Welsh producer Catrin Cooper has been appointed as film commissioner for UK Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, with Dafydd Llewelyn named drama commissioner, in two newly-created roles.
The restructure comes following the departure of head of film and drama Gwenllian Gravelle after seven years at S4C, and in response to S4C’s increased film ambition following the creation of Sinema Cymru, a scheme to produce a Welsh-language feature film annually.
Cooper was an executive producer on Effi o Blaenau, the highest-grossing Welsh-language film at the UK-Ireland box office on record. She is currently working on Star Wars: A New Hope (Gobaith Newydd), the Welsh-language version produced by Lucasfilm in collaboration with S4C and the Welsh government via Creative Wales. She previously was a development executive at Ffilm Cymru Wales.
Sinema Cymru is co-funded by the Welsh Government through Creative Wales. Gareth Bryn’s revenge western Lluest was the first film to be greenlit for production under the scheme.
Llewelyn will be responsible for commissioning drama and soap operas. He has worked as a producer on BBC’s Casualty as well as on several Welsh-language series.
“I’m delighted to be joining S4C as film commissioner at a moment of real opportunity for Welsh-language film,” said Cooper. “For me, that means helping to make S4C a destination for our filmmakers - somewhere they bring their strongest, most distinctive ideas, and know there is real ambition for the work.
”I’ll also keep looking outward, learning from other indigenous-language regions that have created further opportunities for their sectors, while building on the progress already underway here.”
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