BFI funds 18 companies through its UK ‘Global Screen Fund’

The BFI has made 18 new awards through its UK Global Screen Fund, supporting international opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector…

Financed through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the awards see from the UK Global Screen Fund, a further £413,995 being allocated through the £7m per year fund’s International Distribution strand.

Financial support for International Distribution, open for application and assessed on a rolling basis, provides sales agents and producers from all over the UK with funding via three tracks. The first is Film Sales, supporting UK sales agents to increase their international promotion and sales of UK feature film projects. The second is Prints and Advertising (P&A), supporting UK films to reach international audiences and finally Festival Launch, supporting the festival launch of UK films in order to enhance their promotion, reach and audiences internationally.

Denitsa Yordanova, BFI Head of UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds:

“It is fantastic to see this latest round of awards supporting such a strong selection of UK feature films with ambitious strategies to reach new audiences worldwide. Many of these titles are already well on their way to achieving international success, having garnered visibility and acclaim on the festival circuit with the support of the fund, and we look forward to following the newly forged distribution partnerships as they unlock vital export opportunities for our unique and talented screen sector.”

Applications for International Co-production funding are also currently open, with a deadline of 25 November. Applications for International Business development will re-open in 2025. The International Distribution strand is managed by Jordan Allwood who joined the team in October with 10 years of experience in distribution, sales and acquisitions gained at companies including Universal Pictures, Altitude and, most recently, Independent Entertainment.UK Global Screen Fund International Distribution awards via the Festival Launch Support track have been made to support the following:

A WANT IN HER

Written and directed by Myrid Carten this Ireland/Netherlands/UK co-production is an immersive, autobiographical documentary charting Carten’s return home to Ireland as she searches for her missing mother. Snowstorm Productions.

BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY

Written and directed by Sinéad O’Shea, this Ireland/UK co-production is a profile of famed Irish author Edna O’Brien. Tara Two (trading as Tara Films).

BRING THEM DOWN

Written and directed by Christopher Andrews, this feature directorial debut is an Ireland/UK/Belgium co-production chronicling a feud between neighbouring families in rural Ireland with performances from Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan. Wild Swim Films.

CHAPLIN: SPIRIT OF THE TRAMP

Written by Carmen Chaplin, Ashim Bhalla, Isaki Lacuesta and Amaya Remírez, this directorial debut by Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter, Irish/English actress Carmen Chaplin, is a revealing journey into the Gypsy heritage that inspired the creation of his infamous and beloved character, The Tramp. Kwanon Films.

EBONY AND IVORY

Written and directed by Jim Hosking, this comedy imagines a meeting of musical legends Paul and Stevie at a cottage on the Mull of Kintyre for a tense summit to discuss a potential collaboration that will ultimately result in a smash hit single. Bosena.

HARVEST

Written by Joslyn Barnes and Athina Rachel Tsangari, adapted from a novel by Jim Crace, this third feature from director Athina Rachel Tsangari; over seven hallucinatory days a remote village in a place undefined is torn apart. Sixteen Films.

HER NAME WAS MOVIOLA

Written by Walter Murch and directed by Howard Berry, the film is a cinematic love letter to the Moviola film editing machine, taking the audience through the process of how a film was pieced together using two scenes from Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner. The Curators!

NINETEEN

Written and directed by Giovanni Tortorici, this debut feature and Italy/UK co-production is a coming-of-age story that observes the emotional state of a young man in a confusing time of his life. Pinball London.

ON FALLING

Written and directed by Laura Carreira, this feature directorial debut is a UK/Portugal co-production presenting a portrait of social and financial precarity as Portuguese migrant Aurora (Joana Santos) struggles to make ends meet over the course of a week in Scotland. Sixteen Films.

PAUL AND PAULETTE TAKE A BATH

Written, directed and produced by Jethro Massey, this film is an unconventional romantic comedy about a young American photographer in Paris who meets a French girl with a taste for the macabre. Film Fabric.

THE CEREMONY

Written and directed by Jack King, this micro-budget directorial debut represents two troubled characters among the diaspora of migrant workers dragged into an escalating moral crisis as night falls. Each of them carries private hopes, traumas and beliefs shaped by their diverse cultures, raising questions of identity, faith and human frailty. Cosmosquare Films.

THE SALT PATH

Adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz from the 2018 memoir by Raynor Winn, this feature directorial debut by Marianne Elliott stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs as a middle-aged couple that impulsively set out on a 630-mile walk along the southwest English coast. Rocket Science.

THE SEVERED SUN

Written and directed by Dean Puckett, this fiction debut is a folk horror set in Cornwall and filmed entirely on Bodmin Moor. Lunar Lander Films.

THE PENGUIN LESSONS

Written by Jeff Pope and Tom Michell and directed by Peter Cattaneo, this poignant dramedy starring Steve Coogan follows an Englishman’s personal and political awakening after he adopts a penguin during a cataclysmic period in Argentine history. Rocket Science.

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Written and directed by Mahdi Fleifel and written by Fyzal Boulifa and Jason McColgan, this tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Inside Out Films.

UK Global Screen Fund International Distribution awards, via the Prints & Advertising (P&A) Support track, have been made to support the following:

FREUD’S LAST SESSION

Written by Mark St Germain and directed by Matt Brown, this UK/Ireland co-production starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode is set on the eve of the Second World War and depicts an imagined meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. WestEnd Films.

KNEECAP

Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt, this UK/Ireland co-production follows the formation of a Belfast hip-hop group who lead a movement to save their native Irish language. Fine Point Films.

SANTOSH

Written and directed by Sandhya Suri, this Hindi-language crime thriller follows a widow whoinherits her late husband’s job as police officer. Good Chaos.