For our next in-person session, we have invited BIFA-nominated Producer Helen Simmons and BAFTA-nominated producer Rachel Dargavel to explore the craft and process of producing your debut feature film.

With productions on some of the most recent groundbreaking and inventive debut features (Luna Carmoon’s HOARD and Akinola Davies Jr’s MY FATHER’S SHADOW), Helen and Rachel will share their journey from short films to features and working with institutions like BFI, BBC FILMS and FILM 4.

The session will explore how they nurture a film-maker’s unique voice and artistic sensibilities and navigating creative and production challenges. They will also break down the development process and navigating budgets, shooting days and tight schedules in this current film-making landscape. The session will also cover international co-productions and working with marketing teams and distributors.

This dailiesession is for producers and filmmakers working towards their debut feature and beyond.

HELEN SIMMONS

Helen’s debut feature was the BIFA-nominated Chubby Funny, followed by Say Your Prayers, starring Harry Melling and Derek Jacobi. In 2018, she co-founded Erebus Pictures with Stephanie, under which she has produced multiple high-profile features, including Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero starring Emma Corrin & Charli XCX, Luna Carmoon’s BAFTA-nominated debut Hoard and her sophomore To Make Ends Meat.

Helen is a member of the British Screen Forum and co-ran the Producers Roundtable initiative. She is a Trustee of the Watersprite Film Festival and a co-founder of Cinema for Gaza, which raised over a quarter of a million pounds for MAP in its first auction in 2024.

RACHEL DARGAVEL

Rachel Dargavel is a BAFTA-nominated producer whose credits include the critically acclaimed debut feature My Father’s Shadow by Akinola Davies Jr., which received a Special Mention for the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Lizard, also by Davies Jr., winner of the Sundance Jury Prize in 2021 and the BIFA-winning Only You by Harry Wootliff.

She co-produced September Says, a 2024 Cannes Un Certain Regard nominee, through her production company Crybaby. In collaboration with Element Pictures, Rachel has served as Executive Producer on Shane Meadows’ series The Gallows Pole and The Listeners, directed by Janicza Bravo. She began her career as an Assistant Director before transitioning into line producing on acclaimed UK indie films such as Weekend and 45 Years. Current projects in funded development include collaborations with Akinola Davies Jr., Courttia Newland, Caleb Femi, and Daisy Haggard, spanning both film and television.