Screen international and BFI London Film Festival expand partnership to present the UK and Ireland’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’

Actors Romola Garai, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Marie Duff and Carey Mulligan attend the Suffragette premiere at the Opening Night Gala during the 59th BFI London Film Festival

Building on the success of a new partnership which saw the Screen International Screen Stars of Tomorrow launch during the 2015 BFI London Film Festival held in partnership with American Express, the two organisations today announced a three year partnership to jointly unveil the UK and Ireland’s newest and most exciting actors, directors, writers and producers, to the industry at the Festival.

Clare Stewart, Festival Director said:

“The collaboration between BFI London Film Festival and Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow creates a unique opportunity through the festival for the UK and Ireland’s future stars to build their knowledge and networks.  LFF is proud to identify and support the career of the best new British directors, producers, writers and actors and we are thrilled to be expanding on our partnership with Screen International to break new British talent and introduce them to the international industry.”

Matt Mueller, Screen International’s Editor, added:

“I am thrilled that we are expanding our successful partnership with the BFI London Film Festival to present Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow for a further three years. With Clare Stewart and her festival team demonstrating great commitment to supporting nascent careers, the LFF offers a fantastic platform for unveiling these rising UK and Irish actors, directors, writers and producers, as selected by our inestimable Stars of Tomorrow curator Fionnuala Halligan.”

Screen’s Stars of Tomorrow is presented at BFI London Film Festival supported by the British Council and Creative Skillset.

Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow celebrates its 13th anniversary this year at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF). The highly respected talent showcase, which has an established track record in identifying future stars, is curated by Screen’s Chief Film Critic Fionnuala Halligan and informed by industry experts including casting directors, talent agents, managers, producers and directors.

The presentation of this year’s UK Stars of Tomorrow will take place at a high-profile event in London’s West End during the first weekend of the LFF followed by an exclusive industry dinner hosted by the British Council and the Casting Society of America (CSA). The dinner will see the stars introduced to leading lights from the international film industry who are gathered in London to attend the LFF, including US casting directors, European and US producers, international festival programmers, executives from prestigious filmmaker Labs and a selection of leading UK producers.

The 2016 stars will also take part in a special feature photoshoot at BFI Southbank.

A-list on-screen talent who were previously named Stars of Tomorrow include:

• James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Emily Blunt in the first-ever edition in 2004
• Dominic Cooper, Robert Pattinson, Eddie Redmayne and Sophie Okonedo (2005)
• Riz Ahmed, Dan Stevens, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Hall and Andrea Riseborough (2006)
• Matt Smith, Andrew Garfield and Gemma Arterton (2007)
• Carey Mulligan, Michelle Dockery, Tom Hiddleston, Aaron Johnson and Jack O’Connell (2008)
• Zawe Ashton, Holliday Grainger and Luke Evans (2009)
• Sam Claflin (2010)
• Vanessa Kirby, Richard Madden, Douglas Booth and Phoebe Fox (2011)
• George McKay and Nico Mirallegro (2012)
• James Norton and Cush Jumbo (2013)
• Taron Egerton, Sam Keeley and Olivia Cooke (2014) and,
• Adelayo Adedayo (Unlocked), Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game, Departure), Barry Keopghan (Mammal), Bebe Cave (Tales of Tales), Ben Hardy (X-Men: Apocalyse), Billy Howle (The Seagull), Charlie Heaton (As You Are), Charlotte Spencer (Bypass), Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals), Jess Barden (The Lobster), Joe Alwyn (Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk),  Naomi Scott (Power Rangers Movie), Nicholas Galitzine (The Beat Beneath My Feet), and Osy Ikhile (In The Heart Of The Sea) in 2015

Filmmakers spotlighted have included Andrea Arnold, in Cannes’ Official Competition this year with American Honey, in 2004; Abi Morgan (2005) writer of Suffragette which opened LFF last year and The Iron Lady; Ben Drew aka Plan B (Ill Manors) in 2008; Tom Harper (The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death) and Gabriel Range (I Am Slave) in 2006; Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years) in 2008, Corin Hardy (The Hallow), John Maclean (Slow West) and Scott Graham (Shell) in 2011; Daniel Wolfe (Catch Me Daddy) in 2012; and Stephen Fingleton (The Survivalist) in 2013.

Last year’s stars behind the camera were writer-directors Aleem Kahn (Three Brothers), Dan Kokotajlo (Apostasy) and Jorn Threlfall (Over); directors Ben Aston (Russian Roulette); Nick Rowland (Dancing in the Ashes), Oscar Sharp (The Karman Line) and Rachna Suri (Playing Ball);  writers Charlie Covell (Burn, Burn, Burn), Joy Wilkinson (Killer Résumé), Marnie Dickens (Thirteen), Matthew Orgon (Clean) and Richr Galazka (Matinee Idol);  and producers Andy Brunskill (Phone Book), Daniel Emmerson (assoc producer Assassin’s Creed), Emily Morgan (Invention) and Farhana Bhula (Bonobo).

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the BFI London Festival (5-16 October 2016) has a long history of identifying and nurturing new and emerging talent in the UK and Ireland, and has introduced a number of talent focussed activities to give overseas delegates new opportunities to connect with British talent.

In 2016, as part of its emerging British talent strategy, the Festival also launches the inaugural IWC Schaffhausen Filmmakers Bursary Award in association with the BFI, which offers a £50,000 award to benefit an outstanding British writer, director, or writer/director whose first or second fiction feature film premieres at the BFI London Film Festival.  The unique internationally focused programme NET.WORK@LFF is a three-day development programme of masterclasses, one-to-ones and networking sessions designed for 15 emerging UK writers, directors and producers, some of whom may be previous Stars of Tomorrow, to meet and learn further from international filmmakers and executives attending the Festival. Another high point within the festival is its Sutherland Award for best directorial debut which is open to all new talent.

The Festival continues to expand its rich programme of creative and business events supporting the industry’s economic and cultural development.  Last year’s Festival collaboration with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Women in Film and Television sparked national and international debate on gender inequality in media. In addition, the Festival’s introduction of the LFF Connects high profile and thought-provoking audience discussions explore how film engages with other creative industries of television, art, music, games and creative technologies, with guest speakers in 2015 including Christopher Nolan, Tacita Dean, Alex Horwath, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Louis Theroux, Simon Chinn, Chris Milk, Guy and Alistair Hope.