Tricia Tuttle
Since April 2024 the creative direction and management of the Berlin International Film Festival have been the responsibility of Tricia Tuttle.
Tricia Tuttle has over 25 years of experience in film festivals and education and has held senior roles at British Film Institute (BFI), British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) and the National Film and Television School (NFTS). Most recently, she held the role of Head of Directing Fiction at NFTS. Prior to this, she was at the BFI for a decade, first as Deputy Head of Festivals then as Festivals Director, leading the team to deliver both BFI London Film Festival (LFF) and BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
Tuttle is passionate about the ways cinema and film festivals can bring people together. Earlier in her career she worked as a film programmer for BFI alongside writing and teaching on film. As Director of BFI London Film Festival she introduced LFF screenings around the UK, increased digital access to the Festivals and introduced LFF For Free, a programme of free screenings and events, all contributing to expanding the Festival’s reach by over 50 percent. She also launched sections on series television, as well as an immersive filmmaking programme that commissioned new XR works from Guy Maddin and Asif Kapadia. While Deputy Head of Festivals, she developed BFI Flare’s LGBTQIA+ Mentorship programme delivered in partnership with BAFTA which has seen a number of filmmakers successfully emerging within the international industry. In March 2019, she was recognised in “Variety”’s annual International Women’s Impact Report and in 2022 she was included in Variety500, an index of influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.
Tuttle is from North Carolina in the South of the United States where she began her career playing music as guitarist for the band June signed to Beggars Banquet Records. She has a Masters in Film Studies from the BFI and Birkbeck University, and a dual major BA in Literature and Radio, Television and Motion Pictures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the 1990s, Tuttle moved to London. She has 17 year old twins with her partner Briony.
