Gurinder Chadha OBE

Gurinder's award-winning films - Bend It Like Beckham; Bride and Prejudice; Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and others - have earned millions at the box office. Challenging perceptions of women, race and Britishness her films celebrate diversity and her life growing up in London, inviting you to see the world form her unique cultural perspective as a British Asian.

Many of her films have received nominations from the Golden Globes, BAFTA, European Film Academy, and the Writers Guild of America.

Gurinder said: "Bend it Like Beckham came very close to never being made. I had written the script in the 90s and it kept on getting rejected – I remember thinking that The National Lottery was my last possible option. I am eternally grateful for the funding The National Lottery gave me to make Bend It Like Beckham, as well as the breaks it continues to offer to other up-and-coming filmmakers in the UK. Even today The National Lottery gives £45m to the British Film Institute, and that money not only goes to help finance the next generation of new film directors and filmmakers, but also it preserves our national heritage and national archive of film."