Ama Ampadu On The “Exceptional” Year Of British Filmmaking — Q&A

2025 has been an impressive year for the British Film Institute, in its often scrutinized role as a supporter of original filmmaking, with breakout titles emerging across the festival circuit. 

Popular titles include the BFI’s trio of Cannes debuts, Harris Dickinson’s Urchin, My Father’s Shadow by Akinola Davies Jr., and Harry Lighton’s Pillion. Over in Venice, there was Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada, Imran Perretta’s Ish, and Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36 debuted at TIFF. The success can be felt across the sector with My Father’s Shadow, Ish, and Urchin originally developed at BBC Film, and Rose of Nevada at Film4, with the BFI supporting through production finance.

“The filmmakers we’ve supported have done extraordinarily well,” Ama Ampadu, BFI Film Fund Senior Production & Development Executive, told us ahead of this year’s London Film Festival, where many of these titles are receiving their homecoming screenings. “We do our part, but it is ultimately the filmmakers who have done this extraordinary amount of work, and they’ve been exceptionally well received.” 

Ampadu, who served as the Executive Producer on five of the BFI’s titles this year, including Urchin, My Father’s Shadow, and Rose of Nevada, joined the BFI’s Filmmaking Fund team in 2023 after over a decade as an independent producer. Industry vet Mia Bays has led the Fund since 2021. The Exec team includes Senior Production & Development Executive Louise Ortega, who served as the Executive Producer on Pillion, Hamlet, and Retreat, Vicki Brown (Senior Executive, Sales & Distribution), Anna Hintzen (Senior Production Executive), and Morgana Melvin (Senior Inclusion & Industry Manager).

Ampadu’s credits before joining the BFI include Yared Zeleke’s Lamb, which, in 2015, became the first Ethiopian film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, and Mati Diop’s Golden Bear-winning Dahomey, along with films produced for the gallery space, like The Fist and Faluyi by Ayo Akingbade. 

“Ama took part in one of the shoots in Benin, but our collaboration became particularly significant during the film’s release in the UK. Ama did remarkable work in this regard, demonstrating a subtle and sensitive understanding of the political and symbolic dimensions of such an approach,” Diop told us of Ampadu’s work in shaping the UK release of Dahomey. The Golden Bear-winning film became a significant event title across the UK, with Diop, Ampadu, and their collaborators hosting intimate saloon-type screenings where students, artists, and academics discussed the philosophically rich film. 

“Her deep connection to London’s Black artistic community played a major role in making the London premiere of Dahomey a profoundly meaningful moment of communion. She is a producer whose voice and vision have an important place in the contemporary cinematic landscape.”

Indeed, Ampadu’s experience working in Europe and on the African continent, across the gallery and traditional cinema space, makes her a unique proposition among her contemporaries, particularly at the UK public funders.

“I first met Ama a few years ago through some filmmaker friends of mine in Kenya, and she’s been extremely supportive and encouraging,” Davies Jr. said of working with the exec on his Nigeria-shot debut My Father’s Shadow, which has been submitted as the UK’s Oscar submission. 

“Working in Nigeria is probably unique from working anywhere else on the continent. She had some previous experience, and her ability to connect artists from across the Black diaspora is unmatched. She’s extremely well-connected, more than anyone I’ve met before. Plus, her knowledge and connections across the art world. It was really crucial to have someone like that on side.”

Below, Ampadu speaks to us in depth about her eclectic career, which includes a stint working in New York on projects like Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, the new wave of talented UK filmmakers, and the importance of supporting producers to build sustainable businesses. 

DEADLINE: Ama, what’s your background? How did you get started in the biz?

AMA AMPADU: I grew up in Edmonton, North London. I studied Contemporary History with French at university. I was really interested in thinking about European history through memory, particularly how European countries constructed memory post-WW2. Film ended up being a really important component of that, specifically in the case of France. That introduced me to works like Hiroshima, Mon Amour, The Battle of Algiers, and Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, which really show how cinema can radically change how an entire nation sees itself. Those films had a real impact on me, and served as an entry point to seeing cinema and filmmakers as something serious that should be defended. 

Then I worked at the UN for five years, in educational research. I left the UN and moved to New York like every other budding person in film. I moved there and took any experience I could find, although I wanted to be on significant film sets. I managed to work with Darren Aronofsky and other great filmmakers. That experience alone taught me a lot about community and putting together a film project.

DEADLINE: Which film was Darren working on? 

AMPADU: Black Swan.

DEADLINE: Wow, that must’ve been an experience. What was New York like at that time? 

AMPADU: There were a lot of people around who wanted to be artists. It was really the time when I thought I’d better start producing short films. I got lucky because on the set of Black Swan, there was an Ethiopian filmmaker, Yared Zeleke, who just showed up. Through him, I got into the whole NYU crowd. He shared his thesis film with me. I read it and thought it was something special that we could turn into a first feature, so we set up a production company in Ethiopia to make the film. It ended up being a co-production between Ethiopia, France, Norway, and Germany, with teams from those countries and Kenya. I was the lead producer, and we went on to do the whole Cannes thing. 

DEADLINE: Lamb was the first Ethiopian film to be selected at Cannes, right?

AMPADU: Yes, it was the first. That experience gave me a really solid base, which ties back to my work at the BFI, in that as an indie producer, you quickly learn that even if you have a film selected for festivals and nominated for awards, making a second film is still very tricky. You have to build a slate, and one film doesn’t necessarily correlate to having a sustainable business. That is one of the main issues for many of the producers we come in contact with. Even if you have a successful film, how do you build a sustainable business? The need to de-risk development is a priority for us. At the BFI, we have the Development Fund, which is focused exactly on this. 

DEADLINE: So then you landed at the BFI?

AMPADU: Yes, the job came up, and I applied. I looked at all the core priorities of the role, and they all aligned with the work I had already been doing. I also felt I could offer something with my experience. People don’t realize the amount of anxiety involved in producing, so it is important to begin with a level of empathy when working with producers. It is important to really be able to understand their needs and the practical things we can do to support them. Small and medium-sized production companies are really important to me because there is something that needs to happen so that it is possible for people to build sustainable businesses.

DEADLINE: What do you think needs to happen?

AMPADU: Look, this is something certainly the public funders need to focus on.  When I talk about removing some of the risk of development, I’m talking about giving producers the resources to attract writers and directors and being able to pay them. Also, when your project is actually developed and you are looking for production funding, there is a moment where you need additional resources for things like location scouting, budgeting, and casting, so that you can build a really solid package. That’s really important.

And then the notion of talent progression is important. And by that I mean accompanying producers who have been working on shorts to make a feature film. When we are assessing projects, there’s a lot of sensitivity given to those producers. If you think about Urchin, that’s Archie’s [Pearch] first film. Irrespective of the Harris connection, that is still a very tricky thing to do. With My Father’s Shadow, Rachel [Dargavel] is a very interesting case study. She started with Crybaby, her own production company, before integrating with Element, which was a smart move. 

Once a project is within the BFI, we’re also speaking to a lot of equity financiers. You can see us all hovering around Cannes and other markets. All of that is to really try and become a useful resource. When you’ve got the BFI label, equity financiers will speak to you. But it’s about amassing that knowledge and being able to sit with one of the producers who has an LOI with us and saying, Look, go and talk to this person, which is really useful. Not only does it potentially help them to finance their project, but these are also networks they can use moving forward.

DEADLINE: I first met you through your work with Mati Diop. You were a producer on Dahomey, which won the Golden Bear. How did you two become collaborators?

AMPADU: This is really the beginning of my journey, before either Atlantics or Lamb existed. We must have met around 2012 in Cannes, and then at Locarno, where Mati and her producer were taking part in Open Doors. At the time, Atlantics was called The Fire Next Time, after the title of the James Baldwin book. At that time, everyone was basically just hustling. That was also before I’m Not A Witch. We just had a natural affinity and have been in conversation ever since. She went off and shot Dahomey. The film was shot in multiple parts because she really had to respond to the demand. These 26 art objects were being sent to Benin. She managed to get authorization to go in there and follow the works to Benin. They shot the first debate, and she edited before returning for additional reshoots, which is when I went over. When she finished the film and screened it for us, we all thought, My God, this is perfect. Dahomey is a unique film — an art piece, a historical document, a dialogue between Africa’s past, present, and future, and its spirit world. There’s something profound in what Mati was able to capture. There’s also a real synergy with the music of Wally Badarou and Dean Blunt

DEADLINE: Speaking of working on the African continent, talk to me about My Father’s Shadow, which is set in Nigeria. Akinola is probably one of the year’s biggest breakouts. And the film is slightly distinct from the other two that went to Cannes in that it didn’t have a well-known Hollywood name attached.

AMPADU: The UK is a really diverse place. Nigeria was an ex-UK colony, so for me, My Father’s Shadow was a no-brainer. The definition of what being British means is more expansive than a lot of people think it is. Even before My Father’s Shadow, we had films like Sandhya Suri’s Santosh and Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight, exploring Indian life. Today, popular culture is very hybrid. Young people have so many influences. Any British person is probably as familiar with Davido, Rema, and Wizkid as anything else. We also have to remember this isn’t new. It was the same in older generations, too. I think about a film like You Hide Me by Nii Kwate Owoo, a Ghanaian filmmaker who worked in the UK. Or the work of John Akomfrah, who has been important for me.

DEADLINE: What is your assessment of the marketplace right now? What is working? What needs to change?

AMPADU: I think about it collectively, and by that I mean all of us public funders working together. I do feel that there is an eye on this new wave of British film. It really started with Charlotte Wells, and then Georgia Oakley, Charlotte Regan, Raine Allen Miller, and Molly Manning Walker. We’ve also seen exciting debut films from Laura Carreira and Sandhya Suri. And it’s clear that Harris, Akinola, Harry Lighton, Imran Peretta, and many others have bright futures ahead. With Rose of Nevada, Jenkin is impressively expanding his devoted fan base. In this film, starring George MacKay and Callum Turner, he worked at a larger scale with a bigger budget and cast. We’re equally excited to see what he does next.

Talent development is important. And all of this great work is a testament to the development work that has been done; again, I speak across the board. It’s not just us, it’s the BBC and Film4, too. And we’ve got the new Independent Film Tax Credit, which is a big deal. It’s an important source of cornerstone financing, strengthening finance plans, and getting more projects over the line. However, costs and inflation continue to be a challenge, as they are in all industries. It’s too early to give a confident readout. But the signs we’re getting are positive. Our research and analysis team is tracking the impact, and there will be a report on this next year.

Another positive development is the increase in the UK Global Screen Fund’s (UKGSF) funding to £18m annually for the next four years, up from £7m. UKGSF presents an opportunity for UK producers to broaden their slates through minority co-productions. Beyond the financial benefits, these collaborations help expand international networks, foster cultural exchange, and introduce new ways of working. These are real positive things happening in the UK. I also don’t want to shy away from what is challenging. How we support producers is something that I think collectively, we all need to think about. From our side, we’re trying to do our very best. We have the Creative Challenge Fund, which is focused on producers this time around. Development is something that we continue to look at. With what we have, we try to support as much as possible.

DEADLINE: So, will your 2026 look the same as this year?

AMPADU: After Cannes, I walked past someone who remarked on how it’s been a good year for the BFI. And they said, ‘Now the challenge is to do it again.’ Jokes aside, I do feel that that’s something we should all, not just the BFI, but as a collective, take seriously. From talking to people who aren’t in the UK, it’s clear that people are now looking at us and see something new and exciting. We should really take that seriously. On the one hand, it’s about finding new talent. But we’ve also got a set of filmmakers who’ve done really well, so we have to create pathways for them to have sustainable careers.