Meet the First Back in the Frame Cohort.

We’re delighted to introduce the 12 filmmakers joining the first Back in the Frame, our new six-month programme supporting experienced women and marginalised gender film directors and producers returning to work following a career break or significant period away. Delivered with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Back in the Frame responds to the loss of experienced mid-career talent from the UK screen industries and the lack of structured routes back into professional practice. We received over 100 applications for just 12 places through our UK-wide open call. The response spoke both to the demand for this kind of support and to the extraordinary depth of experience among filmmakers looking to reconnect with the industry and build renewed professional momentum. Meet the Back in the Frame 2026/27 cohort ★ Alexandra Genova | Director ★ Beryl Richards | Director / Writer / Executive Producer ★ Catriona MacInnes | Writer / Director / Actor ★ Chiara A. Bellati | Executive Producer / Director ★ Isabelle Stead | Writer / Director / Producer ★ Jason Barker | Writer / Director ★ Laura Rees | Producer ★ Philippa Tsang | Producer ★ Poonam Brah | Writer / Director ★ Shreepali Patel | Director / Producer ★ Stephanie Bamberg | Producer / Director ★ Zillah Bowes | Writer / Director Between them, the cohort brings decades of experience across fiction and documentary filmmaking, television, development, production and writing. They include BAFTA and BIFA winners, award-winning directors and producers, Sundance and Berlinale alumni, former senior development and production executives, and filmmakers whose work has screened at Venice, Berlinale, Sundance, Toronto, BFI London Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival. Their experience spans major independent features and documentaries, high-end television, continuing drama, factual and natural history, and international production and development, with credits across the BBC, Channel 4, Film4, BFI, StudioCanal, National Geographic, Discovery and Netflix. The cohort joins us from Bath, Berkshire, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cornwall, the East Midlands, London, the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire, and are returning following a range of career breaks and significant periods away from the industry. Back in the Frame starts from the experience, talent and professional knowledge they already hold, supporting them to translate that into renewed connections, opportunities and sustainable careers. Back in the Frame Running from September 2026 to March 2027, Back in the Frame combines three two-day in-person Labs in London, online industry sessions, mentoring, structured group coaching, peer learning and professional networking. The programme is first and foremost about professional re-entry, industry reconnection and long-term career sustainability, with participants’ own feature projects providing an additional anchor for their development. Producer Camilla Wren will lead the programme alongside Reclaim The Frame Executive Director Melanie Iredale, with participants working with filmmakers, executives, coaches and specialists from across the contemporary screen landscape. Confirmed speakers and contributors are drawn from BBC Film, BFI, Comscore, Cornerstone Films, Film4, Fourth Culture Films, HanWay Films, Lee & Thompson, Quinzaine des Cinéastes, Raising Films, ReelTime Media, The Small HR Company and TripleC/DANC, with further contributors and mentors to be announced throughout the programme. Melanie Iredale, Executive Director of Reclaim The Frame, says: “What struck us throughout the selection process was the extraordinary calibre of the people applying. These are not filmmakers starting again. They are experienced directors and producers, BAFTA and BIFA winners, people whose work has travelled to some of the world’s leading festivals, and people who have spent years, often decades, building knowledge, relationships and craft. “But time away can have a disproportionate impact in an industry where so much work still depends on visibility, networks and being in the room. The response to Back in the Frame, with 114 applications for just 12 places, made very clear both how much experienced talent is at risk of being lost and how much demand there is for meaningful routes back. “We’re enormously excited by this first cohort and what they will bring to the programme and to one another. Back in the Frame is about reconnecting experienced filmmakers with an industry that may have changed while they have been away, and supporting them to turn their talent, knowledge and ambition into renewed professional momentum.” Meet the cohort Alexandra Genova | Director Alexandra Genova is a BAFTA-winning documentary director, journalist and creative producer based in London. Her work explores culture, identity and social justice through visually-led, character-driven storytelling. Her films have been commissioned by the BBC, Sky Documentaries, ITV, Together TV and TIME. Her documentary Our Land won the short form BAFTA Award in 2022 and she later directed the BFI-funded The Keeper, examining concentrated land ownership in Scotland. She is currently directing Casa Mia, a documentary exploring the lives of women connected to the Neapolitan Camorra. Alongside filmmaking, Alexandra has written for publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic and The Economist, drawing on more than a decade of experience in long-form journalism. Beryl Richards | Director / Writer / Executive Producer Beryl Richards is a drama and comedy director/writer who specialises in films for children and young people. She has won 7 BAFTA Awards and garnered 4 International Emmy nominations for her work. Beryl has also executive produced 200 short films for children supported by the European Broadcasting Union, many of which have been shown throughout Europe and Asia. Beryl has just completed Hello Stranger, a feature documentary made with her adopted neurodivergent son Joe which tells her family’s story through 28 years of home movies. Beryl’s short films have screened at 60 international festivals. Her feature script The Outsiders won the VFF prize at the Berlinale. Her stage play Diamond, commissioned by BBC Arts/Avalon, ran at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was Chair of Directors UK from 2015–2017 and in 2016 won the Women in Film/ITV Achievement of the Year award for her campaigning on gender equality at DUK. In 2026 Beryl was awarded an MBE. Catriona MacInnes | Writer / Director / Actor Catriona MacInnes studied to be a performer and theatre maker at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, before later gaining a Masters in Film Practice. Her graduation film, I’m in Away From Here, premiered in competition at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. Her subsequent shorts screened in competition at numerous festivals, including BFI London Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival. She has been a participant in the Edinburgh International Film Festival's Talent Lab, Berlinale Talents and the TIFF Filmmaker Lab. She has written two feature screenplays, both selected for multiple residencies, and received first feature development funding through BFI NETWORK in 2018. She then paused her filmmaking career for several years to raise her child. In 2024 she returned with her feature Gift From God, selected for the LiM feature film development programme, and now in development with Compact Pictures (Scotland) and Feline Films (Ireland). Chiara A. Bellati | Executive Producer / Director Chiara Bellati is a Producer/Director, Series Producer and Executive Producer with over 20 years’ experience in factual, natural history and cross-genre storytelling. Beginning as an ITN Graduate Trainee, she’s gone on to make films worldwide for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery, Sky, UKTV and others. Her credits include the multi-award-winning South Pacific, BBC’s Coast and David Attenborough’s Wild City: Islands. She led wildlife productions across Asia and narrative development for Rainforest Wild, Singapore’s Nature and Adventure Theme Park. She conceived and directed work for DiscoveryVR/Google, then moved into drama during the pandemic, supporting scripted productions including Netflix’s The Crown and Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Her work is rooted in a belief that storytelling can deepen understanding, strengthen conservation efforts and create meaningful change. Alongside her production work, she founded and runs initiatives championing screen-industry freelancers. She’s now developing a feature documentary alongside exploring ethical AI use in the creative industries. Isabelle Stead | Writer / Director / Producer Isabelle Stead is a BIFA-winning writer, director and producer whose work combines genre with emotionally charged character, bold social themes and dark humour. She began her career in Los Angeles as a Script Reader and Assistant at Paramount Studios before building a twenty-year international career across fiction and documentary. Her credits include Son of Babylon, which won the Amnesty International Film Prize and Peace Film Award at the Berlinale and the Raindance Award at BIFA; In My Mother’s Arms, which premiered at IDFA; and The Journey, which she co-wrote and produced, developed through Cinéfondation’s L’Atelier and premiered at TIFF. Following a career break, Isabelle is returning to the industry with a slate of female-centred film and television projects as a writer-director. She is the founder of Big Little Stories, a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, and is represented by WGM Atlantic. Jason Barker | Writer / Director Jason Barker is a filmmaker and writer from the West Country. In 2018, his autobiographical feature documentary A Deal with the Universe about his journey to parenthood was released in cinemas nationwide to critical acclaim. Since then, he's been developing a fictional version of the story supported by BFI Film Fund which was selected for Glasgow Film Festival’s inaugural Funny Features Lab. Over the last year, Jason has written his first play Goodbye Oestrogen, which was shortlisted for Soho Theatre's Tony Craze Award. Laura Rees | Producer Laura Rees is an accomplished Producer with over 20 years of experience delivering productions for Film and Television. Since her early career in international news, live television and documentaries, line producing and producing feature films, Laura excels at bridging the gap between ambitious creative vision and rigorous production management. An NFTS Scholarship recipient and Screen International Star of Tomorrow, Laura has built a reputation for managing complex productions from development through to delivery. Throughout her career, she has forged strong collaborative relationships with both new and established talent, working for companies such as the BBC, StudioCanal, BAFTA, the BFI, Amazon and Wiedemann & Berg. Currently, she balances her freelance portfolio with a diverse slate of projects alongside Director Joe Stephenson and Producing partner Liam Coutts at B Good Picture Company after they Co-Produced Midas Man in 2023. Laura has recently worked on Broken English with Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, and Chork, directed by Shane Meadows. Philippa Tsang | Producer Philippa Tsang is currently a Film Development Consultant for Blink Productions, a UK commercials production company. She is also developing her own independent slate of features and television. She was previously Head of Production and Development UK for DCM, a German production and distribution company building their English Language slate across both Film and Television. Prior to that, she was Production and Development Executive for Film4 and her credits include Beast, Fighting with My Family and How to Build a Girl. She was previously an Acquisitions Executive at Hanway Films and worked in development at Brilliant Films, a production company based within the Independent Talent Group. Poonam Brah | Writer / Director Poonam Brah is a writer/director drawn to bold, homegrown stories that blend dark humour, suspense and emotional truth. She is currently developing feature films Oh Baby, a dark comedy, and Lake At Summer, a thriller. Her Film London produced short film Home Girl screened at more than 45 international film festivals, including BFI Flare and The Underwire Film Festival. She has also directed episodes of Hollyoaks for Lime Pictures. Originally from a theatre background, Poonam has directed extensively at leading UK venues including The Yard, National Theatre Studio, Young Vic, Royal Court and Soho Theatre, and received an MGC Futures Award for directing Noor at The Southwark Playhouse. She is the Co-Founder of theatre company 3Fates, who create original, ensemble-led work including plays Return and To Close Your Eyes is To Travel. Poonam trained in the National Theatre Directors Programme, Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Film and Television School. She is a BAFTA Connect member and alumna of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, New York. Shreepali Patel | Director / Producer BAFTA-winning filmmaker Shreepali Patel is a former BBC producer and director who works across platforms and genres including drama, documentary, XR, screen and sound-based installations and programmes. She was the first recipient of United International Pictures and WFTV’s Directing Change Award, working with director Roger Michell on the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love starring Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy. Shortly after she won the BAFTA Cymru and DM Davies Award for her short film Dawn, she formed Eyeline Films with director Geoffrey Smith, producing Emmy-winning feature documentary The English Surgeon. Most recently, as Professor of Multimodal Storytelling and Founder of StoryLab & the Sonic Screen Lab, she’s combined storytelling and academia to produce a slate of cross-platform projects such as The Crossing (patron, Emma Thompson), The Frontline, Drunk? and The Golden Window, and is developing Blood, a genetic time-slip narrative. Stephanie Bamberg | Producer / Director BAFTA Member Stephanie Bamberg trained as a theatre director/writer, graduating with the show No Man An Island about prejudice within the EU. After working in fringe theatre, she moved into Film and TV Production, working her way up on productions like Thor: The Dark World, X-Men: First Class, Maleficent, Locke, Parks & Recreation and Skyfall. In between projects, she developed her own slate before becoming Head of Production at SunnyMarch Films, founded by Benedict Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland. After eight years, she went freelance to focus on her own projects as a writer/director. Her directorial short film debut The Box, a psychological drama exploring the consequences of social media dependency, premiered at the Soho LIFF in 2024. Alongside freelancing, Stephanie is preparing to direct her next short Caring. Further projects in development include sci-fi horror The Search and sci-fi fantasy TV series Stronghold. Zillah Bowes | Writer / Director Zillah Bowes is a Welsh/English writer, director and artist. She is currently developing her debut fiction feature film with Sixteen Films and Ffilm Cymru Wales/BFI. Her short film Staying won the Grand Jury Prize at Premiers Plans Angers Film Festival, received a Special Mention at the Encounters Film Festival, and screened at international festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest. Her short film Allowed premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival, won the Jury’s Stellar Award at the Thomas Edison Film Festival and was listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize. A graduate of the NFTS, Zillah is a member of BAFTA Connect and was mentored by Prano Bailey-Bond on the Directors UK Inspire Programme. As an artist, she has won the British Journal of Photography International Photography Award, Aesthetica New Talent Award and FORMAT X Magnum Photos Portfolio Award. Her work has been acquired for collections including National Museum Wales and the Welsh Parliament. Our partnership with Sony Pictures Television Back in the Frame reflects a shared commitment between Reclaim The Frame and Sony Pictures Television to strengthen the UK screen industries through talent retention, workforce sustainability and more equitable routes back into professional practice. Sony Pictures Entertainment’s support for Back in the Frame comes through the Sony Pictures Television International Production Creative Diversity Fund, established in 2021 to support the recruitment, development, support and retention of under-represented talent.