Daniel Battsek

Daniel Battsek (born in 1958) is an English film producer and executive, and the current President of Film at Lincoln Center. Previously, he was director of Film4, president of Cohen Media Group, Miramax Films, and National Geographic Films.

Life and career Battsek is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University where he majored in social and political studies.

Battsek began his industry career at The Hoyts Film Corporation in Sydney, where he quickly rose through the ranks to general manager in Victoria State, overseeing distribution. Between 1985 and 1991, Battsek was managing director of Palace Pictures, where he was responsible for the acquisition and distribution of quality independent titles from around the world for release in the UK.

In 1991, Battsek went to work for Disney, working alongside CMG Chairman and CEO Charles S. Cohen in acquiring, producing, and distributing top-tier films in a wide range of genres. Battsek helped make the company North America's premier independent theatrical and digital distributor of contemporary art-house and foreign films. He also helped oversee CMG's Cohen Film Collection, a library of some 700 cinema classics being restored for theatrical and Blu-ray release. Releases included festival-winning favorites Mustang and Rams, along with the Kent Jones documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut, the 2015 Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako, and My Old Lady, with Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline.

Battsek joined Film4 as Director in 2016. At Film4, Battsek greenlit films including Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite, Fighting with My Family from writer/director Stephen Merchant, Bart Layton's American Animals, The Festival from the makers of The Inbetweeners, Lenny Abrahamson's The Little Stranger, and Rungano Nyoni's BAFTA-winning I Am Not a Witch, as well as acquiring the rights to Booker Prize–winning author Graham Swift's novel Mothering Sunday for development with Number 9 Films. Battsek also brought to Film4 John Williams' novel Stoner, a co-production development he initiated in his previous post at Cohen Media Group. Battsek enjoyed a successful awards season as Executive Producer on Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Oscar–winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a film written and directed by Martin McDonagh, starring Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson.

In May 2025, Battsek was appointed President of Film at Lincoln Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of cinema and home to the New York Film Festival.