Amanda Rees

Source: Jo Haycock

Amanda Rees

Amanda Rees, former S4C exec and documentary filmmaker, is to chair the board of Ffilm Cymru Wales, the development agency for Welsh film, from December.

Welsh speaker Rees’s credits include Channel 4 documentaries Finding Mum And Dad and Revenge Porn. She works as a business consultant, is an executive member of the Ofcom advisory committee for Wales and vice chair of Cardiff-based economic development agency, Cwmpas. She has also held the posts of director of content and director of platforms for Welsh broadcaster S4C.

Rees takes over from outgoing chair, Ruth McElroy. The length of term for a Ffilm Cymru chair, which is a non-salaried role, is three years, with the possibility to serve for two terms.

Film productions to recently film in Wales include Mr Burton and Madfabulous, both with support from Arts Council of Wales and Welsh government via Creative Wales.

Ffilm Cymru Wales is also running two ’Foot In The Door’ new entrant training programmes across Newport and Swansea, with funding from the UK government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, supporting independent cinemas and film festivals with audience engagement.

“I’m delighted to be joining Ffilm Cymru Wales at such an exciting time, as audience consumption patterns change and converge, challenging the sector to be evermore creative in its story-telling and innovative in its business modelling,” said Rees. 

”In such a shifting landscape, Ffilm Cymru Wales’ role in nurturing, supporting and developing a thriving Welsh film industry is more important than ever,”Lee Walters, who has held the post of Ffilm Cymru Wales chief executive since November 2023, praised Rees’s “passion for championing Welsh talent on an international stage.”