BFI Senior team members Lizzie Francke, Fiona Morham and Natascha Wharton announce their departure

Senior British Film Institute team members Editor-in-Chief Lizzie Francke, Executive Producer Fiona Morham and Editor-in-Chief Natascha Wharton have announced their decision to leave the BFI Film Fund later this year.

The trio led the BFI’s National Lottery funding for film development and production in the UK, supporting filmmakers and their teams through the film lifecycle and initiatives to develop emerging film talent.

They will retire in the late spring to early summer of 2023. In the meantime, they will continue to support their range of projects and work with the Filmmaking Fund team as they transition to a new structure.

Francke, Morham and Wharton released a joint statement saying: “It has been such an enormous privilege to work for the Film Fund over the years and to serve an extraordinary breadth of filmmakers. With the 2023-33 strategy and the start of Filmmaking Fund week, we think it’s a perfect time to retire and pursue our own ventures.”

Recent titles underwritten under her supervision include those of Raine Allen Miller Rye LaneBAFTA winner by Charlotte Wells After sun; Adura Onashiles Girl, which debuted at Sundance; Karen Palmer Consensus Gentiumwhich just won the Best XR Award at SXSW, Georgia Oakley’s Blue pants and winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2022 triangle of sadness by Ruben Ostlund.

“Natascha, Lizzie and Fiona leave a huge legacy and lasting impact on British filmmaking, promoting some of the most exciting and important work in the UK’s independent sector,” said BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts.

“They also leave us with a wonderful variety of projects that we are all incredibly proud of. In this time of change for the Filmmaking Fund, it is important to acknowledge the great work of all three that we are building on. As we focused on debuts in the last strategy period and prioritized our values ​​of equality, diversity and inclusion, it was essential to ensure we supported great, important and impactful work.

Mia Bays, director of the BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund, also thanked the outgoing managers.

“Lizzie, Natasha and Fiona are rightly regarded as three of the UK film industry’s most experienced professionals, with a track record that speaks for itself. The rest of the team and I, and especially the filmmakers we work with, have learned a tremendous amount from them. I think I speak for everyone when I say how much we will benefit from their wealth of experience during this handover phase and I wish them all the best in the future.”