Debbie Howard – 2021 Jury

We are delighted to welcome Sheffield based award winning filmmaker Debbie Howard to the 2021 Jury. Debbie will select the winner of the Best Documentary award.

Debbie was an actor for twenty-five years before moving into writing and directing when she founded Big Buddha Films. Her award winning short films have screened at film festivals worldwide, including ‘Peekaboo’ starring Lesley Sharp and Shaun Dooley. She made the critically acclaimed, award winning and BIFA long listed feature documentary, ‘Still Loved’ and was then commissioned to make her documentary ‘Absent From Our Own Wedding’ by Real Stories.

Debbie is currently in production on a feature doc ‘The Cowboy from Newcastle’. She is also in development on two feature films, ‘Waiting’, which received early development funding from the BFI Network and ‘Cold’. She is also in development on TV a comedy TV series, ‘Hitched’ and a TV Sci-Fi series, ‘The Return’.

She regularly directs drama for the BBC. Debbie was selected for the Women in Film and Television Mentoring Scheme in 2014 and completed Filmonomics with Mia Bays of Birds Eye View. She is keen to champion other women in the film industry and is an influencer for Reclaim the Frame.