Farhana Bhula confirmed as permanent director of Channel 4’s movie arm Film4

Channel 4 has appointed Farhana Bhula as permanent director of Film4, the UK public service broadcaster’s feature film division.

Farhana Bhula

Farhana was named interim director of Film4 in July following the news of Ollie Madden’s departure from the role. She will take up the post immediately, following an extensive external recruitment process.

Since joining Film4 in January 2022, Farhana has overseen film projects including Molly Manning Walker’s debut film How To Have Sex, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, plus forthcoming Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada, Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound and Philippa Lowthorpe’s H is for Hawk.

Farhana launched Future Takes in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI), currently in its second iteration, to support and nurture emerging talent. Following the success of How to Have Sex, Molly Manning Walker has reunited with the channel on her upcoming TV series Major Players with A24, which Farhana will work on alongside the Channel 4 drama team.

Farhana will remain on Channel 4’s executive and senior leadership teams, reporting to Martin Baker, chief commercial affairs officer, who had assumed interim responsibility for Film4 under interim CEO Jonathan Allan and led the external recruitment process.

Initially a senior commissioning exec at Film4, Farhana later becoming head of creative and deputy director. Before that, she was a senior development and production executive at the BFI, where she supported emerging talent and worked on a number of debut films, including Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper, Dionne Edwards’ Pretty Red Dress and Ben Sharrock’s Limbo. Farhana has also held positions at Wildgaze Films and Endor Productions.