Investigative journalist Fergal Keane has joined forces with a trio of experienced factual execs to launch a documentary-focused indie.
Keane, who left the BBC in February after 37 years as a journalist with the corporation, has unveiled Lightkeeper Films, which carries the strapline “brave storytelling when truth is under siege”.
Keane said the company is dedicated to making “world-class documentaries”, adding: “The stories will be aiming at the heart of things. Big themes. Lives in all their fascinating variety.”
The correspondent’s storied career includes Emmy, RTS and Bafta awards and an OBE for his reporting of the Rwandan genocide.
Keane has co-founded Lightkeeper with French filmmaker Alice Doyard, who has specialised in Ukraine and the Middle East and previously directed BBC1’s 2023 doc Brave Britain with Fergal Keane and this year’s The Road to Hope with Fergal Keane. She also won an Oscar in 2021 as creative producer on documentary short Colette.
Joining them is head of production Jess Butler, who was previously production manager for current affairs strand BBC Eye. She has previously worked for Netflix, Shine and Vice and was one of the founders of Economist Films.
Lightkeeper’s executive producer is Sam Collyns, who worked with Keane and Doyard on Brave Britain and The Road to Peace and has clocked up credits on Panorama and Dispatches and executive produced several docs about Iraq and Northern Ireland.
