Works-in-Progress Showcase projects announced for 2026 BFI London Film Festival

The 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival Works-in-Progress Showcase will present eight new feature films and documentaries from filmmakers based in the UK and Ireland at Picturehouse Central as part of the Industry Forum on Friday 9 October.  

The showcase features screenings of exclusive extracts from each project, with introductions by their filmmakers to an invited audience of international buyers, UK sales agents, distributors and festival programmers, reflecting the increasing international reach of the festival. This selection of fiction and documentary films in post-production offers an opportunity for industry guests to discover UK features:  

• 40 Years of Silence (documentary) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Maythem Ridha; Producers: Maythem Ridha, Mostafa Nagy, Andreas Rocksén 
• Echolalic (fiction) 
  Director: Peter Mackie Burns; Screenwriters: Ben Hogan, Colin Elves; Producers: Helen Simmons, Stephanie Aspin, Chloe Culpin 
• Gol-e Sorkh (hybrid) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Maryam Tafakory; Producers: Emma Norton, Andrea Queralt, Maryam Tafakory 
• Landlines (fiction) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Tristan Heanue; Producers: Peadar King, Collie McCarthy, Diarmuid Hughes, Claire McCabe  
• Leopard Spots (fiction) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Joshua Trigg; Producers — Toby Cameron, Aiko Flores Yoshioka, Ruth Yoshie Linton 
• Mid Wif (documentary) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Mia Harvey; Producers: Natasha Dack, Mia Harvey 
• Switch (fiction) 
  Director/Screenwriter: Taisia Deeva; Producers: Helge Sasse, Nik Bower, Wolfgang Boss 
• The Last Picture Shop (documentary) 
  Director: Liam Saint-Pierre; Producers: Nan Davies 

 The Showcase will be followed by roundtable meetings and networking for the filmmakers and invited industry guests. Immediately after the event, an online package will also be available online for one week via a secure platform to a wider pool of invited international industry professionals.  

The Works-in-Progress Showcase is part of the festival’s commitment to supporting UK screen-based businesses and talent, alongside increasing opportunities for international collaboration. It is a key part of the Festival’s UK Talent Days, in partnership with the British Council, connecting major international industry professionals with UK creative talent and emerging professionals from across the screen sectors to support the development of new and future UK films, to create opportunities for investment and partnership.  

The UK Talent Days also sees the annual Buyers and Sellers event returning offering a platform for international sales agents and UK distributors to meet, and BFI NETWORK@LFF will again welcome 15 new UK-based writers, directors and producers to participate in masterclasses, screenings and events with leading industry professionals. It will also host the Writers’ Roundtables, fostering professional meetings between emerging screenwriters and UK and international producers, and provide a number of networking opportunities for UK filmmakers. The UK Talent Days are supported by the BFI Industry Supporters: Amazon MGM Studios, Apple TV, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

The Works-in-Progress Showcase continues to support featured projects breaking into the market for domestic and international audiences. From last year’s showcase, Beatrice Gibson’s At Night world premiered at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival in the Filmmakers of the Present competition, where Gibson was also awarded Best Emerging Director. Simon Ryninks’ Out There world-premiered in competition at the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival, and was one of the 10 films in the festival’s competition for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. Janay Boulos’ Birds of War world premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, where it was awarded the Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact, with Dogwoof picking up sales and distribution rights.  

“I’m delighted to welcome international and UK colleagues to our 2026 Works in Progress showcase and hope that you find it an invigorating space for discovery and connection,” says Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director. “This year’s selection spans a range of work across narrative and non-fiction forms, from both debut and established practitioners. As ever, myself and the festival team are grateful to the filmmaking teams for generously sharing their creative projects at this early stage, and for making time to introduce these projects to industry colleagues.” 

Silvia Angrisani, BFI London Film Festival, Industry Programmes Manager, comments: “For its 70th edition, the LFF Works-in-Progress Showcase welcomes eight feature-length projects, across a variety of genres, which highlight the breadth and diversity of UK production. From stunning black and white cinematography to the full spectrum of a colour palette, the films in this selection transport us from East London to the wide panorama of the Irish countryside and industrial towns of Japan. Just as films from previous editions (Birds of War by Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak, Everybody to Kenmure Street by Felipe Bustos Sierra, At Night by Beatrice Gibson, to mention just a few) have travelled to international festivals, we wish the 2026 projects a similarly successful journey into the international market.” 

The LFF Industry Forum has consistently increased the attendance of international industry professional delegates over the last six years and will once again welcome world-leading figures who will share their experience and knowledge as part of a rich programme of events previously announced. 

Documentary 

Dir/Scr — Maythem Ridha; Prods — Maythem Ridha, Mostafa Nagy, Andreas Rocksén; DoP — Duraid Munajim, Samir Ljuma; Cast — Zainab Al-Hariri, Dr Zuhair Al-Hussiani, Mohamed Al-Hariri, Farazdak Marhoon, Ayad Marhoon; Prod cos – 7th Heaven Studios, 2rivers East, Laika Film & TV;  

Supported by Scottish Documentary Institute, Movies That Matter, MountainFilm, The Royal Film Commission of Jordan, Muassasat Al-Shuhadaa Iraq, Rough Cut Lab Africa; Status — post-production.  

Sales contact — 7th Heaven Studios 

Maythem Ridha is an Iraqi filmmaker with over 25 years of experience working between the Middle East and UK on award-winning projects. He developed his Iraqi Tales anthology at the National Film & Television School; Drifting on the Wind was selected by over 20 international festivals, winning the Director’s Award at Hearts & Minds, and Al-Baghdadi won Best Foreign Language Film at the International Filmmaker Festival. His latest film, Ali and His Miracle Sheep, won Best Film at Sheffield DocFest UK Competition and was selected by over 50 festivals, winning more than 25 awards. 40 Years of Silence is Maythem’s first feature film as a director and producer. 

In 1979, Dr. Ghazi Al-Hariri was arrested, tortured and executed for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Saddam Hussein, leaving his six-year-old daughter, Zainab, with a lifetime of unanswered questions. Forty years later, Zainab returns to Iraq to confront her traumatic past, seeking the truth about her father. Her journey reveals the profound impact of Ghazi’s choices on her life, serving as both a personal reckoning and a reflection upon a nation’s enduring trauma. 

Fiction 

Dir — Peter Mackie Burns; Scr — Ben Hogan, Colin Elves; Prods — Helen Simmons, Stephanie Aspin, Chloe Culpin; DoP — Robbie Bryant; Cast — Emily Beecham, Michael Socha, Michele Austin, Posy Sterling, Nathaniel Martello-White, Frankie Box; Prod cos — Erebus Pictures; Status – post-production.  

Sales contact — Erebus Pictures

Peter Mackie Burns is an award-winning director whose films have screened at over 200 festivals including Berlin, Venice, Telluride, Busan and SXSW. His work includes  Daphne, Rialto and Mayflies. 

Echolalic follows Kelly, an exceptional support worker who forms a profound bond with the autistic teenager she cares for and his mother. But the return of the boy’s estranged father disrupts their fragile world, pushing Kelly to cross professional boundaries as she mistakes being needed for belonging. 

Hybrid 

Dir/Scr — Maryam Tafakory; Prods — Emma Norton, Andrea Queralt, Maryam Tafakory; Prod cos — Parishan Films Ltd, 4A4 Productions;  

Supported by BFI Doc Society RAD Fund, Filmaporto Film Commission, Walker Arts Centre; Status – in production.  

Sales contact — Parishan Films

Maryam Tafakory,  born and raised in Iran, works with film and performance. She was the 2024 winner of the Film London Jarman Award. Her film, Mast-del, was nominated for Queer Palm at Cannes and for the SACD Award at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. It was also among Film Comment’s Best Short Films of 2023. Razeh-del (2024) premiered at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, where it won two awards, and screened at the 62nd New York Film Festival, 68th BFI London Film Festival, and has won four Oscar-qualifying awards, among others. She received the 2025 Locarno Residency Award for her feature film in development. 

Gol-e Sorkh traces the censorship of the word ‘gol’, which means ‘flower’, in the final years of imperial Iran. It results in an archival investigation of the military prosecution of a group of filmmakers, poets and journalists whose televised trial became a turning point in the years leading up to the Revolution. 

Fiction 

Dir/Scr — Tristan Heanue; Prods — Peadar King, Collie McCarthy, Diarmuid Hughes, Claire McCabe; DoP — Narayan Van Maele; Cast — Dónall Ó Héalai, Moe Dunford, Danielle Galligan, Olwen Fouéré; Prod cos — Black Gate Productions, Forty Foot Pictures, Wrong Men;  

Supported by Screen Ireland Production Fund, Section 481, IFTC; Status — post-production.  

Sales contact — Forty Foot Pictures 

Tristan Heanue is a writer-director from Connemara, County Galway. He has directed six short films that have won awards at some of Ireland’s biggest festivals, including Galway, Cork and Dublin. He is a three-time IFTA nominee and has also been awarded by the Writers Guild of Ireland and the Dublin Film Critics Circle. Tristan’s work often explores themes of social issues and mental health, particularly in rural Irish communities, and his films have been praised for their strong performances, powerful storytelling and evocative visuals. Landlines is Tristan’s first feature film. 

A story of inheritance, identity and the cost of holding on too tightly, Landlines follows James Moran, a farmer who has spent his life working the family farm believing it would one day be his. When his father dies without a will, the land passes to his mother, who decides to divide it between James and Thomas, his estranged brother. As resentment and rivalry escalate, James’s obsession with protecting his future threatens his marriage and family life.   

Fiction 

Dir/Scr — Joshua Trigg; Prods — Aiko Flores Yoshioka, Ruth Yoshie Linton, Toby Cameron; DoP — James Chegwyn; Cast — Megumi Yamano, Niko Ishizuka, Hana Kino; Prod cos — Geronimo Boy Film, Kingyo Films, On Par Production; Supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales, Nara International Film Festival; Status — post-production.  

Sales contact — On Par Productions 

Joshua Trigg, a Welsh writer-director and founder of Geronimo Boy Film, began making films aged five. After 15 years working across Asia on commercial projects for brands including Nike, Paul Smith and Singapore Airlines, he wrote and directed his 16mm, Laos-set debut feature Satu – Year of the Rabbit. It screened at over 50 festivals worldwide, earned BAFTA and BIFA nominations and won the Grand Prix at the Nara International Film Festival. It led to Naomi Kawase’s invitation to direct his sophomore feature, Leopard Spots, through the NARAtive programme. 

After a painful separation, single mother Yuri and her teenage daughter Riko move back to her late father’s home in a factory town in the middle of Japan. Doing so highlights intergenerational trauma that drives a wedge between them. As Riko grows closer to a local boy, Yuri’s fear of abandonment resurfaces. She spirals as she grasps to keep her daughter near, resulting in bizarre and unhinged behaviour. She must confront her parents’ legacy before losing Riko for good. 

Documentary 

Dir/Scr — Mia Harvey; Prods — Natasha Dack, Mia Harvey; DoP — Anna MacDonald; Cast — Mama Sarahn, Sekesa; Prod cos — Tigerlily Productions, Past Life Films;  

Supported by BFI Doc Society, BBC Storyville; Status – post-production.  

Sales Contact — Tigerlily Productions

Mia Harvey honed her craft over seven years in the British TV industry, on documentaries for broadcasters such as BBC and Channel 4. In 2021, she made the decision to pursue directing full-time and was accepted into the National Film & Television School’s Directing Documentary MA. Her debut feature Mid Wif is a natural evolution from her NFTS graduation film With Woman, building on its themes and relationships while expanding the scope and ambition of the storytelling. It marks the most significant step in Mia’s creative practice to date. 

Carrying forward an ancestral practice, Mama Sarahn and Sekesa, two formidable Black midwives, provide safe home births for families in Atlanta, Georgia. Forced to work underground in a state where home-birth midwives cannot be licensed, they lead a campaign to change the law. Through intimate birth scenes, shot in black and white, the film follows their fight for recognition against the backdrop of a maternal health crisis that disproportionately impacts Black women. 

Fiction 

Dir/Scr — Taisia Deeva; Prods — Helge Sasse, Nik Bower, Wolfgang Boss; DoP — Daniel Obradovic; Cast — Georgia Acken, Charity Wakefield, Amita Suman, Moyo Akandé, Daniel Lapaine and Flula Borg; Prod cos — Tempest Film Produktion und Verleih GmbH, Salusbury Films Limited; Status — post-production.  

Sales Contact – Mach1 Records and Salusbury Films

Taisia Deeva is an award-winning writer-director. Her debut short, Ruslan, was nominated for Best Student Short at Austin Film Festival, while her subsequent shorts, Sasha and The Cure, went on to have extensive festival runs. Sashawas selected for the competition programmes at Leeds International Film Festival and Premiers Plans d’Angers. Her music videos for Columbia Records, Ministry of Sound and Sony Music have amassed over 100 million views and received international recognition, including an MVPA nomination, a Silver Screen Young Director Award in Cannes and a Silver CICLOPE in Berlin, as well as selections at Raindance Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival and Aesthetica Film Festival. 

Radical teen activist Lisa (founder of the movement “Be Different Not Normal!”) is ecstatic when straight women around the world mysteriously lose all interest in men overnight, turning society upside down. But as her family crumbles in an escalating war of the sexes, Lisa has to decide which side she’s on. 

Documentary 

Dir — Liam Saint-Pierre; Prods — Nan Davies, Orlando von Einsiedel, Harri Grace; DoP — Liam Saint Pierre; Cast — Ümit Mesut; Prod cos — One Wave Films, Grain Media;  

Supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales Production Fund; Status — in production.  

Sales Contact — One Wave Films

Liam Saint-Pierre is a self-taught filmmaker from Blackburn who transitioned to documentary filmmaking following a career in the NHS. 

His acclaimed work includes a short film that was long-listed for the 2020 Academy Awards and his work has screened at more than 200 festivals, including Tribeca, Sheffield DocFest and DOC NYC. His shorts have also been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Atlantic. The Last Picture Shop is his debut feature. 

The Last Picture Shop follows Ümit Mesut, a 65-year-old Cypriot-Cockney projectionist, who owns the last cine film shop in the UK. To save the shop from closure, Ümit and his filmmaker friend head to Hollywood to track down Quentin Tarantino and ask for his help. Little goes to plan, but in undertaking their journey it becomes clear the answer to their quest lies closer to home. The Last Picture Shop is a heartfelt homage to cinema, filled with humour and humanity.