Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe is a pioneer in Black and Minority film exhibition (The Voice News Paper 2016). A connoisseur of urban story telling and production, Emmanuel is the go-to guy for bridging the gap between the mainstream and independent talent in European BAME film.

Graduating from The University of West London (based next to the world famous Ealing Studios) and graduated with a 2:1 honours for Media Arts & Video Production in 2002, Emmanuel set-up his first business in 2001 – a production company called IQ Creations – which developed TV formats in the UK and internationally.

In 2002 he worked for BFM (Black Filmmaker Magazine) and programmed the festival during its 5th anniversary year in 2003. He also worked for the Screen Nation awards in 2004 and produced a magazine show celebrating West African cinema.
After his apprenticeship at both companies, he established B.U.F.F (British Urban Film Festival) in 2005 after attending the Urban Music Festival and marvelling over the positive event bringing urban musicians together. B.U.F.F was initially formed to showcase urban independent cinema in the absence of any such state-sponsored activity in the UK. Supported by a board which included actors, journalists, film critics and filmmakers, BUFF stands out as the only festival of its kind with a triple offering of online, on-air and spectator platforms where filmmakers and scriptwriters are presented with the opportunity to have their work showcased to the largest audience reach possible.
Emmanuel was given a 13 week slot on BEN TV in 2006 to produce ‘The Search for BUFF’ to find models to present at the festival. It was a street version of a beauty pageant, asking the public in the form of Vox pops what makes a person ‘buff’ in the traditional sense of attractive, a play on the festivals acronym B.U.F.F.

Since launch, BUFF’s sole objective is to celebrate difference and to champion, embrace, disrupt and accurately reflect the changing cultural mass and demographic make-up of the UK as expressed primarily through film. B.U.F.F responded to the lack of diverse award nominees at BAFTA and Oscar by launching the B.U.F.F Awards in 2015. Since the, B.U.F.F has awarded 20 filmmakers incl. Richard Pryor (posthumously) and Wil Johnson.

12 years on since conception, Emmanuel has formed relationships and sponsorships with several media brands incl. BBC Films, Channel4, Community Channel, Colourful Radio, The Voice Newspaper, London Live, Trace Urban and SKY and B.U.F.F was named the best festival for diversity in the world by Metro Newspaper, May 2016.

Emmanuel received an Icon Recognition Award from CHUB Magazine 2015 for services to film and television and has was nominated for an Excellence in Diversity Award 2016.

Emmanuel produced the new romantic drama feature film No Shade, which was released British cinema June 5th 2018.

Here at BUFF Studios, Emmanuel has secured and released over 500 film titles to AppleTV, BBC Iplayer, London Live, Amazon Prime and Bohemia Euphoria.

In July 2025 Emmanuel exec produced Nollywood Epic; Ireke into 15 uk cinemas including Odeon and Vue.

Clare Anyiam-Osigwe BEM  is an award-winning film director and screen writer, and the former lead script juror and co-chair of BAFTA, BIFA, AMAA accredited British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) which streams on Apple TV and Bohemia Euphoria. 

In 2018, her directorial debut feature NO SHADE secured international theatrical release making Clare just the 6th black British woman to secure cinematic distribution in 123 years of British Cinema. A romantic drama, it has been streamed over 16 million times on Amazon Prime before picking up distribution on Tubi. It is now available on Apple TV. 

Clare was commissioned by The Voice Newspaper to produce and direct a short documentary, WINDRUSH STORIES celebrating 70 years of the first Caribbean settlers to the U.K. in 2018.  

Clare is developing dramedy series while preparing for her sophomore film FINDING FOREVER starring Tim Reid, Arnold Oceng and Femi Oyeniran, meanwhile after maternity leave of her 2nd daughter, in summer of 2022 Clare was signed by Revolution Talent agency and embarked on directing 12 episodes of national broadcast television for the three biggest studios in the UK: BBC Studios (The Break), ITV Studios (Coronation Street) and Lime Pictures for Ch4 (Hollyoaks). 

In April 2025, Clare is also a debut author, her top 20 best selling Autobiography/ Psychology book Clarity is stocked globally and published by new literary arm BUFF Books.   

In July 2025 – Clare, alongside her husband Emmanuel executively produced and released IREKE – an epic action thriller directed by Emmy Nominated journalist, Peter Macjob under BUFF Studios. 

Clare is developing other original film and tv projects as both director, writer and EP having been approached by execs at HBO Max, PBS and several indie co-production studios in Africa, America, Caribbean and Europe.

Simone Brown is a story consultant and content creator whose past work includes short films, music videos and digital storytelling. Passionate about narratives that shift perspectives and build empathy, she contributes her creative insight to BUFF Studios as Associate Producer.

Alex has worked in filmmaking for several years, both in front of and behind the camera. She appeared in Ireke, which premiered at Cannes and was released across three continents, and has contributed to numerous other projects.

She is a published author of the novels The Empathist and Cleaners Wanted, and a contributing writer for the upcoming horror anthology As Told Under The Moon (October 2025), while also working on a new book. Alongside her day job, she enjoys travel, socialising, and caring for her opinionated cat, Noodle.