Bafta Breakthrough producer Rajita Shah on her honour, ‘Love Sarah’ and new football film…

Producer was awarded title at the tail end of last year and talks to acv about the accolade and her film career to date…

DYNAMIC film producer Rajita Shah has much to look forward to in 2022.
Coming just off the back of the announcement of her as a Bafta Breakthrough artist last month, she’s just announced her next project ‘Let Us Play’ a look at the origins and struggle for equality that 19-year-old Patricia Gregory had in getting the Football Association to revoke its ban on women’s football.
Yes, for 50 years the FA in England banned women from playing football. Incredible.
Today the women’s game is growing globally and last year was the 100th anniversary of the ban being imposed in England.
Shah, in this video, talks about this new project which she says is very “close to her heart”.
She also discusses what it means to be a Bafta Breakthrough producer, her own journey from Surat in India via New York and then to London and most importantly the film that has brought her to this level and for which she has received recognition.
The film, ‘Love Sarah’ was released in many parts of the world last year and was a box office smash – it was Shah’s first feature and its star cast includes Celie Imrie (‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’), Bill Paterson (‘Colin’s New Year’), Rupert Penry-Jones (‘The Batman’ 2022) Shannon Tarbet (‘Love is Blind‘) and Shelley Conn (‘Bridgerton’ 2022).
It is a touching and endearing story about a bakery being created in memory from scratch in Notting Hill in London.
As Shah explains, the film is helmed by a first team feature director Eliza Schroeder, and written from an original story by film newcomer Jake Brunger.

Ellora Torchia was also named as a Bafha Breakthrough participant – she has been unavailable for comment. Before Ellora Torchia’s acting career began at RADA, she was training to be a dancer and boxer until she was 18. In her third year at drama school her lead role in Ibsen’s ‘The Lady from the Sea’ really cemented her desire to be an actress, and after her graduation she starred in the French film ‘Les Cowboys’.
Torchia’s part as Alma in Ben Wheatley’s post-pandemic horror film ‘In The Earth’ landed her with a BAFTA Breakthrough credit, and follows scientist Martin Lowery (Martin Fry) after he is sent to a government-controlled research facility near Bristol after a deadly virus outbreak. She also plays Runa, the estranged wife of main character Ali in Drama ‘Ali & Ava’, which is set for release in March 2022.

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