Eva Yates named new Director of BBC Film

Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer, has announced Eva Yates as the new Director of BBC Film.

BBC Film develops and co-produces around 12 to 15 feature films a year. Alongside that slate, Yates will also oversee documentary film strand Storyville, now under the new leadership of Philippa Kowarsky.

As Director she will lead a team who will work closely with writers and filmmakers to “nurture, develop and support the very best creative talent in the industry;” with responsibility for delivering across the BBC’s portfolio of TV channels and iPlayer.

Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer says: “Eva brings a wealth of experience to the role and is hugely respected in the UK film industry. She has established relationships with many of the UK’s leading filmmakers, a passion for nurturing new talent, a real eye for quality and I know she will continue to champion the ambitious range of films we’ve seen shine in recent years. I’m excited to see Eva lead BBC Film into the future.”

Eva Yates says: “BBC Film is a unique and special place: a home for filmmakers to discover, create and show their best work, so the opportunity to lead it into a new phase is simply too good to miss. It is a great privilege to work within a BBC so ambitious for film and British creativity under Charlotte Moore and to take the reins from Rose Garnett, a truly exceptional creative leader and a dear colleague and friend to us all. If the filmmakers, the ambition and the change we have seen through in the last five years is any indication, we have very exciting times ahead.”

Eva Yates joined the BBC in 2017. As a BBC commissioner and executive producer, Eva Yates has commissioned over 30 feature films, most recently Aleem Khan’s six-time BIFA-winner After Love selected for Cannes Critics Weeks and Telluride 2020, and recipient of Best Actress BAFTA award for Joanna Scanlan; Harry Wootliff’s second film True Things starring Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke; Tom Hardiman’s Medusa Deluxe and Stacey Gregg’s Here Before starring Andrea Riseborough.

Yates’ other Executive Producer credits at BBC Film include Aneil Karia’s debut feature Surge starring Ben Whishaw; Harry Macqueen’s Supernova with Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth; Fyzal Boulifa’s debut Lynn + Lucy; Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli starring and co-written by Riz Ahmed; Blue Story by Andrew Rapman Onwubolu; Remi Weekes’s BAFTA Outstanding debut winner His House; iFeatures Make Up by Claire Oakley and Perfect 10 by Eva Riley; Sacha Polak’s Sundance hit Dirty God; and Akinola Davies’s Lizard, winner of the Sundance short film grand jury prize.

Upcoming features include Daina O. Pusic’s Tuesday starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew and Arinze Kene; Raine Allen Miller’s south London Rom-com Rye Lane; Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun which will premiere in Cannes Critics Week 2022; and upcoming debuts from Charlotte Regan, Dionne Edwards, Adura Onashile and Georgia Oakley.

Prior to joining the BBC, Yates worked for eight years as an executive at Film4, where she executive produced Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not A Witch, which premiered in Directors Fortnight and won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Debut; Been So Long starring Michaela Coel and over 20 shorts including Kibwe Tavares’s Jonah starring Daniel Kaluuya and Aneil Karia’s BAFTA-nominated Work. Other credits include American Honey, Carol, 45 Years, Suffragette, Disobedience and The Duke of Burgundy.

She worked closely with Wellcome Trust on the creation of the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship, has advised for BIFA, NFTS and on numerous new talent schemes. Eva started her career in arts at BBC Scotland, and in production and development roles including UK Film Council and Revolution Films where she worked on The Road to Guantanamo, The Red Riding Trilogy and Samantha Morton’s The Unloved.