Announcing Filmonomics 7 cohort 2023

We are delighted to announce the 15 incredibly talented filmmakers recruited through an open call, from across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who are on the cusp of their first feature or have just made/released their debut.

Top row: Emma Williamson, Helen Iley, Louisa Rechenbach, Nan Davies, Natalie Cubides-Brady

Middle row: Oneikeh Campbell, Reman Sadani, Ruth Platt, Sade Adeniran, Siobhan Fahey

Bottom row: Sorcha Bacon, Tala Lee-Turton, Tulasi Das, Veronica McKenzie, Vivien Cumming

We are excited and privileged to be a part of their journey, bringing the group together for peer-to-peer learning and support, as well as introducing them to a stellar line up of coaches and speakers, including Filmonomics alumni, led by Birds Eye View Director, Melanie Iredale, and Training Manager, Simone Glover. It’s exciting to imagine the personal and professional impact that will come from our time together creating a network which advocates for, and builds audiences for, films by women & non-binary creatives as part of our shared mission for gender diversity and inclusion in cinema – learning from each other along the way.

SPEAKERS AND COACHES INCLUDE

Alison Thompson (Co-President at Cornerstone), Amy O’Hara (Development & Production Executive at Film4), Annette Corbett (Leadership Coach), Becky Hutner (Filmmaker Fashion Reimagined), Carmen Gray (Film Critic, arts journalist & programmer for Berlinale, Winterthur IFF, Open City Docs), Cate Kane (Co-Director of Global Acquisitions at MUBI), Chi Thai (Independent filmmaker & producer), Cíntia Gil (Film Programmer & Consultant for Cannes Directors Fortnight), Droo Padhiar (Head of Marketing at Dogwoof), Hannah Bush Bailey (Film & Production Executive at BFI Doc Society), Isra Al Kassi (Head of Programmes & Audience Development at Birds’ Eye View), Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor (Producer: Blue Story, Boxing Day) Julia Short (Trainer/Consultant), Kaleem Aftab (Film critic, producer & programmer), Kate Leys (Story Editor), Lia Devlin (Managing Director at Altitude Distribution), Lucy Jones (Exec Director of Comscore Movies), Mia Bays (Head of BFI Film Fund), Paul Sng (Filmmaker (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché), Shanida Scotland (Director and Head of Film at Doc Society), Stephen Follows (Film Industry Analyst), Steve Smith (Bafta Albert), Sophie Glover (Accounts Director for Awards at Premier), Susan Simnett (Producer Fadia’s Tree), Tara Brown (Film Curator for Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival, London Indian Film Festival), Tejinder Jouhal (Director of Marketing & Distribution at Hanway Films), Theo Grainzevelles (Creative & Impact Producer), Tolu Stedford (Co-Ceo at Story Compound).

COHORT PROFILES 

Emma Williamson (she/her) Writer

Emma is a Screenwriter from Northern Ireland and a previous winner of the New Writer Focus. Her short films have been funded by Northern Ireland Screen and BFI Network and her most recent short film is seeing festival success. Her writing focuses on bringing the stories of Northern Irish women to the world.

Helen Iley (she/her) Writer/Director

A Northern, Queer Writer & Director, Helen’s portfolio has been shortlisted for competitions through the BBC, BFI and after being a finalist at Raindance Film Festival Script Competition, she has been a part of their fellowship course where she has developed a feature film. Helen hopes to continue to write work that addresses social stigmas and how everyday characters encounter extraordinary challenges.

Louisa Rechenbach (she/her) Director/Producer

Louisa is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer based in London. Passionate about storytelling as a force for social change, her films are often intimate portraits of people that challenge the status quo. While studying at the University of the Arts London, Louisa was recognised by one of the most prestigious events in UK documentary film – the Grierson Awards.

Nan Davies (she/her) Producer

Nan Davies studied film production at the New York Film Academy. Her award-winning shorts have screened at BAFTA and Academy Award qualifying festivals around the world. In 2022 she was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab. She has produced non-scripted formats for Channel 4, BBC and commercials for brands including The Brits and Swarovski. She is currently developing a slate of features through her company One Wave Films. 

Natalie Cubides-Brady (she/her) Writer/Director

Natalie is a filmmaker working at the intersection of documentary and fiction. Her films have screened at Sundance London, Visions du Reel and Edinburgh, and been nominated for an IDA Documentary award and shortlisted for a Grierson. She is an alumna of the NFTS MA in Documentary Directing and Berlinale Talents. Her latest short, The Veiled City, was funded by BFI Doc Society and will have its world premiere in 2023.

Oneikeh Campbell (she/her) Writer/Director

Winner of The Pitch 2020, judged by Jon Wardle, (End of F*cking World) Director Destiny Ekaragha and Col Needham, CEO of IMDb. Oneikeh has just finished shooting her first short ‘Five Thousands Stars’ on a £45,000 budget. As well as studying at the NTFS, Oneikeh, a senior copywriter, has also completed Writing a TV Drama Serial course at Curtis Brown.

Reman Sadani (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Reman Sadani is a British-Iraqi moving image artist. Her practice encompasses moving image works, writing and collaborative curatorial projects. With a focus on narrative films and through an experimental approach, she attempts to address the political conditions of the everyday and their impact on subjects in her speculative narratives, questioning how one can exit, protest, or re-imagine a given reality.

Ruth Platt (she/her) Writer/Director

Ruth Platt read English Literature at University College Oxford, from a comprehensive school. She made two micro budget features – The Lesson – FrightFest, Slamdance, 2015, and The Black Forest, nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film in Edinburgh, 2019. Her first funded feature, Martyrs Lane, developed with BFI, released on Shudder in 2021. She has two children. 

Sade Adeniran (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Sade is an award winning writer who has written for radio, theatre and film.  As an author, her debut novel, Imagine This won the 2008 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize.  As a filmmaker, she has written, produced and directed several short films which have screened at international film festivals. The adapted version of her novel Imagine This, won the 2017 British Urban Film Festival Award for Best Script and is currently in development.

Siobhan Fahey (she/her) Producer

Siobhan is Glasgow based producer. Her first feature REBEL DYKES (2021) (Dir. Harri Shanahan, Siân A. Williams),  grew from community archive project; first film for women/non-binary crew. Awarded Iris Prize and  BAFTA Scotland, BIFA, Big Screen Award nominated.  Theatrically distributed BFI; worldwide with WMM.  Broadcast on Channel 4.

Short films with RIOT PRODUCTIONS garner awards: BAFTA Scotland (2018), Grierson Nomination (2021), Fantasia Premiere (2021). Alumni of Edinburgh Pitch, SDI; Vertical Lab, IFT;  Edinburgh Lab.  Her REBEL QUEER FILM+CLUB, Glasgow held BFI supported    WITCH // HAG  Film Festival December 2022.

Sorcha Bacon (she/her) Producer

Sorcha is a BAFTA, BIFA and Grierson nominated producer and founder of Try Hard Films – a company committed to bold, surprising storytelling. Her short films have played festivals including Cannes Critics Week, Sundance, SXSW, Sheffield and BFI London Film Festival. She recently co-produced a feature documentary directed by Kate Stonehill due for release in 2023. She’s developing a slate of features and TV projects with partners including Film4, Working Title and the BFI. In 2021 she was named a Screen Daily Screen Star of Tomorrow. 

Tala Lee-Turton (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Tala is a creative producer for dance onscreen and onstage, dancer, and graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow. She produces female-led, diverse and multidisciplinary work, connecting audiences and creatives to impactful dance experiences that challenge cultural and social boundaries. Her practice has led her to film as a medium through which to tell stories at the intersection of ethnicity, gender and class, inspired by her own lived experiences as a female creative of East Asian heritage from South Yorkshire. Her work is supported by Arts Council England, The Genesis Foundation and Screen Yorkshire.

Tulasi Das (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Tulasi Das is documentarian creating character-led documentaries on global social and environmental issues. A Dutch national, she first moved to the UK to develop a documentary centred on empathy with B3 Media. She has a career spanning broadcast and short films, and has produced/directed shorts for the BBC, the World Wildlife Fund, and even Sir David Attenborough. Her work has won an audience choice award and amassed millions of views online.

Veronica McKenzie (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Veronica was part of the BAFTA winning team (2005) as a Story Associate on Coronation Street and her writing has been shortlisted for the Nicholl Awards (2010). She co-produced short THE LAST SUPPER (2010). ‘MONICA LOOSE ON A CRUISE’ was selected for BFI Flare (2019), and her directorial debut ‘NINE NIGHTS’ (T’Nia Miller and Jo Martin) won the Pan African Film Festival Feature Director Award 2019. More recently Veronica won the JETS European initiative for the UK.

Vivien Cumming (she/her) Writer/Director/Producer

Viv is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Scotland. A climate scientist turned storyteller using film to raise awareness of environmental and humanitarian issues and the importance of our connection with the natural world. Viv runs a company that produces films for NGOs, scientists and the media; most recently working in partnership with Earthrise Studio to write and produce short films and a mini-series. Her films have been screened at multiple international film festivals and published by the BBC and National Geographic.

Filmonomics 7 is supported by ScreenSkills using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of the Future Film Skills programme.

For the first time, we are pleased to welcome BFI Doc Society on board as partners on the programme, and extend our thanks to supporters at Scottish Documentary Institute, Film Hub North and Northern Ireland Screen.