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.”
