About OTOXO Productions

OTOXO Productions is an award winning documentary production company, founded in 2008 and based in Barcelona. We create character focused, narrative driven documentaries about contemporary social issues. Through our films we hope to raise the sound of unheard voices and shed a light on unseen faces.

OTOXO Films

We make feature length, medium and short documentaries. You can find our films on RakutenTV, The Guardian, El Pais, GuideDoc, TV3, Betevé, ZOOMIN TV, HUCK Magazine and here on the OTOXO Player. Our films also feature frequently in festivals across the globe.

INto INdustry Programme

Through our unique programme we give young, creative individuals a combination of rigorous training and professional filmmaking opportunities, and help them become film industry professionals in their own right.

Meet the OTOXO Team

John English

John English

Director / Co-Founder

John is the co-founder of OTOXO Productions, an multi-award winning production company, which creates character focused, narrative driven docs, centred around inspiring social struggle, defiant joy, and radical resistance.

 

John directs and produces films for broadcasters and platforms such as Filmin, The Guardian, TV3, RakutenTV, El Pais, & BTV, and his films have picked up prizes in festivals across the globe.

He most recently directed the award winning feature documentary, Unbound, about a group of abuse survivors from the ballet world, who start a radical, inclusive, new company to fight for justice and  ‘reclaim the stage’. It is a co-production with TV3 and had its world Premiere at DocsBarcelona, French premiere at  FIPADOC, North American premiere at ReFrame Film Festival, its Balkan Premiere at MakeDox, and won the Jury Prize at Central Scotland Doc Fest.  It has global distribution with Journeyman Pictures.

 

Beyond directing, he is also a producer and story consultant, working primarily with emerging talents.  He is currently collaborating with directors such as Carina Haouchine on her debut feature doc – Dungeon Masterhood – recently backed by ScreenScotland, and Priya Woods on her upcoming feature doc Still, Life, which won best Short at DocsBarcelona 2024.. John is a winner of East Doc Prize, the Edinburgh Pitch, and the DocsBarcelona Public Pitch.

 

Also, through OTOXO’s unique ‘INto INdustry’ programme John heads up a team that gives young, creative individuals a combination of rigorous training & professional filmmaking opportunities, to help them become industry professionals in their own right.  Additionally John provides workshops and masterclasses for delegates at some of Europe’s biggest festivals including Sheffield DocFest, DocsBarcelona and CPH:DOX.

Tom Garner

Tom Garner

Director / Co-Founder

Tom is the co-founder of OTOXO Productions, an award winning production company, based in Barcelona. creating character focused, narrative driven docs to raise the sound of unheard voices & shed a light on unseen faces.

 

He has created documentaries for broadcasters and platforms both in Spain & internationally, such as FILMIN, The Guardian, TV3, RakutenTV, El Pais & BTV, and his films have picked up prizes in festivals across the globe.

He most recently directed the feature documentary, Unbound, about a group of abuse survivors from the ballet world who walk out of toxic companies & start a radical, inclusive, supportive new company of their own. The film is a co-production with TV3 and had its world Premiere at DocsBarcelona, won the Jury Prize at Central Scotland Doc Fest, and has been selected by FIPADOC, Borderlines Film Festival, and Reframe Film Festival for 2025.  It has global distribution with Journeyman Pictures.

 

Also, through OTOXO’s unique ‘INto INdustry’ programme Tom heads up a team that give young,creative individuals a combination of rigorous training & professional filmmaking opportunities, & help them become industry professionals in their own right. Tom’s specific focus on the programme is cinematography and directing photography.

 

Beyond directing, he is also the producer on a number of shorts, such as Flamenco Ikigai with director Emanuel Massa, a winner at Halicarnassus film festival and Riders Uniting, with director Will Roberts, which featured in Huck Magazine.

Emma Van Vooren

Emma Van Vooren

Shoot Director

Emma is a documentary filmmaker and shoot director for OTOXO Productions. She holds a master’s degree in Film & Television from the SRH University in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Artevelde University of Applied Sciences in Ghent. Emma’s project, Wandering Womb , a docuseries exploring gender disparities in healthcare and the frequent misinterpretation of female health through the lens of male-centric research has recently received finding from …

Shannon Dias

Shannon Dias

Shoot Director

Shannon graduated from Greenwich University in 2015 with a BSc in Digital Film Production. She has worked in film and TV in London and Ireland, as well as freelancing as a videographer. After completing OTOXO Productions’ INto INdustry programme in 2021 – where she co-directed Si Cruzo and directed her short documentary Raíces – she joined OTOXO where she is now a shoot director. Alongside this, she continues to work independently as a director, editor, and videographer, developing documentaries and creating audiovisual content for various clients.