David Rose to receive BFI Fellowship

UK producer David Rose is to be awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to cinema.

Rose worked as senior commissioning editor for fiction at Channel 4 and Film 4 where he was responsible for cinematic landmarks such as Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette, Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract and Neil Jordan’s Angel, as well as international co-productions like Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice and Wim Wenders’ Paris Texas.

Rose will be presented with his award by Film 4’s controller of film and drama Tessa Ross on April 20 at the BFI Southbank, where he will also take the stage to talk about his work.

Previous recipients of the BFI Fellowship include Sir Michael Caine, Lord Attenborough and Sir Ridley Scott, and most recently John Hurt and Souleymane Cisse in 2009.

Greg Dyke, chair of BFI b,oard of governors said: “David Rose has had a unique and inspiring career that has ranged from the pressures of live weekly drama series, to that great flowering of television drama from BBC Birmingham in the 70s, before scaling the heights of British and international film production as he guided Film On Four through its most successful and influential period.”

Former chief executive at Channel 4 and BFI Fellow Sir Jeremy Isaacs said: “In a long and stunning career, from Z-Cars to Film On Four, David Rose has delighted us over and over again. No impresario of dramatic fiction has dealt better with writers and directors, or been more loved and respected by them.”