Film4 has announced the promotion of Farhana Bhula to the position of Head of Creative. Bhula, previously Senior Commissioning Executive, now occupies the Head of Creative role which was made vacant following the promotion of Ollie Madden to Director of Film4.

Bhula continues to report to Madden, with Senior Commissioner David Kimbangi and Head of Development Ben Coren now reporting into Bhula.

Bhula joined Film4 at the start of 2022, having come from the BFI where she held the role of Senior Development and Production Executive supporting filmmakers at the start of their careers, including those supported through iFeatures. At BFI she served as an Executive Producer on Charlotte Regan’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner SCRAPPER, Dionne Edward’s PRETTY RED DRESS, Reggie Yates’ BIFA-nominated PIRATES and debbie tucker green’s ear for eye, while also working on award-winning British debuts including Ben Sharrock’s LIMBO and Aleem Khan’s AFTER LOVE. Prior to the BFI, she was Head of Development at Wildgaze Films and a Development Executive at Hilary Bevan Jones’ Endor Productions.

Since joining Film4, Bhula has executive produced William Oldroyd’s EILEEN starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, and Soudade Kaadan’s award-winning NEZOUH. She is currently working on several films in post-production including Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut HOW TO HAVE SEX; Amrou Al-Kadhi’s queer love story, LAYLA; and Andrew Haigh’s much anticipated STRANGERS starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.

In her new position as Head of Creative, Bhula will have oversight of Film4’s creative team and creative strategy; she also joins Film4’s management team.

Bhula said: “Film4 is uniquely placed to discover and grow distinctive new filmmakers as well as supporting them through ambitious long-term careers. I’m enormously excited by the passion and talent of my colleagues and the filmmakers we are privileged to be working with. Thank you to Ollie for trusting me to lead Film4’s creative team and I’m looking forward to working with them to shape the next chapter of Film4’s creative strategy.”

Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 added: “Farhana has quickly established herself at Film4 as a dynamic, artist friendly and forward thinking executive, with an expert eye for the very best filmmaking talent. I can’t wait to see her creative vision put into practice, and I know she’ll thrive in her leadership of our brilliant creative team”

In 2022, Film4 celebrated its 40th anniversary in the Film Industry and have enjoyed a spectacular year of releases including Martin McDonagh’s multi-award and BAFTA winning THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, Oliver Hermanus’ LIVING and Florian Zeller’s THE SON.