About
Northern Fortress Films is an award-winning grassroots production company focused on telling socially conscious Northern stories. We are proud to be based in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
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At Northern Fortress, we aim to shine a spotlight on Northern talent, giving Northern voices the chance to tell their stories. Diversity and representation are at the core of all of our films, and we aim to change the culture of the industry by keeping these values at the forefront of our filmmaking.
Company Director
Louisa Rose Mackleston
writer/director/producer
Northern Fortress was founded by Louisa in January 2021.
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For the past eight years, Louisa has been working as an Assistant Director in TV & Film. Her first film, Ruth & Safiya, was selected for the BAFTA-qualifying Leeds International Film Festival and won Best Short at Cardiff International Film Festival. She has worked with Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy on Ruth & Safiya, and Hollywood legend John Landis whilst training at the International Filmmaking Academy in Bologna, supported by ScreenSkills.
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Louisa is a member of both the Queer and Disabled community and advocates for equality in the industry by running accessible sets with inclusion at the heart. She has produced and directed over 16 films since Northern Fortress’ inception, in four different languages, spanning commercials, narrative, and documentary formats across the UK, Italy, and Japan.
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She was awarded the Virgin Money Foundation Young Change Maker Fellowship for her work using film to drive social change and promote social mobility in the screen industries. Louisa also gave a TEDx talk on her route into the film industry and the importance of diversity and representation.
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She has taken part in several talent development schemes, including Screen Yorkshire’s FLEX Director scheme, the Bradford 2025 x Screen Yorkshire Forge Script Development Lab (2024), and is currently on the Bradford 2025 Producer Exchange programme.
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Louisa has most recently directed the BFI short Habituation, produced by Thea Burrows (Cosmos Films) and written by Joshua Boultwood-Neale. She also produced Surprise, Baby! (2024), a co-production between Northern Fortress Films and Rope Ladder Fiction (Waterloo Road).
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Alongside the Virgin Money Foundation, Northern Fortress has also been supported by MeWe360's Deutsche Bank Award for Creative Entrepreneurs, PwC & Impact Hubs' Sustain 2.0 programme, and on various projects by The Leap.
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Louisa is also the Co-Director of the new Bradford International Film Festival (BRADIFF). Alongside running Northern Fortress, she works as a Producer at Tell Studio, producing original impact documentaries that shift society.
