UK Global Screen Fund announces over £1.7m of support in latest awards

The BFI has announced its latest UK Global Screen Fund awards. Financed through the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the awards allocate a further £1,233,203 to seven new projects through the International Co-production fund and £510,109 through the International Distribution fund. 

This latest round of international co-production awards, which support UK producers to collaborate with international partners and create new global projects, sees the seven UK independent companies collectively collaborating with 13 territories, and will be the first time the fund has supported co-productions with North Macedonia, Malaysia, India, and Portugal. The funding, which supports two animated television series and five feature films, including two documentaries, will also back partnerships with Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Mexico and Spain. To date, this strand has now awarded over £11.6 million to 73 co-productions, supporting partnerships with 37 territories. 

The latest round of International Distribution funding, which supports UK producers and sales agents with the promotion and distribution of UK feature films in international territories, is allocated through Festival Launch and Prints & Advertising (P&A) grants.

Festival Launch grants supported premieres at major international festivals including Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, at which Ireland/UK co-production Ancestors won the FIPRESCI prize. Projects supported with P&A grants for the release of a single UK film across a grouping of at least four international territories are & Sons, Everybody Digs Bill Evans, On the Sea, Sunny Dancer and Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day. To date, 190 International Distribution awards have been made, totalling £4.6m. 

These latest awards follow the recent expansion of the UK Global Screen Fund, which saw its budget increase from £7m to over £18m per year for 2026 to 2029 as part of the UK Government’s Screen Growth Package.  Since April, the following brand new funds have launched, following extensive sector consultation and building on the successful interventions made since the fund launched in 2021:

• Video Game Release: growing exports and global demand for UK independent narrative video games, enabling them to secure wider and higher profile releases 
• Slate Development: supporting producers to develop slates of projects with international appeal and audience reach
• Film Sales Minimum Guarantee: supporting UK sales agents in paying sales MGs to secure international sales rights for UK films 

A Majority Co-production offering, focused on animation and documentaries is set to follow early next year.

Additionally, as also announced at this morning’s UK Global Screen Fund Breakfast Reception, the BFI has unveiled the agencies appointed to deliver the new 2026-29 framework for Promoting UK Screen Services, which consolidates all international screen sector promotional activities under one combined ScreenUK umbrella.  This encompasses the current ScreenUK Industry physical UK presence at international festivals and markets, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin European Film Market, Cannes Film Festival, FILMART and Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the digital presence of both ScreenUK Industry activity and the ScreenUK promotional campaign. Following an extensive and competitive procurement process, the three agencies appointed to deliver across the three-year tender framework, reporting into the BFI and working closely with industry partners, are:

• Premier PR, appointed to deliver: Events & Logistics Services, project managing the physical ScreenUK Industry presence at international festivals and markets; and Digital Promotion and Production Services, project managing production of video content and social media campaign delivery across ScreenUK channels. Premier is one of the UK’s most respected integrated communications agencies, with over two decades of experience delivering strategic campaigns and events for clients from across the world of entertainment, art and culture.
• Music, appointed to deliver Creative Assets Services, project managing and delivering creative assets, executing the ScreenUK brand strategy across both physical and digital channels, including the design of stands and pavilions at international festivals and markets. Music is an independent branding and design agency based in Manchester. The studio works across brand strategy, identity, campaigns, film and experience, with clients spanning culture, entertainment, sport and property.
• Four Marketing and Media, appointed to deliver Media Agency Services, project managing and delivering ScreenUK paid media planning, buying and campaign delivery and optimisation, with a focus on digital channels. 

Denitsa Yordanova, Director of UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds, said: “We are very excited to announce this latest round of distribution and co-production awards as we enter the next stage of our fund’s evolution, thanks to expanded investment from UK government, with four brand new funding streams and a new ScreenUK promotional strategy being launched throughout 2026 and 2027. We also look forward to working with the stellar grouping of expert agencies we have just appointed to further champion the UK screen sector through our new framework for international promotional activities delivered as part of ScreenUK.

If Love Should Die

A UK minority co-production with Ireland, Spain, France, and Norway. The UK producers are Saskia Duff and Joshua Horsfield for Intake Films collaborating with Irish majority co-producer Wildcard (Patrick O’Neill and Conor Barry), Spanish Elastica Films (María Zamora), French Les Films Pelleas (David Thion), and Norwegian Mer Film (Maria Ekerhovd). The project was developed by Caspian Films (Thembisa Cochrane and Georgie Paget), who will also produce. With Renate Reinsve in the lead and Mia Hansen-Løve directing, the intimate and epic period drama narrates the remarkable life of Mary Wollstonecraft, one of Britain’s most influential intellectual figures and a foundational voice in feminist thought.   

In Search of The Lost World 

A UK minority official co-production with Brazil. The UK Producer is Scottish company Hopscotch Films (John Archer), in association with Kent-based Forbidden Cities (Daniella Rice, Fernando Mitjáns); the Brazilian Producer is Buriti Filmes (Laís Bodanzky, Luiz Bolognesi), in association with VideoFilmes (Walter Salles). The documentary is based on the journey at the heart of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 classic novel, The Lost World. It explores the lesser-known spiritual side of the Scottish author and connects it to contemporary themes through a new Amazon journey by director Jorge Bodanzky accompanied by co-director and Yanomami filmmaker Morzaniel Iramari. By bridging different cultures and cosmologies, the film addresses the threats looming over the Amazon today and the Yanomami unprecedented environmental and humanitarian crisis. 

Little Badman 

Based on the hit Penguin Random House book franchise, Little Badman is a UK-majority television co-production with Malaysia. Produced by UK producers Eugenio Perez, Dhanny Joshi and Thomas Stogdon for Big Deal Films, in collaboration with Malaysian studio Lil Critter Workshop (Walid Omar), the series is written by comedian, writer and YouTube pioneer Humza Arshad MBE and Henry White. Aimed at 8-12-year-olds, it follows an 11-year-old boy with dreams, convinced he is destined to become the world’s greatest rap superstar.

Lux Noctis 

An official UK minority co-production with Mexico and Spain. The UK producer is Finite Films & TV (Amy Gardner and Chiara Giavarini), collaborating with Mexican producer Maligno Gorehouse (Javier Sepulveda and Eduardo Lecuona), Mexican co-producer Pimienta Films (Nicolás Celis) and Spanish co-producer Inicia Films (Valérie Delpierre). The film is the feature debut of Mexican writer-director Damiana Acuña and is based on her homonymous short film. Set in a dystopian matriarchal community, LUX NOCTIS follows Lina as she develops a forbidden relationship with a man and burns the status quo to the ground. 

The Mammoths That Escaped the Kingdom of Erlik Khan 

A UK minority co-production led by Denmark with North Macedonia and Portugal. The UK producer is Anna Hashmi, with line-producer Kate Bullions for The Corner Shop Productions, collaborating with Danish Real Lava ApS/ (Sigrid Dyekjær and Harry Vaughn), Portuguese Alecrim Vagabundo (Enrico Saraiva), and North Macedonian Ciconia Film (Tamara Kotevska and Jean Dakar). The documentary feature film follows a young Dolgan reindeer herder in the Yakut Tundra, deciding whether to follow in his father’s ancestral footsteps or join the modern mammoth tusk hunters. Directed by Oscar nominated director Tamara Kotevska. 

Unidentified Actress 

A UK minority official co-production with India and Germany. The UK producer is Alastair Clark for Wellington Films, collaborating with India’s Future East Film (Niharika Singh and Ashim Ahluwalia), Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies (Stephan Holl) and The Post Republic (Michael Reuter and Christin Meyer). Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, the feature film offers a disturbing glimpse into the dark side of Indian cinema and the broken lives it left behind. 

Whatever You Do… Don’t Laugh! 

A UK majority official UK television co-production with Canada. The UK producer is King Banana TV (Lotte Elwell, Katie Simmons and Chris Allen), collaborating with Canadian producer Sinking Ship Entertainment (Carla de Jong, Matt Bishop and Blair Powers). The animated TV series is aimed at a 3-5 year old audience, where a serious, bumptious presenter tries to teach a simple lesson… but everything always goes wrong, and bonkers, madcap hilarity ensues!

UK Global Screen Fund International Distribution awards, via the Prints & Advertising (P&A) Support track:

• & Sons (Bankside Films) 
• Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Hot Property Films) 
• On The Sea (Red Union Films) 
• Sunny Dancer (27 Ten Productions) 
• Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day (WestEnd Films)

UK Global Screen Fund International Distribution awards via the Festival Launch Support track:

• 7 Miles Out (Cannon and Morley Productions) 
• Act 3 (65 Wilding Films) 
• Ancestors (Lunatica) 
• Faith (Bankside Films) 
• Masc (Duktiga) 
• Our Share of Sand (Fifth Mirror Pictures) 
• Out There (Film Seekers) 
• Prima Facie (Embankment Films) 
• Rain Catcher (Yellow Pill Films) 
• Salvation (Lane Films) 
• Stuffed (Cornerstone Films) 
• The State of Us (Circus Screen Studios) 
• Zero Intention of Living Quietly (Lovelace Films)

UK Global Screen Fund applications are currently open for:

• International Distribution Prints & Advertising (P&A) – assessed on a rolling basis
• International Distribution Festival Launch – assessed on a rolling basis
• International Co-production – closing 24 November
• Slate Development – closing 15 October 

Applications for Video Games Release will re-open next month, with International Business Development and Film Sales Minimum Guarantee re-opening next year. The new Majority Co-production fund will also launch early next year.

The next BFI International Town Hall meeting, including a funding update from the UK Global Screen Fund, will take place online next Wednesday 14 October.