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The BFI has revealed the lineup of titles it will take to the upcoming Cannes Market as part of its Great 8 initiative for first and second-time filmmakers.

The list of features includes Animol, the debut feature from Top Boy actor Ashley Walters, and Madfabulous from filmmaker Celyn Jones. The BFI will present the features to international buyers in Cannes. The full list of titles are:

Animol – director Ashley Walters, writer Nick Love Ish – director Imran Perretta, writers Imran Perretta, Enda Walsh Learning to Breathe Under Water – director Rebekah Fortune, writer Richard Brabin Madfabulous – director Celyn Jones, writer Lisa Baker Mission – director/writer Paul Wright On the Sea – director/writer Helen Walsh Retreat – director/writer Ted Evans The Son and the Sea – director Stroma Cairns, writers Imogen West, Stroma Cairns

Now in its eighth year, the 2025 Great 8 showcase is funded and produced by the BFI and the British Council. As part of the scheme,...

Ashley Walters’ feature directorial debut Animol and Celyn Jones’ second feature, Madfabulous, are among the eight projects taking part in the 2025 Cannes Great 8 online showcase of UK feature films from first-and second-time UK filmmakers.

Animol is written by Nick Love, with Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor among the producers. It is a BFI, Film4 and Sky-backed coming-of-age story that takes place within the confines of a young offenders’ institution. Stephen Graham, with whom Walters’ co-starred in Netflix seriesAdolescence,is among the cast.

Madfabulous is Jones’ second film followingThe Almond And The Seahorse.Set in the 19th century, it isinspired by the flamboyant life...

The British Council and British Film Institute have unveiled the crop of films that will make up its annual Great 8 lineup of projects to be showcased in Cannes.

The features — from either first-time or early career filmmakers — will be introduced and screened to buyers and festival programmers in Cannes, where all eight will be available to distributors at the market.

This year marks the eighth year of the Great 8 initiative, funded and produced by the BFI and British Council with thanks to BBC Film and Film 4. Previous films to have been selected include Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” Rungano Nyoni’s “I Am Not A Witch” and Rose Glass’s “Saint Maud.”

“The 8th edition of Great 8 shows once again that UK film is in rude health with an upcoming slate that we can be proud of,” said Briony Hanson, the British Council’s Director of Film. “Again, this shows off...

As has become annual tradition, the British Film Institute (BFI) has unveiled its 2025 crop of “Great 8” movies, eight features from the “most exciting first-time and early career filmmakers” that it will showcase to international distributors and festival programmers in the run-up to and during the Marché du Film market taking place during the Cannes Film Festival.

They include a movie directed by actor and creative Ashley Walters (Netflix hit Adolescence, Top Boy, Missing You) with Stephen Graham, a drama thriller starring George MacKay and Rosy McEwen, a drama featuring Rory Kinnear and Maria Bakalova, a thriller set in an isolated deaf community, and a Welsh alternative period drama with Rupert Everett.

“Now in its eighth year, the 2025 Great 8 showcase is funded and produced by the BFI and the British Council, with thanks to BBC Film and Film4,” the BFI said. “In preparation for the Marché, unseen footage from all of...

“Promising Young Woman” scribe Emerald Fennell and “His Dark Materials” scribe Jack Thorne were among those honored at the 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain awards on Monday night.

The ceremony, which was hosted by Wggb president Sandi Toksvig in London, handed out awards in 16 categories including film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books, and videogames.

Awards covered the past two years of work, after the 2021 ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Which is why Fennell won a prize for first screenplay for “Promising Young Woman” while Thorne picked up the award for outstanding contribution to writing.

Also walking away with gongs were Chinonyerem Odimba for best musical theater bookwriting for “Black Love,” Russell T. Davies for best long form TV drama for “It’s a Sin” and Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci for best screenplay for “The Personal History of David Copperfield.”

“I think all writers would say that being...

His Dark Materials and Help writer Jack Thorne has been recognized for Outstanding Contribution to Writing at tonight’s 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards (WGGBAs), with Russell T Davies, Emerald Fennell and Armando Iannucci also taking home gongs.

The prolific Thorne, who delivered this year’s Edinburgh Television Festival MacTaggart lecture, was presented with the prestigious trophy by His Dark Materials exec and Bad Wolf Co-Founder Jane Tranter, following a two-decades-long career in which he has penned some of the UK’s most critically-acclaimed hits including This is England, Shameless and The Virtues.

“I think all writers would say that being given something from other writers is the greatest honor,” said Thorne. “I don’t think I’ve really contributed anything much in this strange career, and writing is a really strange job, but I’m grateful, and slightly anxious, to now have this award to live up to.

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (Wggb) has unveiled the shortlist for its annual awards, with nominees including “Promising Young Woman” scribe Emerald Fennell and “Succession” writer Lucy Prebble, who’s been nominated for her Billie Piper series “I Hate Suzie.”

The awards, which will be handed out on Feb. 14 in central London, will cover two years of British writing, after last year’s awards were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Wggb President and former “The Great British Bake-Off” host Sandi Toksvig said: “What a fitting day to celebrate the cream of British writers – who have kept us entertained on page, stage, screen and across the airwaves, through such dark times.

“Our creative industries play such an important role, as do all those who work within them and we hope our awards ceremony on Valentine’s Day will send this message – you matter, we care, and thank you for your words,...