Shantelle Rochester

Shantelle Rochester is a producer, director and actress with almost 20 years’ experience in the industry. In 2017, she set up her own company, Ida Rose, to produce film and television content as well as support projects, events and training created by diverse teams for diverse audiences. Ida Rose is committed to helping shape the future by working with underrepresented creatives all over the world.

At Ida Rose, she produced her first independent film, Two Graves (2018), which was bought by Netflix. With additional award-winning directed shorts under her belt, Shantelle also produced The Black British Theatre Awards (2020) for Sky Arts, alongside Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Shantelle continues to develop a diverse slate of projects at Ida Rose, which includes the feature film Finding Samuel, written and directed by Kwei-Armah and produced with Dame Floella Benjamin, her husband Keith Taylor and Head Gear Films. Meanwhile, Stolen, a South African-UK co-production under the official South African and UK trade mission, is almost completed. Shantelle is the only candidate to be awarded two UK Global Screen Funds (for International Co-production and International Business Development.

Shantelle is also excited to be driving positive change in the industry. At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, she was part of a delegation of Black British women filmmakers attending the Diversity at Cannes and BFI’s Celebrating Black Women in International Film, a curated programme of events and networking opportunities to build meaningful creative and financial partnerships. While there, she co-launched the Diaspora Collective, a tech-driven ecosystem of dynamic global companies and initiatives focused on fostering inclusivity, driving innovation and empowering creativity across Africa and the African diaspora. Shantelle also runs digital consultancy platform Know Your Power, which is a Diaspora Collective initiative.

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