BFI NETWORK alumni: growth, progress and success to celebrate in 2026
From BAFTA wins and major festival premieres to international development opportunities and feature debuts, BFI NETWORK alumni continue to make their mark on the global screen industry, demonstrating the long-term impact of investing in emerging filmmaking talent across the UK.
Made possible thanks to National Lottery Good Cause funding, BFI NETWORK proudly supports the next wave of early career filmmakers across the UK. Through early development support, short film funding and career development programmes, we continue to support and champion homegrown talent across the UK. As we reflect on news from the first half of 2026, we’re delighted to celebrate a dynamic group of alumni making strides in the feature film space.
BAFTA recognition
BFI NETWORK alumni Harry Lighton and Akinola Davies Jr. continue to garner accolades and attention for their debut feature films Pillion and My Father’s Shadow. The films received 22 combined nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) in 2025, with Pillion winning four awards, including Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Screenwriter for Lighton, and Davies Jr. winning Best Director. The critical reception of both films continued to the BAFTAs in February 2026, with nominations for both debuts and a win for Outstanding Debut for Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies.
We were also pleased to see the filmmaking team behind The Ceremony, a BFI NETWORK England Early Development Fund project — Jack King (BFI NETWORK@LFF 2019), Hollie Bryan (BFI NETWORK@LFF 2024), and Lucy Meer — receive a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut. In the short film categories, writer-director Luís Hindman’s MAGID / ZAFAR, co-written with Sufiyaan Salam and produced by Aidan Robert Brooks, funded through Future Takes (a joint initiative with Film4), won Best British Short Film at the BIFAs in November 2025 and subsequently received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Short Film. We were also thrilled to see the animated short film Brain Space, from writer-director Laura Tofarides and producer Nia Alavezos, longlisted for a BAFTA for British Short Animation in January. The project was supported by BFI NETWORK in partnership with Ffilm Cymru Wales. We were also thrilled to see Future Takes short Flock, directed by Mac Nixon, co-written by Daley Nixon and produced by Matt Ashwell, nominated for Best Fiction Short at the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, selected from an extraordinary pool of 8,400 filmmakers from 162 countries.
International festival recognition
BFI and Film4 funded debut feature Lady, directed by Olive Nwosu and produced by Alex Polunin (BFI NETWORK@LFF 2018), John Giwa-Amu and Stella Nwimo, is a compelling drama following female taxi driver, Lady, who gets pulled into the dangerous underbelly of Lagos nightlife. Nwosu and Polunin previously collaborated on Nwosu’s short film Egúgún, which was funded through the BFI NETWORK and British Council’s More Films for Freedom Fund in 2021. Following its world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW), where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble, Lady continued its successful festival run with a celebrated screening at the 2026 Berlinale before securing US distribution.
We were also delighted to see director Rebekah Fortune’s feature Learning to Breathe Under Water, produced by Jack Tarling, Nan Davies and Patrick O’Neill, return to its original filming location in Galway for its Irish premiere at the 38th Galway Film Fleadh 2026, where it won the Audience Award. Both Fortune and Tarling have been supported by BFI NETWORK through the Early Development Fund, with Fortune also receiving BFI NETWORK short film funding support for her 2018 short Pennywort and being part of the 2022 BFI NETWORK@LFF cohort.
Several alumni are also progressing to their debut feature films this year. After receiving Early Development Funding in 2019 for the project Modern Washout, writer-director David Drake has now completed production on his debut feature, The Long Haul. The project wrapped at the end of 2025 and celebrated its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York this June. Meanwhile, filmmaker Rafael Manuel, a participant in our BFI NETWORK@LFF programme in 2021, has seen his debut feature Filipiñana picked up for UK distribution by BFI Distribution.
Documentary
In the documentary and development space, director Jessica Bishopp, a participant in BFI NETWORK@LFF 2025 whose 2022 short Skyward was supported by the BFI Doc Society Made of Truth Fund, has secured international backing for The Archipelago, receiving grant funding from the Sundance Institute x Sandbox Fund. Her project follows marine ornithologists and two young women coming of age on a remote Icelandic archipelago. Writer-director Aurora Fearnley’s sci-fi eco-thriller Tipping Point, which was backed by the Early Development Fund in 2020, has been selected for the TorinoFilmLab Green Narratives programme in partnership with Climate Spring. Simone Smith (BFI NETWORK@LFF 2023) has also been selected for the Scottish The Bigger Picture Filmmakers 2025/26, a Take Three development initiative funded by Creative Scotland, with their feature project now moving through active development.
International
Our alumni are continuing to leverage international industry platforms to advance their creative practice. Director Ajuán Isaac-George, whose previous work includes the BFI NETWORK short Snow Falls in the Summer and who also received Early Development Funding in 2023 for the project Year One, took his Jamaica-set horror-drama feature, Duppy, to the Cannes Frontières Platform.
Looking at the wider global market, the annual Great 8 Showcase at Cannes in May highlighted a strong contingent of UK talent, with this year’s line-up featuring a significant number of our alumni. The showcase includes Black Church Bay, written and directed by Rhys Marc Jones (BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Mentoring programme in partnership with BFI Flare 2019) and produced by Tristan Goligher and Alex Polunin, Polunin previously collaborated with Marc Jones on the 2018 BFI NETWORK and Ffilm Cymru Wales short Father of the Bride. Also featured is BFI funded film Daughter of Eden from writer-director Fateme Ahmadi, who was previously supported with her BFI NETWORK short Bitter Sea. The showcase also spotlights Florid, from writer-director Billy Lumby (BFI NETWORK@LFF 2018), produced by Rupert Lloyd and Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor (BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Mentoring programme in partnership with BFI Flare 2016). Dom Riley, who produced the 2018 BFI NETWORK and Film Hub Midlands short Ned & Me, has work featured in the showcase as the producer of Salvation, while Miranda Ballesteros, producer of the 2015 BFI NETWORK and Wales-funded short This Far Up, brings Ancestors to the showcase. Rounding out this impressive cohort of alumni selections are Our Share of Sand from writer-director Shalini Adnani, Produced by Sara Bonakdar, Alan McAlex, Balthazar de Ganay and Giorgos Karnavas and Michael Graf. Balthazar de Ganay also produced the BFI NETWORK funded short The Field.
By investing in early career voices through funding alongside creative and career development, BFI NETWORK helps support filmmakers to take creative risks, build lasting collaborations, and grow in their practice.