Isla Badenoch
Writer-director
UK & Ireland
Isla Badenoch is a self-taught filmmaker living in the rural borderlands of the UK and Ireland. She is interested in hidden communities and rites of passage that connect to the natural environment. Her atmospheric films defy stereotypical understandings of those who have been excluded from society in the hopes of cultivating a culture of compassion.
Isla’s films have screened at multiple festivals internationally, longlisted for a BIFA, broadcast on BBC4, Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Picks, WaterBear and Minute Shorts. She is an alumni of BFI New Writers Lab, BBC New Creatives, LUX Now & Next, Reclaim the Frame’s Filmonomics and Directors UK Inspire.
Isla is currently in development of her debut narrative feature supported by the BFI and Film Wales, with a second fiction feature that has evolved from a documentary supported by DocSociety.
Project
Whisperer
WHISPERER is the coming-of-age story of Fiadh, a neurodiverse teenager. Fiadh has just turned 13 when her world-weary mother decides they need to move away from their suburban home to find a better way of life. Fiadh struggles to adapt to her constantly changing surroundings, yet no matter where they move, Fiadh seeks out kinship in horses.
Near a temporary campsite, Fiadh discovers a teacher of natural horsemanship and learns the art of horse whispering. Yet as her mother’s extreme views stop her from following a new sense of purpose, Fiadh has to choose between childhood codependence or emerging adulthood. In a tender portrait of self-discovery, Fiadh changes from a doubtful girl into a self-assured young woman and by learning to emotionally connect with horses, she supports herself through the joy, pain and beauty of growing up.
