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The first edition of the U.K. Next Wave Genre Lab, the initiative founded by Film Constellation, Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival and Tatino Films, has found its first projects.

Following an open call led by Myriam Sassine, Evrim Ersoy, and Edward Parodi that saw hundreds of filmmakers apply to be a part of the development lab, 12 feature film projects have been selected highlighting genre stories from around the U.K.

Meanwhile, the program has secured additional masterclasses from some of the world’s leading genre filmmakers. Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Jessica Hausner (“Little Joe”), and Tea Shop Productions have joined the roster of award-winning talent contributing to the lab alongside Patrik Andersson, Jenna Cato Bass, Verena Gräfe-Höft, Antoine Waked, Carlota Pereda, Andy Starke, Dan Martin and Frank Kruse.

The U.K. Next Wave Genre Lab is a development initiative and recipient of the BFI Creative Challenge fund,...

The British Independent Film Awards has selected 17 producers to participate in its Springboard programme assisting filmmakers beyond their first feature.

They include Savannah James-Bayly, producer of Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla through her company Fox Cub Films. James-Bayly also runs Teen Club with Loran Dunn and Sorcha Bacon, with the company focusing on commercial, positive, queer content for young audiences.

Nisha Mullea, executive producer at Caviar London, is also selected, having recently produced Sasha Nathwani’s Last Swim, winner of the Crystal Bear for best feature film in the Generation 14plus section at the Berlinale.

The programme runs from May 2024 until...

The fund, launched in response to Brexit, is celebrating its fifth anniversary.

The Uncertain Kingdom, the UK feature development fund and shorts commissioner is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a more structured way in which it supports films as the UK heads into a possible general election year in 2024.

The development fund is committing to two rounds per year in a fixed calendar slot after previously operating on an ad hoc basis, Its next round opens on November 1 and closes on November 30, before opening again on May 1 and closing on May 31. Funding is divided between two to four projects per round,...

All of the projects will compete for the €6,000 ArteKino International Award.

New films from Oleg Sentsov, County Lines director Henry Blake and Austria’s Sandra Wollner are among the projects selected for the 14th edition of the Les Arcs Film Festival’s Co-Production Village.

All of the projects will compete for the €6,000 ArteKino International Award.

Ukraine’s Sentsov participates with new project Kai. The filmmaker was in Venice in 2021 with Rhino, before fighting on the front line following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Blake is attending with The Golden Radiance Of A Beetle, a 1919-set romance co-written by Xiao Tang...

The Uncertain Kingdom Fund, which disburses development coin to U.K. film projects, is opening submissions for its second round from May 23-June 20.

The fund was set up to support projects that interrogate British culture, asking questions of identity, the current journey and the future. It was created to address the challenges directors and producers face creating sustainable careers and targets filmmakers who have previously made a feature.

The stated aim of the fund is to take a hands-off approach and support filmmakers from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Projects of 70-plus minutes in any form or genre that are currently at treatment or script stage are eligible to apply. Filmmakers must be residents of the U.K. but need not be British.

U.K. distributor Picturehouse Entertainment has an ongoing collaboration with the fund and will continue to be closely involved in the selection of projects.

The first...

Four features have received support in the development fund’s first round.

Projects from County Lines filmmaker Henry Blake and Almost Heaven director Carol Salter are among the first four to receive support from the Uncertain Kingdom Development Fund.

The £60,000 fund is a relaunch of The Uncertain Kingdom short film initiative. The aim is to support commercial projects that unpack UK culture and identity and have at least 70-minute running times, with features considered at script or treatment stage.

Unlike the earlier anthology project, the Uncertain Kingdom Development Fund will not fund production and the projects are not intended to be released together.

Update: This story is being updated this week as the new longlists are unveiled. Today (November 20) the Best Documentary longlist has been published, see below.

Previously, November 17: Organizers of the British Independent Film Awards have confirmed their upcoming ceremony will delay from its traditional end-of-year dates to February, 2021, moving in line with this year’s major awards shows.

This week, the BIFAs will unveil its various longlists of awards, which will be whittled down to its final nominations, to be revealed on December 9.

Today, the New Talent awards longlists have been unveiled, featuring a total of 46 directors, writers and producers. Each of the below will participate in BIFA’s Springboard scheme, a tailored program of professional development and peer to peer support.

Best Documentary

The Art Of Political Murder Paul Taylor, Teddy Leifer, Regina K. Scully

The Australian Dream Daniel Gordon, Stan Grant, Sarah Thomson, Nick Batzias, Virginia Whitwell,...

“Saint Maud,” “White Riot” and “Calm With Horses” are among the leading titles on the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists announced Tuesday.

Riz Ahmed, star and co-writer of Berlin-winner “Mogul Mowgli” is on the longlist in the debut screenwriter long list, alongside Billie Piper for “Rare Beasts.”

Rose Glass, director of “Saint Maud,” which won an honorable mention at the BFI London Film Festival in 2019, makes it to the BIFA debut director and screenwriter longlist, as does producer Oliver Kassma, in the breakthrough producer category.

“White Riot” won awards at Berlin, London, Krakow and IndieLisboa, and director Rubika Shah duly makes it to the debut director list and Ed Gibbs in the breakthrough producer category.

“Calm With Horses” won at the Irish Film and Television Awards, and director Nick Rowland finds a place in the director longlist, Joseph Murtagh in the debut screenwriting category and Daniel Emmerson as breakthrough producer.

Twenty-seven films have been longlisted across three new talent categories.

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) has moved its ceremony from its traditional early December slot to February 2021 as it announces the longlists for six categories this week.

The nominations will be announced on December 9 and winners revealed “in early February”, according to BIFA. An exact date and format of the ceremony has yet to be announced.

Scroll down for the New Talent longlists

Rose Glass’ horror Saint Maud and Nick Rowland’s drama Calm With Horses are two of six films included in all three longlists for the BIFA 2020 New Talent categories.

Drug trafficking drama set for theatrical release in spring 2020.

BFI Distribution has secured UK, Ireland and all-platform rights to Henry Blake’s drug trafficking drama County Lines. The deal was negotiated with producers Two Birds Entertainment and Loupe Films.

The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October and went on to win best film from the young people’s jury at the Cambridge Film Festival. It will be released theatrically in spring 2020.

Inspired by true events, the drama follows a young mother, played by Ashley Madekwe, who fights to save her 14-year-old son (Conrad Khan) from being...

The film is the debut feature of the UK’s Henry Blake.

UK writer-director Henry Blake has wrapped principal photography on his debut feature County Lines, starring Harris Dickinson, Ashley Madekwe and Conrad Khan.

Screen can exclusively reveal the first image here of Dickinson (a Screen UK & Ireland Star of Tomorrow 2017) and Madekwe.

County Lines is about a young mother, played by Madekwe, fighting to save her 14-year-old son (Khan) from being groomed into a nationwide drug selling enterprise. Dickinson plays a gang recruiter who exploits vulnerable children and traffics them across the UK’s county lines.

The film shot...