UK Global Screen Fund backs further 11 international co-productions as government expands support for the fund

The BFI has made a further 11 awards through its UK Global Screen Fund. Financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the awards allocate over £1.65 million through the fund’s International Co-production strand, supporting UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions and help create new global projects. To date the strand has now awarded over £8.9 million to 57 co-productions, supporting partnerships with 34 territories. 

This latest round of awards sees the UK co-producing with 10 territories and will be the first time the fund has supported a collaboration with Brazil. The funding will also support partnerships with Canada, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. 

The awards, in the form of non-recoupable grants, support independent companies from across the UK as minority co-producers for feature films of all genres, and as majority and minority co-producers for TV animation and documentary projects. This latest funding round supports seven feature films, including two documentaries, plus four TV projects, including three animations and one documentary. It also sees one of the awards granted under a ‘fast-track’ process, introduced last year for productions eligible for an earlier funding decision, in order to capture as many projects as possible.  

As part of last weekend’s UK Government announcement of the new Creative Industries Sector Plan, £18m per year (2026-29) has been committed to the UK Global Screen Fund through the Screen Growth Package, to develop international business capabilities, enable co-productions and showcase independent UK screen content worldwide, as part of ambitions to enhance the UK’s position as a top global creative superpower. Over the first four years of the fund, it has been funded at £7m a year.

Denitsa Yordanova, Head of UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds, said: “This latest round of awards showcases the UK’s truly unique creative talent, with an extraordinary range of projects spanning film and television across documentary, animation and fiction, reaching 57 international co-productions with 34 territories supported by the fund to date. The Government’s enhanced backing of the UK’s independent screen sector will allow us to further boost international development, co-production, promotion and distribution opportunities for film, TV, animation, documentary and video games companies right across the UK, deepening international relationships and accelerating export growth. We very much look forward to working with government and consulting with industry to formulate and take forward plans for the future of the UK Global Screen Fund.

Tim Bryans, Managing Director / Co-Founder of ALT Animation, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded UK Global Screen Fund co-production support for Captain Onion’s Buoyant Academy for Wayward Youth. At a time when financing animation is proving incredibly challenging, this funding has been instrumental in helping us and our partners make this series a reality. The series has its roots firmly in the UK, but having the fund as a partner will enable us to produce a project that resonates with audiences all around the globe.”

UK Global Screen Fund applications are now open, and assessed on a rolling basis, for:

• International Distribution Festival Launch Support

• International Distribution Prints & Advertising Support (P&A)

Applications for International Co-production funding will re-open in late September.

Applications for the 2025 UK Global Screen Fund Co-production Workshop are now open until 17 July. The two-day participatory programme for UK-based feature film and TV producers interested in international co-production, takes place on 29 and 30 September in Belfast.

A majority UK co-production with Ireland. The UK producers are Northern Irish ALT Animation and Scottish Wild Child Animation who will be co-producing with Irish Studio Meala. The 50 x 11 minutes 2D animated TV series aimed at 7-12 year olds is an energetic, comedy-driven adventure set in a boarding school aboard a former pirate ship and is about finding the friends that define this time of your life. Created by Matthew Bradley, the series was co-developed with BBC Children’s & Education as part of the BBC Ignite animation programme and will be co-directed by ALT Animation’s Matthew Bradley and Lee McQuade.

A minority UK co-production with Greece and Italy. The UK producer is Erebus Pictures (Helen Simmons), working with Greek Either Or Productions (Fani Skartouli) and Italian Vivo Films (Marta Donzelli). The debut feature film, written by Konstantinos Antonopoulos and Luigi Campi and directed by Konstantinos Antonopoulis, is set in 703AD and follows two pilloried convicts — a naive beekeeper and a dethroned emperor — who face each other and themselves, as they struggle to escape the deserted island they have been shipwrecked on.

A majority UK co-production with Brazil. The UK producer is Northern Irish Johnny Schumann from Flickerpix who will co-produce with Brazilian Felipe Tavares Pinto from Copa Studio Produtora Audiovisual. The animated TV series, written by Sara Daddy and directed by Johnny Schumann, tells the story of a Guardian Dream Spirit who enters children’s dreams to help them overcome their fears and anxieties, and calls on self-regulation techniques that can be used in daily life.

A majority UK co-production with Ireland. The UK producers are Karrot Entertainment (Chris White and Jamie Badminton), who will be co-producing with Irish Kavaleer Productions (Andrew Kavanagh and Gary Timpson). The animated TV series (52 x 7 minutes), created, written and directed by Tim and Rebecca O’Sullivan, is set in a fantasy world and follows the escapades of Mae and Bee, who together explore the Green Garden to find things to fill up their Book of Big.

A minority UK co-production with Ireland and the Netherlands. The UK producer is Forty Foot Pictures (Collie McCarthy and Diarmuid Hughes), co-producing with Irish Feline Films (Jessie Fisk) and Dutch Bind Film (Joram Willink and Maaike Neve). The feature film, based on best-selling novel ‘The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes’ by Irish author Anna McPartlin, will be directed by Irish Jim O’Hanlon.

A minority UK co-production with Germany and Switzerland. The UK producer is Scotland-based Nadira Murray of Sylph Productions (Susan Simnett, UK’s Executive Producer), co-producing with German Bettina Brokemper of Heimatfilm and Swiss Karin Koch of Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion. The feature film is directed by Sophie Heldman and co-written by Flora Nicholson and Sophie Heldman. Based on a true event, the story follows two women who founded a girls’ school in Edinburgh in 1810. Accused of a romantic relationship they find themselves at the centre of a scandal, fighting for their rights. The film stars Flora Nicholson, Clare Dunne, Fiona Shaw, and Mia Tharia. World sales are handled by Global Constellation.

A minority UK co-production with Ireland. The UK producer is Scotland-based Faction North (Grant Keir) who will co-produce with Irish EZ Films (David Clarke and David Power). The character-led documentary feature film will be directed by Virgina Heath, telling the story of a unique Irish singer-song writer, Keeley Moss, whose work celebrates the life of, and seeks justice for, a young German backpacker, Inga Maria Hauser, murdered in Northern Ireland in 1988.

A UK co-production with Canada. The UK producer is West Yorkshire-based Andrew Shaw of Attaboy TV who will be co-producing with Canadian Paul Cadieux of Les Productions Megafun. The television documentary, directed by Jean-Marc Abela, celebrates some of nature’s slowest animals, revealing their remarkable stories and showing how their unique adaptations and secret skills enable them to survive and thrive in a dangerous and tough world.

A minority UK co-production with Spain and Norway. The UK producers are Kamilla Hodøl and Emilie Jouffroy from Elation Pictures, who will co-produce with Spanish Fasten Films (Adrià Monés Murlans) and Norwegian Eye to Eye Pictures (Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar). The film, written and directed by Maria Martinez Bayona and starring Rebecca Hall, Gael Garcia Bernal, Noomi Rapace and Beanie Feldstein is set in a near-future world where ageing can be cured and death is now optional, and follows Claire, a former provocative artist approaching her 250th birthday, who decides she’s had enough – she wants to die. Her decision stirs conflicts with her husband, daughter and AI assistant, revealing the humorous complexity of their relationships. This project was fast-tracked under the UK Global Screen Fund co-production strand.

A minority UK co-production with Canada. The UK producer is Scotland-based Aimara Reques of Aconite Films who is co-producing with Ina Fichman of Canadian Intuitive Pictures Productions. The documentary feature film, directed by Canada’s Bart Simpson, tells the story of Harvey Kurtzman, delving into the world of comic books, pop culture and the birth of modern satire with animation led by Scottish animation producer, Ken Anderson.  

A minority UK co-production with Ireland. The UK producer is Trevor Birney from Northern Ireland-based Fine Point Films, co-producing with Patrick O’Neill from Ireland’s Wildcard. Telling the story of an Irish family who reunite for the holidays this cynical Christmas comedy is written and directed by Dallan Shovlin.