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Ella Glendining, UK director of the Bafta-nominated Sundance premiere Is There Anybody Out There? is among the nine recipients of the Independent Cinema Office (Ico) Miles Ketley Memorial Fund bursary, which has £15,000 to give across three years to early career filmmakers.

The bursary is funded by the Ico with the aim of supporting filmmakers from communities traditionally excluded from the industry.

In addition to Glendining, this year’s recipients are Bim Ajadi, Debbie Hannan, Fabia Martin , Sorcha Bacon, Yvonne Zhang, Hannah Tookey, Rhea Storr and Jessi Gutch.

The first year of the awards supported filmmakers included After Love director Aleem Khan...

Exclusive: The rise of the Paralympic Games has been one of sport’s biggest recent triumphs, and a trailblazing content initiative charting its story is now set to take the narrative even deeper.

Harder Than You Think (Htyt), which has exclusive worldwide rights to tell the story of the Paralympics through to the 2028 Games in LA, has appointed European production and sales house Off the Fence to find partners for the next four projects coming from its Rising Phoenix Universe initiative.

British indie Htyt was set up by London 2012 Chief Marketing Officer Greg Nugent and is chaired by ex-BBC Director General Tony Hall. It has been building the Rising Phoenix Universe since launching the double Emmy-winning Netflix and Bytedance doc Rising Phoenix, about the history of the Paralympic movement, in 2020.

As part of the agreement, Zdf Studios-owned Off the Fence will also co-produce additional content commissioned outside of the core four projects.

The BFI and Film4 have selected what has been described as nine “high-budget” short film projects that will receive cash funding in the first round of awards from their Future Takes short film fund.

Each selected filmmaking team is set to be awarded between £55,000-£90,000 to create their projects. The nine greenlit projects will shoot between September 2023 and spring 2024. In addition to production funding, BFI and Film4 creative and production executives will support each film through its entire lifecycle. Once completed, the films will be screened at a showcase at BFI Southbank, after which they will be available on Channel 4 streaming and BFI Player.

Launched with an open call in December 2022, the BFI and Film4 said they received over 400 applications for Future Takes. The two companies said the quality of projects was “incredibly high,” which led them to agree to fund nine projects rather than seven per their initial open call.

Recipients including Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Rory Fleck Byrne and ’Chuck Chucky Baby’ producers Anne Beresford and Andrew Gillman.

The British Film Institute (BFI) and Film4 have unveiled the nine short films that will receive funding through their Future Takes programme,.

It will see each filmmaking team receive between £55,000 and £90,000 of National Lottery funding, with recipients including Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Rory Fleck Byrne and Chuck Chucky Baby producers Anne Beresford and Andrew Gillman.

Actor-director Fleck Byrne, who stared in BBC drama series This Is Going To Hurt, has been selected for In Heat, produced Radha Bhandari, whose short For...

Rising UK talent awarded £60,000 to support their careers.

Two UK directors with a disability are among the second round of the Film and TV Charity’s John Brabourne recipients for 2020.

The talent development grant, totalling £60,000, is presented to a 12-strong cohort of UK writers, directors, and producers.

See below for full list

The award, which runs twice a year, provides up to £5,000 to cover expenses ranging from development to training, production and living costs, and is aimed at helping upcoming talent overcome barriers, realise career-changing projects and take vital next steps in the industry.

Among the latest recipients is Bim Ajadi,...

Five of the selection have previously been named Screen Stars of Tomorrow.

UK producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor and actor Tamara Lawrance are among 34 emerging talents from the film, TV and games industry selected for the 2020 edition of Bafta Breakthrough, the British Academy’s new talent initiative.

The initiative, which has been running since 2013, expands to the US for the first time, with 23 of the selected participants hailing from the UK and 11 from the US.

Blue Story producer Gharoro-Akpojotor and Small Axe actor Lawrance are two of five participants who were previously named Screen UK and Ireland Stars of Tomorrow, in 2020 and 2018 respectively.

BAFTA has named its BAFTA Breakthrough participants for 2020, with the 34-strong list consisting of rising talent in film, games and television from both the USA and UK.

Selected are the UK directors behind After Love, Limbo, and White Riot, and the producers behind Bait and Blue Story. From the U.S., participants include Eternals actress Lauren Ridloff and the co-director of Netflix doc Crip Camp. The full list is below.

As previously reported, the org’s Breakthrough showcase was expanded earlier this year to take talent from the U.S., India and China. Applications for India open at the end of this month and China will open in 2021.

The selected talent will receive mentorship and career guidance, plus access to BAFTA networking opportunities. They will be showcased together in 2021.

The selection jury this year included Paapa Essiedu, Fiona Shaw, Edward Enninful and Amma Asante.

“We are thrilled to be announcing...

Bukky Bakray, star of Brussels, Dublin and San Sebastian-winning film “Rocks,” Aleem Khan, director of Cannes Critics’ Week Label title “After Love,” and Kate Byers and Linn Waite, producers of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) debut award-winner “Bait,” are among 34 participants of the 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough initiative.

Supported by Netflix, the new talent initiative supports emerging talent across film, games and television. In this round, 23 participants have been announced from the U.K. and 11 from the U.S., with applications opening this month in India and in 2021 in China.

The talent was selected through cross-industry global juries comprising leading industry professionals, including actors Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You”) and Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”), filmmaker Amma Asante (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Edward Enninful, editor-in-chief of British Vogue.

The participants will receive one-to-one mentoring and career guidance, full voting membership of BAFTA, and access to BAFTA events and networking opportunities,...

Six selected for second edition of free scheme.

The National Film and Television School (Nfts) has unveiled the participants for the second edition of its diversity-focused directing workshop.

The scheme, which is free for participants, is aiming to increase the number of women, people from Bame backgrounds and those with disabilities working professionally in screen directing.

Selected for the second edition are: Bim Ajadi, Morgan Bailey, Ella Bennett, Laura Degnan, Sophie King, Savanah Leaf.

Led by theatre director Alby James, the pilot edition of the scheme kicked off in March with a two-day introductory session, followed by two months of script development for short films projects and an intensive two-week directing skill workshop.

The initial participants will shoot their short films in the summer and the completed works will be showcased later this year. They also automatically receive an interview for the Nfts’ Directing Fiction Ma.

The news was unveiled at the annual Nfts fundraising gala in...