Claudia Yusef, former BBC Film commissioning executive, and Emma Luffingham, former head of development at World Productions, have joined London-based Pathe UK as creative directors for film and TV, respectively.
Both will report into Pathé UK co-CEOs Ben Browning and Faith Penhale. Browning recently joined the company from Los Angeles-based FilmNation to lead the French studio’s relaunched English-language film business.
Over the past two years, Pathé UK has shifted away from film and focused on building a UK TV slate. The arrival of Yusef and Browning signals the company’s return to film, with previous Pathé UK films including The Great Escaper, Slumdog Millionaire, Pride, The Iron Lady, The Queen, Selma and Philomena.
While at BBC Film, Yusef executive produced films including Naqqash Khalid’s In Camera, Mahalia Belo’s The End We Start From, Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun and Aneil Karia’s Hamlet.
Luffingham was head of development at World Productions for six years, overseeing the company’s drama slate and, most recently, executive producing Malpractice and Karen Pirie for ITV and Showtrial for the BBC.
At Pathé, she will work with Penhale and be responsible for expanding and shaping a growing slate of premium television projects.
Pathé’s upcoming French slate includes Florian Zeller’s Bunker starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Guillaume Canet’s Karma with Marion Cotillard, Arthur Harari’s The Unknown starring Léa Seydoux and TV series Les Brumes with Netflix, currently shooting in France and Ireland.
“It’s an honour to join Ben and the rest of the team at Pathé, a company with such an illustrious history, and at such a pivotal and exciting time in its recommitment to international film,” said Yusef.
“After six brilliant years at World, I am thrilled to be joining Pathé at such a defining moment in its iconic history,” added Luffingham. “I have long admired the extraordinary body of work Faith has produced throughout her stellar career, and I cannot wait to roll my sleeves up and work alongside her to grow an ambitious TV slate and continue to champion the phenomenal creative talent we have in the UK.”
“Emma and Claudia both have deep creative relationships and career track records which speak to their immense talent. Their hires signal the scale of our ambition in the UK, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come as we write this next chapter of Pathé,” said Browning and Penhale.
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