Georgia Oakley | Writer/Director

Georgia Oakley | Writer/Director

(She/Her)

For former BFI Flare x BAFTA mentee Georgia Oakley her BAFTA journey continues with Breakthrough. That the writer-director is sharing this year’s cohort with two members of the team who helped make her striking debut feature film, Blue Jean (2022) – namely, Rosy McEwen and Kat Morgan – has made this ongoing experience all the more agreeable.

Georgia says she was always the kid in the corner reading a book or writing a story, but didn’t seriously consider a career in the industry until, at seventeen, she was unexpectedly street cast as an extra in a feature film. The energy and collaborative experience of that set served as just the incentive Georgia needed to chase becoming a filmmaker herself. First came directing theatre while at university, to gain experience working with actors, and then she made some commercials, all the while building up her own filmography of well-received short films. Blue Jean is the net result of all that hard work and has already earned her a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer (shared with producer Hélène Sifre).

In their own words...

“I love speaking with specialists who know everything about something. That’s not me, I know a little bit about a few things. Being a director is about bringing all those incredible specialist people together and trying to convince them to help you on your journey. They bring their vision to it as well. That’s what I love about making films, you start with this kernel but then everyone brings something of themselves to it.”

“I’ve been following the Breakthrough initiative for a while. It feels surreal to be selected, especially to be part of it with two members of the team of Blue Jean. We all feel very proud of the work we did together. It feels very special to keep that journey going through something like this.”

Georgia is currently writing two different films with BBC FiIms and co-writing an adaptation of Anna Hope’s novel Expectation with actor Clémence Poésy, who will also direct.

Georgia’s breakthrough credit is the scripted film Blue Jean

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