BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund opens for further applications
Fund will invest up to £3 million in project development programmes across the UK over three years.
Applications are now open for round 2 of the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund, which will award up to £3 million of National Lottery Good Cause funding over three years to support up to 24 ambitious and diverse project development programmes across the UK incorporating feature film, animation, immersive media and documentary.
Five programmes were funded in round 1 of the 2026-2029 funding cycle collectively receiving £511,496 of National Lottery Good Cause funding:
- Bosena Ltd, Field Work (South West)
- Manchester Animation Festival, Animated Expanded (North West)
- No Password Required, No Password Required (London)
- Screen Argyll Ltd, Sea Change Animated Women (Scotland)
- Sheffield DocFest, Queer Realities Director’s Lab (North West)
Established to energise and decentralise the development opportunities for UK films and filmmakers, the BFI Creative Challenge Fund launched in October 2023 and funded 20 programmes in the 2023-2026 funding cycle, representing a diverse cohort of 215 individual projects and over 370 participants. 61% of these participants were new to National Lottery funding, reflecting the fund’s core objective of widening the ecosystem of funded creatives and decentralising decision making. Multiple projects have gone on to receive further development funding outside BFI, with several now readying production, including Beach Body from producers Ray ‘Rachel’ Wilson and Katie Bonham and writer Toby Parker Rees, which has secured Film Cymru development funding; and comedy horror Gro(ceries) from producers Rosanna Eden-Ellis and Catherine Joy White which has secured French co-production partners and been selected to participate in Fantasia Festival’s Frontières Co-Production Market 2026.
The fund is complementary to longstanding feature development support provided through the BFI Filmmaking Fund and enables more filmmakers to develop their own creative practice. Each ‘challenge priority’ is identified by the BFI based on data, market analysis, and insights gathered with industry partners, as well as consideration of the applications being made to the BFI Filmmaking Fund. By offering targeted creative development programmes, the BFI Creative Challenge Fund aims to positively impact a number of areas that are currently underserved, while also encouraging growth of the UK independent industry.
There will be up to four further rounds of the BFI Creative Challenge Fund between now and March 2029, with the second round opening on 27 July 2026. The BFI expects to support up to 19 additional project development programmes across the UK.