BFI & Chanel Filmmaker Award: ‘Ish’ Director Imran Perretta Among 2026 Winners

The BFI has announced the winners of its fifth annual Filmmaker Awards, hosted in partnership with French fashion house Chanel.

The 2026 winners are director-producer-cinematographer Rich Felgate (We, The Hated); director-writer Olive Nwosu (Lady); director-co-writer-composer Imran Perretta (Ish); and director-writer Rachel Taparjan (Something Familiar).

The award comes with a £20,000 prize and was presented yesterday during a luncheon at Claridge’s in London by the jury, led by Edward Enninful OBE, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of EE72; Marie-Louise Khondji, founder of Le Cinéma Club; and BFI CEO Ben Roberts. Jessie Buckley and Gwendoline Christie joined this year’s jury and announced the winners.

Previous winners of the Filmmaker Award include Kathryn Ferguson, who won in 2022 with her debut award-winning documentary Nothing Compares about Sinead O’Connor. Ferguson has since directed Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes, a documentary about the Hollywood icon for Universal. Savannah Leaf won in 2023 with Earth Mama and went on to win the 2024 BAFTA for Best Debut British Writer. Director and producer Pinny Grylls won in 2024 as the co-writer and co-director of Grand Theft Hamlet, which won the Raindance Maverick Award at the British Independent Film Awards that year. Last year, Pillion director Harry Lighton was among the winners.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Chanel and present these unique awards to some of the UK’s brightest filmmakers,” Ben Roberts, CEO of the BFI, said in a statement.

“This year’s winners have all made startling and moving films, and we hope this award offers them the space and freedom to continue to take risks and be audacious in the next steps of their careers.”