Our Board • Scottish Youth Film Foundation

Steven Riley

Steve is a project and programme management professional, with over 20 years’ experience in delivering large, complex initiatives for clients in IT, construction, aviation and defence. Steve lives in Midlothian and enjoys photography, playing guitar and learning from his teenage son how little he knows about Minecraft. Or about operating the TV.

Diane Henderson

Diane is a photography graduate (Napier University 1987), with extensive experience working within the arts sector in Scotland. She is currently employed as Associate Director of the French Film Festival UK. Established in 1992, the festival will this year celebrate its 30th Anniversary presenting French-speaking cinema in venues from Shetland to Plymouth and including an education programme throughout the UK.

She also recently worked as Programme Manager for the Edinburgh International Culture Summit 2022, based at the Scottish Parliament. Founded by its director Sir Jonathan Mills in 2012, EICS is a partnership between the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, The British Council and the Edinburgh International Festival. This unique event takes place every two years to an audience of international Culture Ministers and exists to promote positive change through cultural policy and investment across the globe.

Previous roles include Deputy Artistic Director at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (2006 – 2020); four years as General Manager of Edinburgh’s iconic Cameo Cinema from 2000; Head of Development and Exhibitions at Edinburgh College of Art; Development Manager at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, and Lecturer in Photography for Edinburgh City Council’s evening class programme.

Diane continues to work on her own photography and has exhibited in various group exhibitions at home and abroad.

“Over the years, cinema has taught me so much about the world we live in. Its ability to enrich and inform our lives is second to none. For hundreds of young people in Scotland each year, the Scottish Youth Film Foundation is their sole access point for learning about, screening and making films. I wish the foundation had existed when I was young and I am proud to serve as a board member for this unique and hugely impressive organisation”.

Lauren Lamarr

Lauren has been a Producer within the Pictures team at Blazing Griffin for 7 years, and has worked across many of their projects, including feature films “Anna and the Apocalypse”, “Runrig: There Must Be A Place”, and “Book of Love”.

Previously, Lauren Produced numerous award winning indie short and feature films, including the road trip rom-com “Where Do We Go From Here”, whilst also worked within the production teams for severable notable UK film and TV companies including The Comedy Unit, Shed Media, Minnow Films, The Foundation TV, and STV Creative.

Annie Macrae

I have always had a passion for film and the creative arts and I am delighted to have an opportunity to support young people in Scotland by becoming a trustee on the SYFF board. I have an MA in Film and Visual Culture and I enjoyed working in film and television after I graduated. The work SYFF does would have been invaluable to me in helping to understand what a job in the Scottish film industry would look like, and I am excited to be involved in that work going forward.

After I graduated, my career took a different path when I had an opportunity to join an organisation whose focus is energy saving and sustainability, which was always of interest to me. I work in a senior management role, leading on project management and delivery, where I have been able to make a valuable contribution to the energy saving sector in Scotland, working closely with the Scottish Government.

I am determined to give back to the film industry by helping to support young Scottish people to follow their dreams, and to use my skills and experience to help SYFF achieve their aim to improve the life outcomes of young people in Scotland through film.

Sandra Morrison

I am a lecturer in Further Education specialising in business and finance. I know that not everyone has a great experience of education and I am on the board of SYFF as I am passionate that education should be for all and believe that film can help do this and that it should be used in educational establishments throughout Scotland. I also want to be part of opening doors in the film industry to young people from Scotland who would otherwise have not considered this sector as a career.

Raisah Ahmed

Raisah is a Scottish Asian Muslim Writer/Director, based in Glasgow, currently working across television and film. She has been shortlisted for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab twice - in 2015 with Meet Me By The Water and in 2018 with Safar which is currently in development with Producer Zorana Piggott. She is in development with Zorana Piggott on a WW1 feature, Half-Moon Camp, for Film 4. Her writing credits include CBeebies shows Feeling Better, Molly & Mack and Control a BBC The Social phone drama and Aden’s Journey a short drama about a refugee unaccompanied minor for the Celcis course ‘Caring for Children on the Move’. Alumni of the EIFF Talent Lab 2014, Raisah had her first commissioned short as writer/director Meet Me By The Water premiere at EIFF 2016, it went on to be programmed by BBC Scotland’s ‘Next Big Thing’ programme. She directed one of BBC 3’s The Break III, 2018, was a shadowing director on CBeebies Molly & Mack S2 and most recently directed on CBBC’s ‘Sparks’.

Bill Boyd

Bill is a former English teacher and literacy consultant, during which time he was always an advocate for Moving Image Education and using film in the classroom to develop literacy skills. He is a volunteer guide at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, a lover of the outdoors and a champion of Scottish life and culture.