Isabel Davis has been appointed the new director of the BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Funds. She’ll take over from Mia Bays later this year.
Davis will be responsible for managing an annual fund of £20 million ($26.6m), which will go into cultivating a culturally vibrant, inclusive and original independent film sector here in the U.K. Among the features backed by Bays in the post were 2025’s Kneecap, My Father’s Shadow, and Two Black Boys in Paradise.
She’ll join the BFI in October for a five-year fixed term after eight years as executive director of Screen Scotland, where she has championed the Scottish screen industry and “been central to its transformation and growth.”
Davis replaces Bays, who has led the fund since 2021. Bays caught up with The Hollywood Reporter just this year about being in the riskiest job in British film.
“I’m honored to be stepping into this role at a time when this public funding is critical to building a successful future for U.K. film and the public value it represents,” said Davis. “It’s a challenging moment for U.K. independent film, economically and structurally. But audience appetite for great stories, and for the communal experience of cinema-going, is strikingly resurgent and our filmmaking talent continues to be among the world’s best. Enabling filmmakers to produce work that connects with a broad range of audiences across the U.K. — through ambition, inventiveness and heart — has to be at the core of our response. Daunting, yes, but exciting too.”
“My excitement is tempered only by sadness at leaving Scotland, which I’ve been lucky enough to call home for much of my adult life, including through the creative upswing of the past eight years,” she added. “Huge thanks to my Screen Scotland teammates, whose talent, hard work and good nature serve our industry, audiences and young people to such positive effect, and to our colleagues at Creative Scotland for their support.”
Davis’ appointment follows a rigorous interview process, which saw a wide range and diverse pool of candidates considered. To ensure independent voices from industry contributed to the decision, external panelists on the interviews included producers and BFI board members Elizabeth Karlsen and Hakan Kousetta, producer Nicky Bentham as co-chair of Pact’s Film Producers’ Group, while CEO Ben Roberts and deputy CEO Harriet Finney were among those representing the BFI.
The exec joins during an exciting year for the BFI Filmmaking Fund, with titles announced this week to world premiere at major upcoming festivals: Our Share of Sand (Shalini Adnani) at Venice and Stuffed (Theo Rhys) at Toronto International Film Festival. The Incomer (Louis Paxton) opens the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) next month alongside Extra Geography (dir. Molly Manners), which both previously premiered at Sundance, and Out There (Simon Ryninks) will get its world premiere in Edinburgh’s competition selection.
Elsewhere, I See Building Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard) premiered in Cannes and won the People’s Choice award in Directors’ Fortnight, and Animol, from Adolescence‘s Ashley Walters, earned its world premiere at the Berlinale and won the FIPRESCI prize for best film. Lady (Olive Nwosu) screened in Sundance and won the special jury award for acting ensemble, while Ish (Imran Perretta) is released on Friday in cinemas U.K.-wide.
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