Meet the Funders
Saturday 1 June | 10:00 | Odeon Luxe West End Curious about navigating the world of filmmaking, securing funding and sustaining your craft in today's industry? Join us for an insightful panel discussion with commissioners and funders from across the industry.
Speakers (more TBA)
Claudia Yusef
Claudia Yusef is Commissioning Executive at BBC Film. She has Executive Produced a number of features and shorts for BBC Film including Clio Barnard’s ALI & AVA; PRAY, novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut short as a director; IN CAMERA, Naqqash Khalid’s debut feature starring Nabhaan Rizwan; THE END WE START FROM, the debut feature of Mahalia Belo, written by Alice Birch and starring Jodie Comer; and THE OUTRUN directed by Nora Fingscheidt, based on the best-selling memoir by Amy Liptrot (which Fingscheidt adapted in collaboration with Liptrot) and starring Saoirse Ronan.
Melanie Hoyes
In her role as Director of Inclusion at the BFI, Melanie advocates for increased access and equity in the UK film sector, leading through strategic intervention and implementation as well as consulting and collaborating with global partners to embed diversity and inclusion into policy and practice. She believes in working with and providing equitable opportunities for persistently marginalised communities and celebrating and highlighting talent.
Farhana Bhula
Farhana Bhula is the Head of Creative at Film4 where she has overseen production on a mix of projects from debut to established filmmakers. Projects she has overseen for Film4 include How to Have Sex by Molly Manning Walker, Layla by Amrou Al-Kadhi and All Of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Haigh. She joined Film4 in 2022 from the BFI where she was a Senior Development and Production Executive and worked on Scrapper by Charlotte Regan, Pretty Red Dress by Dionne Edwards, Reggie Yates’ Pirates, Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, debbie tucker green’s ear for eye, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo and Aleem Khan’s After Love. Prior to the BFI, she was head of development at Wildgaze Films (Brooklyn, An Education) and a development executive at Endor Productions. She has also produced shorts and a micro-budget feature.