Eva Yates has been appointed Director of BBC Film.
The assumed front-runner for the job, Yates will be responsible for the development and production of films backed by the broadcaster.
Yates, who replaces Rose Garnett who is leaving to join A24, will also oversee Storyville, the BBC’s documentary films strand led by Philippa Kowarsky.
Yates is currently Acting Director of BBC Film and joined the broadcaster in 2017. As a BBC commissioner and executive producer, she has commissioned more than 30 features, most recently Aleem Khan’s BAFTA winner After Love; Blue Story by Andrew Rapman Onwubolu; Remi Weekes’s BAFTA winner His House; and Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun which will premiere in Cannes Critics Week 2022.
Prior to joining the BBC, she worked for eight years as an executive at Film4, where she executive-produced movies including Rungano Nyoni’s BAFTA winner I Am Not A Witch, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight and won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Debut, and Been So Long starring Michaela Coel.
Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer said of the hire: “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.”
Yates added: “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.”
