
SUE CARPENTER is a documentary filmmaker, writer and photographer, and the director of the BIFA-nominated feature documentary, I Am Belmaya (2021), about a young Nepali woman she met in 2006, when teaching photography to a group of disadvantaged girls in Pokhara. Sue’s film follows Belmaya's inspirational journey as she takes the movie camera and power into her own hands to change her story. The film has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the UK Asian Film Festival 2021 and Peloponnisos DocFest 2022.
Sue is Director of Tideturner Films, with the mission of making independent documentaries, particularly those that instigate social change and turn the tide on injustices against women. She is a keen supporter of her community and in 2019 completed the documentary, The Wonderful Walk, about the regeneration of Herne Hill Station Underpass and creation of a magnificent 40 metre mural.
Sue is a founder trustee of GlobalGirl Media UK, a charity that trains girls in digital media skills to change the male-dominated narrative in the media. As a trainer for GGMUK, Sue oversaw production and editing of her team's film Stealing Intimacy (2016), about revenge porn, which won a Gracie Award 2017. She oversaw another team's film The Perfect Woman? (2018), exploring society's damaging obsession with body image.
While studying at the City Lit's Film School and Documentary Filmmaking Course, Sue made two short films. There's Something About Molly, a tribute to her dog, Molly, was selected for the Dog Film Festival 2015 in New York, and won the award for Best Short Documentary at the Good Dog! International Film Festival 2016 in Sydney. Alice and Nana looks at Alice's motivation to run a 106km ultramarathon in memory of her cousin Nana.
As a journalist, Sue has written for many UK national publications such as You magazine, Harper's Bazaar, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Daily Mail and The Guardian, accompanied by her photos here and at the library Axiom. She has also written websites and books. She started her career in the features department of Harpers & Queen working with the legendary Ann Barr (author of the Sloane Ranger books) and wrote the first four editions of Courvoisier's Book of the Best, a guide to the best hotels, restaurants and shops around the world. Since 1994 she has combined freelance writing with travel, photography and charity work.
In 1996, following her campaigning article in the New Scientist about the crumbling city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India, she founded the UK charity Jaisalmer in Jeopardy, to help save the historic fortified city. She has delivered lectures on Jaisalmer at the Nehru Centre, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, all in London.
An article for You magazine in 1998 about the trafficking of innocent Nepali girls into the Indian sex trade led her to become a founder trustee of Asha Nepal, a British charity fighting for exploited women and girls in Nepal. On a field trip to Kathmandu, Sue met her adopted daughter, Simi, who came to live with her in London in 2002. Four years later, when Simi was six, they went to live for a year in Pokhara, Nepal, where Sue ran the project My World, My View, teaching photography to disadvantaged girls - which is where she met Belmaya, subject and co-director of their documentary I Am Belmaya.
Sue is Director of Tideturner Films, with the mission of making independent documentaries, particularly those that instigate social change and turn the tide on injustices against women. She is a keen supporter of her community and in 2019 completed the documentary, The Wonderful Walk, about the regeneration of Herne Hill Station Underpass and creation of a magnificent 40 metre mural.
Sue is a founder trustee of GlobalGirl Media UK, a charity that trains girls in digital media skills to change the male-dominated narrative in the media. As a trainer for GGMUK, Sue oversaw production and editing of her team's film Stealing Intimacy (2016), about revenge porn, which won a Gracie Award 2017. She oversaw another team's film The Perfect Woman? (2018), exploring society's damaging obsession with body image.
While studying at the City Lit's Film School and Documentary Filmmaking Course, Sue made two short films. There's Something About Molly, a tribute to her dog, Molly, was selected for the Dog Film Festival 2015 in New York, and won the award for Best Short Documentary at the Good Dog! International Film Festival 2016 in Sydney. Alice and Nana looks at Alice's motivation to run a 106km ultramarathon in memory of her cousin Nana.
As a journalist, Sue has written for many UK national publications such as You magazine, Harper's Bazaar, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Daily Mail and The Guardian, accompanied by her photos here and at the library Axiom. She has also written websites and books. She started her career in the features department of Harpers & Queen working with the legendary Ann Barr (author of the Sloane Ranger books) and wrote the first four editions of Courvoisier's Book of the Best, a guide to the best hotels, restaurants and shops around the world. Since 1994 she has combined freelance writing with travel, photography and charity work.
In 1996, following her campaigning article in the New Scientist about the crumbling city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India, she founded the UK charity Jaisalmer in Jeopardy, to help save the historic fortified city. She has delivered lectures on Jaisalmer at the Nehru Centre, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, all in London.
An article for You magazine in 1998 about the trafficking of innocent Nepali girls into the Indian sex trade led her to become a founder trustee of Asha Nepal, a British charity fighting for exploited women and girls in Nepal. On a field trip to Kathmandu, Sue met her adopted daughter, Simi, who came to live with her in London in 2002. Four years later, when Simi was six, they went to live for a year in Pokhara, Nepal, where Sue ran the project My World, My View, teaching photography to disadvantaged girls - which is where she met Belmaya, subject and co-director of their documentary I Am Belmaya.