curatorial assistant at the Hinterlands Film Festival.
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Workshop schedule
Friday, March 27
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• 10am-11am: Francesco Merini - Some Advice for First-time Documentary Filmmakers, part 1
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UNH, Murkland Hall G17
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Defining the difference between documentary and fiction cinema has been a major concern for many 20th-century theorists. No one managed to do it. However, this problem did not exist for directors such as Werner Herzog or Jean-Luc Godard, who stated that “all great fiction films tend towards documentary, just as all great documentaries tend towards fiction. And those who choose one inevitably find the other at the end of the journey”. For a documentary filmmaker, it is crucial to understand the difference between information and narration. In this workshop, we will analyse this central point and then embark on a journey to discover the great wealth of languages that documentary filmmakers have experimented with over time. All this in order to acquire the fundamental tools to tackle a documentary project.
Part 1 of this two-part series will provide a general introduction and focus on the theoretical aspects of documentary filmmaking. While participants are encouraged to attend both parts of this workshop series, those who can only attend one are very much welcome. |
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• 1pm-2pm: Martha Bird - The Art of the Review: Film Journalism & Festival Writing
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UNH, Hamilton Smith 205
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Who gets to shape the conversation around the films you love? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore the art and craft of film journalism: writing sharp, compelling reviews, conducting insightful interviews and developing a distinctive critical voice. You’ll learn how film festivals operate from a press perspective, how to pitch and publish your writing, and how thoughtful criticism shapes the life of a movie beyond the screen. With examples, exercises and practical tips, this session will give you the tools to start writing about cinema — whether it’s covering festivals, interviewing directors, or simply wanting to share your love of film with others.
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Saturday, March 28
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• 9am-12pm: Francesco Merini - Storytelling for Beginners. From Myth to Cinema
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UNH, Murkland Hall G17
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Narratives run through the entire history of humanity. The great semiologist Umberto Eco explained very clearly why: “This is the therapeutic function of fiction and the reason why humans have been telling stories since the dawn of humanity. Which is also the function of myths: to give form to the disorder of experience”. In the earliest mythical narratives, we can find universal roots and the meaning of storytelling. This workshop starts from here, analysing the fundamental ways in which stories have always been structured: infinite stories are in fact composed of finite structures, which every storyteller should know and master. The journey takes us from the origins to the birth of cinema, to discover how cinema itself needed time to become a great interpreter of our need for narratives.
Breakfast provided. |
Monday, March 30
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• 11am-12pm: Martha Bird - The Art of the Review: Film Journalism & Festival Writing (replica)
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UNH, Hamilton Smith 150
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Who gets to shape the conversation around the films you love? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore the art and craft of film journalism: writing sharp, compelling reviews, conducting insightful interviews and developing a distinctive critical voice. You’ll learn how film festivals operate from a press perspective, how to pitch and publish your writing, and how thoughtful criticism shapes the life of a movie beyond the screen. With examples, exercises and practical tips, this session will give you the tools to start writing about cinema — whether it’s covering festivals, interviewing directors, or simply wanting to share your love of film with others.
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Wednesday, April 1
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• 10am-11am: Francesco Merini - Some Advice for First-time Documentary Filmmakers, part 2
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UNH, Murkland Hall G17
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Defining the difference between documentary and fiction cinema has been a major concern for many 20th-century theorists. No one managed to do it. However, this problem did not exist for directors such as Werner Herzog or Jean-Luc Godard, who stated that “all great fiction films tend towards documentary, just as all great documentaries tend towards fiction. And those who choose one inevitably find the other at the end of the journey”. For a documentary filmmaker, it is crucial to understand the difference between information and narration. In this workshop, we will analyse this central point and then embark on a journey to discover the great wealth of languages that documentary filmmakers have experimented with over time. All this in order to acquire the fundamental tools to tackle a documentary project.
Part 2 of this two-part series will look more closely at specific examples of documentary filmmaking styles and techniques and explore practical applications. While participants are encouraged to attend both parts of this workshop series, those who can only attend one are very much welcome. |
Thursday, April 2
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• 2pm-3:30pm: Martha Bird - From Story to Screen: The Fundamentals of Screenwriting
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UNH, MUB Theater 2
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How do stories become films? This workshop explores writing as the foundation of filmmaking — from the first spark of an idea to the early stages of a screenplay. Through discussion, examples, and short writing exercises, we’ll look at why we tell stories, how narrative is shaped, and how ideas can be turned into cinematic structure. The session introduces the basics of writing for film, including story development, loglines, and screenplay formatting. Whether you dream of directing, studying film, or just love cinema, this workshop invites you to begin where all films begin: with words.
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Very special thank you to the UNH Center for the Humanities for making this Speakers Series possible |
