Breaking Through with BAFTA

This week, BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) shared their most recent cohort of Breakthrough Participants.

Started in 2013, the BAFTA Breakthrough program provides mentorship, networking, career coaching, and more.  This year’s cohort includes multiple disciplines, including cinematography, production design, composing, and sound editing, and also features talent from both the U.K. and the U.S. We chat with new BAFTA Breakthrough participants director Bao Nguyen (“Be Water“- Documentary) and writer/director Dominique Nieves (“Our Lady Lupe“) about this recent honor and their directing styles.

For more information about the BAFTA Breakthrough program, as well as a complete list of this year’s honorees, check out the BAFTA Breakthrough site at https://www.bafta.org/supporting-talent/breakthrough.

Full list of 2021 US Jurors:

• Niamh Algar – Actor (Raised By Wolves)
• Laura Berwick – Manager/Producer (Berwick & Kovacik)
• Leon Brazil – Art & Animation Director (Unbroken Studios)
• Ellen Kuras  – Director/Cinematographer (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
• Maria Ishak – Jury Co-Chair | (Head of Content & Coproductions, Asacha Media Group)
• Siddhartha Khosla – Composer (This Is Us)
• Bruce Miller – Creator/Showrunner (The Handmaid’s Tale)
• Karl Stewart – Jury Co-Chair (CEO and Co-founder of Thunder Child)
• Colin Trevorrow  – Director (Jurassic World: Dominion)
• Rutina Wesley  – Actor (Queen Sugar)

Full list of 2021 UK Jurors:

• Ade Rawcliffe – Chair | Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion at ITV
• Afua Hirsch – Journalist/Cultural Commentator
• Alisa Pomeroy – Senior Commissioning Editor, Factual (Channel 4)
• Clare Stewart – Festival Director
• David P Davis –  Executive Producer (Bad Wolf)
• Fiona Lamptey – Director of UK Features (Netflix)
• Jodie Azhar – Games Developer
• Julia Godzinskaya – Film Producer (The Witch)
• Kharmel Cochrane – Casting Director (The Lighthouse)
• Molly Emma Rowe – Costume Designer (The Informer)
• Peter Hoar – TV Director (It’s A Sin)
• Siobhan Reddy – Studio Director (Media Molecule)
• Tim Renkow – Writer/Performer (Jerk)
• Vanessa Whyte – DOP (Ted Lasso)