• Meet The BFI NETWORK SW team
• Contact Us
• 1:1s
• Mixers and networking

Meet the BFI NETWORK SW team

Headshots by Charley Williams.

Nadia Attia
BFI NETWORK Talent Executive

Nadia is a published film/TV journalist with an award-winning filmmaking background. At Met Film School she was a marketing manager and occasional directing mentor, and at Curzon she co-programmed popular ‘Midnight Movies’ events. Most recently she worked at the BFI as an Editor and Copywriter, where she was a culture champion and a member of the Race Equality Network steering group.

During this time she also graduated from the NFTS with a Script Development Diploma, and has freelanced for many years as a script reader/consultant for companies including Green Door Pictures, BFI, BBC, Studiocanal, Stage 32 and Channel 4. Her huge passion for storytelling also feeds her own work as a writer (her debut novel, Verge, is out now).

Email: bfinetwork@watershed.co.uk

Twitter: @nadia_land_

Website: nadiaattia.com 

Jess Wheeler
BFI NETWORK Talent Executive

Jess is an independent producer with a background in stop-motion animation. Having started producing her own short films, she has gone on to collaborate with writers and directors across animation, live action and documentary. Her filmmaking experience – producing projects for BBC, Channel 4 and the BFI – strongly influences her approach to talent development.

Previously, Jess worked on behalf of Cosgrove Hall Films Archive to design and deliver talent development opportunities for animation artists. Since moving to Bristol in 2022 she has supported the Film Hub South West team with the professional development of filmmakers across the region.

Twitter: @JJ_Wheel

Ella McDonald
Talent, Comms & Outreach Coordinator

Ella is the Talent Comms & Outreach Coordinator and will be delivering compelling communication campaigns and outreach activity in support of BFI Film Academy and BFI NETWORK. Ella previously worked at Knowle West Media Centre as a Junior Producer, which included developing creative talent, delivering media commissions and working with clients such as Barnardos, University of Bristol, and WECA.

In their personal work, Ella has had their films played on BBC4 and BBC iPlayer, as well as casting multiple short films that have premiered at Girls On Film, the Barbican and British Shorts.

Maddy Probst
Head of Film (Film Hub South West & Watershed)

Maddy leads on the strategic development and delivery of Film Hub South West with the team. She is also the first point of contact for any feedback or complaints.

She joined Watershed 15 years ago and is an experienced Producer of film events, talent and people with extensive experience of advocating for the cinema sector regionally, nationally and internationally. In her capacity as Vice President of Europa Cinemas, she plays an advocacy role for the cinema sector internationally and has directed several Audience Development Innovation Labs for cinema practitioners across the world.

Anna Duff
BFI NETWORK Project Coordinator (freelance)

Anna joins the Watershed team as Project Coordinator for BFI NETWORK in the south west. Previously she has produced short films, freelanced for the London Film Festival and FOCUS, worked as an Assistant Director on Cannes- and Venice-competing feature films, and held in-house roles at production companies in Paris and London.

Contact us

Our email is bfinetwork@watershed.co.uk

Please feel free to email us with any queries you may have in response to what we offer, funding guidelines, the application process, or our activity for the year.

Please note, we are a small team and therefore hope to respond to your enquiry between 5 and 10 working days. Furthermore, we don’t have the capacity to read scripts, treatments or pitch docs and offer script development advice.

We welcome feedback

Across our various roles as a BFI Film Hub Lead organisation delivering projects such as BFI NETWORK, Watershed is committed to maintaining positive relationships with the people and communities we work with whether they are grant recipients, partners, freelance practitioners, external stakeholders or others. We welcome feedback, positive and/or negative on your experience of working with us. When we are not as good as we should be, we want to know about it so that we can put things right. Most of the time, concerns can be dealt with through informal discussions with the people involved directly.

This is the approach that we encourage as a first step because, in most cases, matters can then be resolved quickly and straightforwardly.

However, if this is not appropriate for any reason, you are welcome to contact Head of Film Maddy Probst at maddy.p@watershed.co.uk. We also have a structured process for handling complaints.

1:1s

One-to-one meetings are 15-minute online sessions for south west-based filmmakers and creatives who are interested in the opportunities and funding on offer with BFI NETWORK South West. Please note that – so we can split our time fairly – these slots are for those who have not met with us before.

We currently have a few 1:1 slots available for Early Development Fund queries. You can book a session here.

To be one of the first to know when 1:1s open for booking, check out our socials and sign up to our newsletter.

We also hold monthly online coffee mornings where you can take a break, share ideas, seek creative advice and connect with other filmmakers in the region.

Mixers and networking

We often run Connect & Collab mixers with the intention of bringing writers, directors, producers and industry folk into one room. All mixers will be listed on our Events Page as well as being launched on our newsletter.