Celebrating BFI NETWORK alumni at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival

With the 69th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express in full swing in London and across the UK, we’re excited to see so many BFI NETWORK alumni featured in this year’s programme, a true testament to the creative talent in the UK’s independent film industry. Many of these films have already garnered success on the international festival circuit, with celebrated screenings at Cannes, Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival. 

We’re pleased to see the continued success of writer-director Harry Lighton, an alum of our talent development programme BFI NETWORK@LFF. His debut feature Pillion, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, world premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. This bold and uncompromising first feature follows the success of Harry’s BAFTA-nominated short Wren Boys (2018), which was supported by Film London and BFI NETWORK and created with writer John Fitzpatrick and producer Sorcha Bacon. Pillion will have its UK premiere as a gala on 18 October.  

Writer-director Akinola Davies Jr’s feature debut My Father’s Shadow also world premiered at Cannes, making history as the first Nigerian film selected for the official selection. This semi-autobiographical tale, set in 1993 Lagos during the presidential election crisis, will have its UK premiere in First Feature Competition on 17 October. It has also been selected as the UK’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards. 

Fresh from its world premiere at Venice and a screening at Toronto, Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada continues its impressive festival journey. Supported by the BFI and Film4, Jenkin’s third feature screened in Official Competition on 13 October. The film is produced by Denzil Monk and executive produced by Kingsley Marshall. Both have a history of collaboration with BFI NETWORK: Monk co-produced Jenkin’s short film Hard, Cracked the Wind (2018) and produced the recent BFI NETWORK short Pen Mari (2024), while Marshall served as executive producer on Hard, Cracked the Wind and is also involved with Piss for Blood, which received early development support in 2022. 

Also screening at the festival is Jonatan Etzler’s drama Bad Apples, starring Saoirse Ronan, which premiered at Toronto this year. The film is written by BFI NETWORK alumni Jess O’Kane and Rasmus Lindgren, and produced by Oskar Pimlott. Jess was supported through BFI NETWORK@LFF programme in 2018 and received BFI NETWORK short film funding for Girl at Party (2021). Producer Oskar Pimlott was also involved in two projects that received BFI NETWORK Early Development support in 2019. 

The festival also features the work of Stroma Cairns, an alum of the BFI NETWORK and BAFTA Mentoring programme in partnership with BFI Flare. Her debut feature The Son and the Sea arrives at the BFI London Film Festival after a successful international run that included the GREAT 8 Showcase at Cannes and premieres at TIFF and the San Sebastián Film Festival. 

Ted Evans’s powerful debut Retreat arrives at the BFI London Film Festival following its world premiere at Toronto. Supported by the BFI and BBC Film, this bold debut, featuring an all-Deaf principal cast, questions notions of identity and the longing for community. Evans is a BFI NETWORK alum who previously received early development support for his project SIGNS. The Retreat team also includes Michelle Stein, a BFI NETWORK supported producer, and Jennifer Monks. Monks previously produced two BFI NETWORK funded short films, An Everyday Act (2018) and Reflections (2021). 

Also premiering is Ish, directed by Imran Perretta and co-written with Enda Walsh, with Dhiraj Mahey and Bennett McGhee producing. Supported by BFI and BBC Film, this bold and poetic feature is an impressive next step for McGhee, who participated in BFI NETWORK Weekender 2016. 

Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero will close the festival on 19 October. Jackman was previously supported by BFI NETWORK through short film funding for The Riley Sisters (2022). This visually rich and emotionally resonant debut is produced by Stephanie Aspin, known for producing The Riley Sisters (2022) alongside Helen Simmons, an alum of BFI NETWORK@LFF 2018. Simmons has produced several BFI NETWORK short films, and has also co-written and co-directed Measure (2023). 

This festival stands as a powerful testament to the creative journeys of our alumni. We’re proud to see so many filmmakers, first supported through our funding and development programmes, now making the leap from bold short form work to commanding the international stage with their debut features. 

Beyond the incredible feature lineup, we’re also excited to see so many BFI NETWORK funded shorts at this year’s festival. Writer-director Simisolaoluwa Akande returns to the festival after her BFI NETWORK and Doc Society-funded short The Archives: Queer Nigerian won Best Short Film in 2023. This year, she presents her BFI NETWORK-funded debut narrative short Baby, which is programmed in the Mapped Out Features selection. Written by Mojola Akinyemi and produced by Maxine Gordon, the film exposes the shame and guilt a young woman experiences while trapped in a sex-trafficking network. Her complicity compels her to save someone else from the same fate. 

Catch the BFI NETWORK and Doc Society-funded short documentary Beyond the Rush in the Roots and Branches programme. Filmed and directed by the award-winning filmmaker NIYADRE and produced by Christina Wiafe-Toppin, this powerful short explores the decline of Luton’s vibrant Caribbean culture and identity, and how its communities can reclaim and forge their own history 

The programme also features three shorts funded through Future Takes, a joint initiative with Film4. 

There’s the fast-paced, electric short Magid / Zafar, directed by Luís Hindman, written by Sufiyaan Salam, and produced by Aidan Robert Brooks. The film, which explores the tensions between two friends in a takeaway restaurant, screens in the Short Film Competition. In 2015, Luís received the One to Watch award from Into Film, supported by the BFI and EON Productions.   

Also featured is director Mac Nixon’s striking black-and-white short Flock. Written by Mac and Daley Nixon and produced by Matt Ashwell, the film explores the frustration of a Welsh farming community when its entire sheep population suddenly vanishes. Flock will be playing as part of the Pulling Out the Rug programme on 17 and 18 October. 

Writer-director Luo Jian’s short Under the Wave of Little Dragon will be in the Discovering Home programme. The film follows a Chinese girl growing up in a Welsh fishing village who experiences a magical encounter in her small town. 

Finally, don’t miss the chance to see a selection of BFI NETWORK-supported shorts in the LFF For Free programme, This Is London: Small Stories, Big City. This showcase features six films from some of London’s most exciting new voices, funded by BFI NETWORK and delivered by Film London. 

BFI NETWORK, made possible with National Lottery funding, proudly supports the next wave of UK filmmaking talent.