Mette Hoffman Meyer

Mette Hoffman Meyer (born 1957) is a Danish documentary film producer. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark she is CEO of The Why Foundation, cofounder with an American-born British film director. Mette was previously head of documentaries and co-productions at Denmark’s public service broadcasting cooperation, DR, and commissioning editor of the factual series Dokumania on DR channel 2.

Early life Hoffman Meyer was born in Tebbestrup, Denmark, near the Jutland town of Randers, in 1957. When Hoffman Meyer was 11, her father, who managed the Thor brewery in Randers, was killed in an unguarded railroad crossing, and the family moved from their countryside home to an apartment.

After a couple of years, Hoffman Meyer moved to Copenhagen. including in the TV entertainment programs Eleva2ren and Fak2ren. She co-founded the documentary slot “Dokumania” in 2008, which shows a combination of Danish-made and internationally acquired documentaries. She helped finance films like the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, The Queen of Versailles, and the U.S.-Danish co-productions Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer and the Sundance award-winning film The Red Chapel. The Why is a nonprofit organization produces and distributes social justice-oriented documentary films world-wide. Their documentary series Why Poverty?, a series of eight films, aired by 70 broadcasters, reaching 180 countries and more than 500 million people worldwide. In their fourth documentary series called Why Slavery?, the films reached 191 countries through 70 TV stations, including BBC and BBC World News.

Hoffman Meyer has served as executive producer on the films Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), India’s Daughter (2015), Democrats (2016) and the Oscar-nominated film Last Men in Aleppo (2017), among others.

Awards In 2015 Hoffman Meyer was the recipient of the Doc Mogul award for her outstanding contributions to documentary film. Hoffman Meyer received the award along with Nick Fraser and Don Edkins.

Personal life Hoffman Meyer married Finn Meyer in 1984. Finn is an international senior partner at KPMG. Together they have two children, Charlotte, a financial analyst based in London, and Louis, who works in the Copenhagen film industry.