Isla Badenoch is a filmmaker and artist working between narrative, documentary, and experimental forms. Based in the Celtic borderlands of the UK, her work explores rites of passage, neurodivergence, grief, and marginalisation with a poetic, elemental sensibility. Her films often centre characters at the edges of society, revealing intimate inner worlds through atmospheric visuals, humour, and deep attention to place.
She was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, and her work has screened globally at BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying festivals, broadcast on BBC4, and featured by Vimeo Staff Picks, Short of the Week, WaterBear and others. She is supported by organisations such as BFI, Ffilm Cymru, DocSociety, BBC Arts, LUX Scotland, Arts Council England, and Statens Kunstfond (DK).
She is an alumna of LIM: Less is More, Le Groupe Ouest’s StoryTANK, BFI New Writers Lab, Directors UK Inspire, and Reclaim the Frame’s Filmonomics, BIFA Springboard and mentors emerging filmmakers at Bristol Film School and the Emerging Voices Film Foundation. Isla is a continuing member of BAFTA Connect.
She is currently developing her debut narrative feature Not Drowning — a flooded rite-of-passage fable — with support from BFI and Ffilm Cymru.
email: islabadenoch@gmail.com
MA | Visual Culture & Identity | The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art | Copenhagen
BA | English Literature (1:1) | University of Sheffield
RECENT AWARDS / SCREENINGS
FIRST PANIC - Filmmakers Co-op, New York // New Year New Work Festival 2025
NOT DROWNING - BFI Feature Development Fund 2025
Screen International - 15 rising UK writers and directors with global appeal
StoryTANK - selected participant in European Storytelling Think Tank, Brittany 2024
Screen International Star of Tomorrow UK & Ireland 2024
British Council x Black Mountains College - Climate Adaptation for Creatives 2024
BFI Midlands Directors Lab 2024
WHISPERER - Le Groupe Ouest’s, LIM: Less Is More 2024
THE ELVERMEN - Stroud Film Festival 2024
THE ELVERMEN - Borderlines Film Festival, Open Screen Award Winner 2024
THE ELVERMEN - Gåsebäck Film Festival Sweden 2023
NOT DROWNING - BFI Feature Development Fund 2023
WHISPERER - BFI Doc Society Features Fund 2023
NOT DROWNING - Ffilm Cymru, Horizons Feature Film Development Fund 2022-23
THE ELVERMEN - BIFA Best British Short Film Long-list 2022
THE ELVERMEN - British Council x DocSociety ‘Songs of the Earth’ Tour 2022 -23
ONE NIGHT - Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2022
ONE NIGHT - New Renaissance Film Festival 2022
ONE NIGHT - Bolton International Film Festival 2022
ONE NIGHT - BronzeLens Film Festival 2022
THE ELVERMEN - Vision Du Reel, supported by British Council 2022
THE DEAD ARE JEWELS TO ME - Glasgow Short Film Festival, Scottish Competition 2022
ONE NIGHT - Constructed Sight Dance Festival 2022
THE DEAD ARE JEWELS TO ME - London Short Film Festival, UK Competition 2022
THE ELVERMEN - Short of the Week + Vimeo Staff Pick 2021
ELVER - Encounters Film Festival, Shortest Day of the Year 2021
THE ELVERMEN - Camerimage Film Festival, Short Doc Competition 2021
THE ELVERMEN - Raindance Film Festival 2021
THE ELVERMEN - Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2021
THE ELVERMEN - Camden International Film Festival 2021
THE ELVERMEN - Sheffield DocFest, UK Competition 2021
ELVER - ‘One More Edit’ @ Bristol Old Vic 2021
THE DEAD ARE JEWELS TO ME, LUX, Screen Scotland, BBC4 +iPlayer 2021
NOT DROWNING - ACE ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ Grant 2020
NOT DROWNING - BFI New Writers Lab 2020
ELVER - BBC4 Broadcast ‘Dance on Film’ Season 2020
THE ELVERMEN - BFI DocSociety ‘Made of Truth’ Grant 2019
SKAGEN ASTROLOGY - Ondsdagskolen Group Exhibition Denmark 2017
THE BURNNESHA ARCHIVE, Festalen Exhibition Copenhagen 2016
SELECTED WORKS, Copenhagen Photography Exhibition 2016