BFI National Lottery Funding Plan launched for 2026 to 2029

The BFI today announces the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029 with £150 million available for UK Screen Culture over three years. Through six strands addressing key areas across the sector, a range of funds and programmes benefiting public and industry seek to continue to deliver on the 10-year National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 which was published as part of Screen Culture 2033.  

The Funding Plan guides how the BFI will invest approximately £50 million a year of National Lottery ‘good cause’ funding, representing a 10% increase on the £136.3 million available over the last three years.  

£150m will be invested in the following areas:  

• £33.5 million for Audiences
• £13.3 million for Education & Heritage
• £61 million for Filmmaking & Talent Development
• £35.55 million for Skills & Workforce Development
• £1.4 million for International
• £5.25 million for Insight & Industry  

Thanks to the UK Government directly funding some activity previously supported with BFI National Lottery funds, programmes within the Plan have also benefitted from further uplifts. 

Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, said: “The UK’s film and TV industry provides a huge contribution to our country. It generates billions for our economy, employs millions of people and demonstrates Britain’s talents on a global stage. We welcome the news of this increased investment from the BFI and National Lottery with open arms.  

“From actors and producers to cinematographers and VFX designers, this funding promises to nurture emerging talent and develop industry skills to keep our screen sector at the top of its game.” 

BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts said: “The BFI National Lottery Strategy and current Funding Plan builds on the legacy of National Lottery funding which has played a transformative role on the UK’s screen sectors. This Plan aims to ensure £150 million of good cause National Lottery funding over three years can have the greatest possible impact for the UK public. Coupled with the support of the Government through its ambitious Creative Industries Sector Plan, it can help create the right conditions to see the screen sector thrive culturally and economically.  

“We are committed to nurturing filmmakers and creative risk-takers, developing the UK’s world-class workforce, inspiring children and young people, and connecting audiences to a more diverse screen culture – all driven by the ambition to deliver benefit to the UK public and provide support where there is an absence of sufficient commercial funding. We believe the Plan responds to developments across the sector and learnings from the activity we have supported over the last three years and will contribute to economic growth while enabling cultural development and greater appreciation of UK screen culture.”  

Responding to available data from funded activity, evidence of need and demand, as well as sector feedback, the 2026-2029 Plan sees targeted changes to the funds and programmes run over the last three years. This includes the BFI Skills Fund broadening its scope to support skills across a wider sector footprint including exhibition, distribution and games, the BFI Audience Projects Fund increasing opportunities for sector-facing work as well as greater flexibility for distribution projects, and as well as increased funding for shorts through BFI NETWORK, the talent development programme will also pilot Microshorts funding for filmmakers at the beginning of their creative journey. Funds and programmes have evolved and been adapted in response to outcomes and evaluations from the first three years, to ensure the Funding Plan is delivering against the National Lottery Strategy as effectively as possible.  

The roll out of the first three years of the strategy saw a number of successful funding interventions and partnerships. Highlights include the creation of BFI Skills Clusters across the UK; the ambitious Open Cinemas fund bringing new audiences to independent cinemas across the UK with 82% saying it has grown their love of independent film; funding of award-winning features such as Santosh (Sandhya Suri), My Father’s Shadow (Akinola Davis Jr.), and Pillion (Harry Lighton) all directed by BFI NETWORK alumni; bringing film into classrooms to aid media literacy and education; funding to discover and transform access to screen heritage; and research providing vital analysis such as a roadmap to help the industry navigate AI.  

£150 million over three years is based on projections of the good cause funding that will be available as a result of ticket sales. In addition, where the 2023-2036 Funding Plan provided funding for vital inward investment activity and production services, as well as the UK’s presence at major international festivals and markets, the UK Government has committed to directly investing in this activity from April 2026. This is part of their major Creative Industries Sector Plan (published in June 2025) which saw a significant increase in its support for the screen sector, and has allowed the BFI to allocate National Lottery funding into other areas, with the greatest increases focused on oversubscribed funds and programmes that demonstrate clear evidence of need.    

The Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan also included an increase to the UK Global Screen Fund from £7 million to £18 million per annum, as well as greater support for BFI Film Academy and the BFI London Film Festival.   

The BFI’s three core principles set out in Screen Culture 2033 continue to underpin all the organisation’s work, including its distribution of National Lottery funding: equity, diversity and inclusion; UK-wide; and environmental sustainability.   

The 2026-2029 Funding Plan is guided by the aims and objectives set out in the 10-year BFI National Lottery Strategy, which was developed through extensive consultation with both industry and members of the public. The second of three shorter Funding Plans spanning the strategy period (the first running 2023-2026 and final cycle will cover 2029-2033), allows the BFI to adapt funds, programmes and interventions to respond to changes in a dynamic and fast-growing sector.  

From 2026-2029, the funding plan will provide support for a range of funds and programmes:  

• £33.5 million for Audiences includes the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund supporting a broad range of activity from distributors, exhibitors and festivals working across independent film and immersive; funding for the work of BFI Film Audience Network across the nations and regions to boost public and community access to screen culture; and building on the pilot Open Cinemas fund which has successfully attracted new audiences to independent cinemas across the UK through free regular screenings.
• £13.3 million for Education and Heritage including the BFI National Lottery Screen Heritage Fund offering a broad range of support to screen heritage collections from transforming public access and supporting financial sustainability, through to preserving at-risk heritage skills and enabling training to access emerging technologies; and the Teaching with Film programme to bring film and the moving image into the classroom to support learning across a variety of subjects and to strengthen cultural literacy
• £61 million for Filmmaking and Talent Development to enable the development and creation of original screen work from first-time creators to world-class professionals through the BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund; and support talent development through the BFI NETWORK with national and regional partnerships to improve routes into the industry for new and emerging filmmaking talent. It will also continue to deliver the Creative Challenge Fund, decentralising project development programmes across the UK, offer high-end shorts funding to further filmmaking careers and fund a delegate partner to support UK independent documentary filmmakers.
• £35.55 million for Skills and Workforce Development including the continuation of the BFI National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund to help grow and develop the workforce in significant production centres across the UK; building on the Good Work pilot to improve working practices in the screen sector; offering Skills Bursaries for those from underrepresented backgrounds; a Skills Fund to support a variety of skills activity for the screen sector including distribution, exhibition and games; and Business Development Training programmes to support screen sector businesses. It will also support a Careers and Progression programme to deliver quality screen sector careers and guidance for children and young people to enter the industry; a Young Creatives filmmaking programme for 7-16 year-olds to be delivered in community venues as well as education spaces; and a refreshed BFI Film Academy (with additional funding from UK Government) to support the UK workforce talent pipeline by ensuring that young people aged 16-25 years have the chance to build their knowledge and understanding of the industry, develop their skills and be employment ready.
• £1.4 million for International including the BFI National Lottery International Connections Fund to enable UK screen professionals to develop creative and commercial collaborations with international partners by participating in international industry events (e.g. co-production forums, markets, festivals); and the UK Focus Fund to support UK-focused activity at established, international-facing industry events. 

Complementing the internationally focused National Lottery programmes, the BFI administers the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), financed by  the UK Government ‘s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is designed to boost international development, production, distribution, and promotional opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector, accelerating export growth and deepening international relationships with the UK. The UKGSF’s budget will expand from £7 million to £18 million per annum from 2026 as part of the Government’s recently announced Creative Industries Sector Plan.  

•  £5.25 million for Insight & Industry includes the BFI National Lottery Research and Statistics Fund which will continue to provide vital insight and evidence supporting screen culture and sector development and growth; the return of the Innovation Challenge Fund to help not-for-profit organisations tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the sector today through the testing, development and delivery of new solutions; and Sustainable Screen to support BFI National Lottery funding recipients, as well as the wider sector, to minimise environmental impact and work towards net zero and positively contribute to tackling the climate and ecological crisis.  

The BFI receives 2.7% of available National Lottery funding, the terms for how the BFI awards National Lottery ‘good cause’ funding to deliver benefit to the UK public is set out in policy directions established by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and enshrined in legislation. 

The BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 sets out four key objectives, plus a range of outcomes which together are designed to drive change and deliver benefits for all of society and for the screen sector UK-wide. These are:  

• Experiencing screen culture – so everyone can experience a great range of screen culture;
• Creativity and storytelling – so anyone from first-time creators to world-class professionals can create screen stories;
• A UK screen sector workforce that is skilled and reflects the population;
• Independents and cultural organisations are supported to achieve success in a changing economic and cultural landscape.