BFI Flare x BAFTA 2024 development programme cohort announced
"The BFI Flare x BAFTA mentorship had a profound impact on my career and, honestly, my life!," Layla producer Savannah James-Bayly has said
The six emerging LGBTQIA+ creatives that form the 2024 cohort of the BFI Flare x BAFTA professional development programme have been announced. The programme supported by the National Lottery and run in partnership with the BFI Network gives six artists a hand as they make their debuts in film and television.
The 2024 cohort comprises of Travis Alabanza, Isabella Bassett, Zak Ghazi-Torbati, Cherish Oteka, Miles Sloman, and Charlie Tidmas.
The group will benefit from industry mentorship, bespoke events, and workshops at BAFTA and BFI. There will also be networking opportunities during BFI Flare, well-being, and career coaching, and access to BAFTA Connect, the academy’s membership programme for emerging and mid-level talent.
There was a 40% increase in applicants to be part of this year’s cohort. This year’s group was selected based on the quality of their existing work and the potential of the exciting, challenging, and original work they are developing.
“The BFI Flare x BAFTA mentorship had a profound impact on my career and, honestly, my life!”
Many of those who have been a part of the programme in the 10 years it has existed have established successful careers in the film and television industries. Among them is the writer/director Amrou Al-Kadhi and producer Savannah James-Bayly of Layla, BFI Flare 2024’s Opening Night Gala film. The pair met on the programme in 2017, while the film also features two other BFI Flare x BAFTA alumni in actor Matthew Jacobs Morgan and associate producer Emily Everdee.
“The BFI Flare x BAFTA mentorship had a profound impact on my career and, honestly, my life!,” Savannah James-Bayly has said. On meeting Al-Kadhi through the scheme they added: “The BFI Flare x BAFTA mentorship was the perfect incubator to hatch that relationship. Over the course of the programme we watched the latest queer cinema had to offer and realised we had similar tastes and ambitions for our own work; in between industry meetings we discussed the change we wanted to see and be in the industry; and on the dance floor we cemented a friendship which has become the backbone of our partnership. I could not recommend the experience more highly.”
Other alumni include Dionne Edwards, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Kayleigh Llewellyn, Aleem Khan, and Georgia Oakley. Figures such as Andrew Haigh, Russell T Davies, Joey Soloway, and Kate Herron have supported the programme.
BFI Flare runs from 13-24 March 2024. Full details are available here.