Our Team

Director, Writer, Presenter

Waldemar Januszczak is Britain’s most distinguished art critic. Formerly the art critic of The Guardian newspaper, he is now the chief art critic of The Sunday Times, and has twice won the Critic of the Year award. Renowned for his feisty opinions, Waldemar is also an award-winning director and presenter of television arts documentaries, specialising in ambitious biographies and in-depth investigations of the great art movements. He has made over 40 films.

Editor

Thea graduated with a Masters degree in Post Production Editing from Bournemouth University, and has worked at ZCZ Films for over 6 years. Her credits include Handmade in Bolton, The Mystery of the Nativity, and Art’s Wildest Movement: Mannerism. Before moving to England she worked as an Edit Assistant and Junior Editor in Norway for Novemberfilm and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

Producer

Emily graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Dance BA (Hons) from Kingston University, and has worked at ZCZ Films since October 2022. Her credits include The Mystery of the Nativity and Art’s Wildest Movement: Mannerism. She developed an interest for filmmaking during the COVID pandemic while making films of her dance productions at university. This changed her career course as she found her interest and passion for producing, which she has been working on ever since. Find her films on Instagram.

Researcher

Lydia graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in History of Art in 2022. She has worked at ZCZ films since July 2024 and her credits include The Art Mysteries. She also works as a writer and curator, and her writing can be found here.

Production Accountant

Lesley McAteer (BSC RN FMAAT) has been the Production Accountant at ZCZ Films for 16 Years with a working history in TV and Film since 2000. Lesley started working in 1980 for Barclays Bank, remained there for 9 years, before then working in various companies and industries. Lesley is also Registered Nurse, having a BSC in Adult Nursing. Originally from London, now residing in Margate in Kent. Fun Fact: Lesley enjoys cold water swimming in the Sea in Margate, travelling, and walking.

Cameraman

Matt has been working with ZCZ Films since The Dark Ages, quite literally. His highlights include night shoots in an empty Sistine Chapel for The Renaissance Unchained, being driven around by Waldemar in a Ford Model A for Made In The USA and discovering the incredible details within Holbein’s work on a super-telephoto lens for The Culture Show Special. Full details at ukcameraman.co.uk

Sound Recordist

Haresh Patel is a sound recordist in documentary, drama, commercials and sound effects. As well as location sound, Haresh covers sound post production, sound design and final mixing.

Sound Recordist

Sean Plunkett has worked with ZCZ Films since 2013 on a number of productions, including Rococco: Travel, Pleasure, Madness, The Renaissance Unchained, Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA and The Mystery of the Nativity. Sean is based in London and works on a variety of TV productions, as well as online branded content. You can view his website for more information, seanplunkettsound.com.

Cameraman

Owen honed his skills on the mean streets of New York and Lodz at an early age, Roman Polanski once said "the film we met on was Rosmary's Baby but really the crew called it 'Owens baby" because of all the innovative and creative ideas he gave me which ultimately really made the film". Owen then moved on to work with Martin Scorsese on Taxi driver, Martin called him "a once in a generation talent" and went on to say "I just learnt so much from his lighting skills that were basically years ahead of their time". After the Shining (Kubrick), where Owen perfected the art of handheld ("like a floating camera, instinctive yet technically faultless" was how Stanley described his work. Owen then entered into a Tibetan monastery where he studied art ,yoga and  meditation for 5 years strengthening his body and mind for the next phase of his career.

The turning point came when he met Waldemar during a TED talks that Owen was presenting at and persuaded Waldemar to adopt a more modern approach to film making to attract a younger audience. Owen suggested using maps, props, close ups of his glasses and Yumi's rings to bring the films into the modern era. Since then Waldemar has gone from strength to strength. As Waldemar put it" he's a rough diamond, a maverick, the envelope pushing attitude, as well as a capacity to imbibe large amounts of seafood and fine wine has cemented a fruitful relationship. His help with the scripts and in depth knowledge about art are also invaluable" he chuckled.