BFI Film Fund Hires New Senior Production & Development Executive
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The BFI has hired independent producer Ama Ampadu as the new senior production and development executive for the BFI Film Fund. Ampadu replaces Kristin Irving, who joined BBC Film late last year.
Reporting to Natascha Wharton, the film fund’s Head of Editorial, Ampadu will work alongside Louise Ortega, who joined the organization last year as a Senior Production and Development Executive, as well as Editor-at-Large Lizzie Francke.
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Ampadu’s brief will have a central focus on filmmaking debuts, as well as working closely with BFI NETWORK to ensure there is a practical crossover for new and emerging talent.
Alongside Ortega and the rest of the team, Ampadu will also oversee the fund’s slate, which has projects at various stages of production, supporting filmmakers at each stage of the filmmaking process and beyond, as well as developing outreach strategies to engage filmmakers with the BFI.
The BFI said that while working on both development and production funds, Ampadu will assess applications, recommend funding decisions, and provide hands-on creative, production, and holistic support for filmmakers and film projects.
The film fund is currently closed for applications as the BFI readies the launch of a new National lottery Filmmaking Fund in March as part of the organization’s restructured National Lottery funding strategy announced in September 2022.
Ampadu has over 12 years of experience in the industry as an independent producer, during which she produced films like Lamb, the first feature of Ethiopian writer-director Yared Zeleke, which screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2015. More recently, Ampadu has produced two films from artist-filmmaker Ayo Akingbade and Lions, a short by filmmaker Beru Tessema.
Mia Bays, Director of the BFI Film Fund, said: “We are really energized that Ama is joining us and bringing a producer’s perspective to the team and one that is very international. We welcome her pragmatic approach and highly developed skills and relationships with filmmakers, and have no doubt that she will enrich the team, the organization, and the projects she supports.”
Ampadu added that she was “thrilled” to join the BFI, where she will continue to be engaged with the “contemporary creative scene” and “under-acknowledged artists” with diverse stories and voices.
“I plan to listen and be of utmost service in discovering and nourishing the best of UK talent in all its diversity and beyond, championing ground-breaking projects that resonate with audiences,” she said.
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