BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029

In 2022 we published the BFI’s 10-year strategy, Screen Culture 2033. This included our National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033, which details the aims and objectives that will guide how we distribute National Lottery funding over this 10-year period. The National Lottery Strategy was developed through extensive consultation with both industry and members of the public.

The BFI committed to operating three shorter ‘Funding Plans’ over the 10 years of this National Lottery Strategy, to deliver against its aims and objectives – the first running 2023-2026, the second running 2026-2029, and the final cycle running 2029-2033. Operating shorter plans means we can ensure our support for UK screen culture remains agile as audience behaviours change and the sector continues to evolve. It also means we can adapt our programmes depending on the amount of National Lottery funding available to the BFI, as the level of funding we receive is always dependent on National Lottery ticket sales, which can fluctuate over time. This helps make sure funding is being invested as effectively as possible in any given period.

As a National Lottery distributor, we only ever invest where there is clear evidence of need, absence of sufficient commercial funding, and clear benefit to the public.

Taking into account 2023-2026 monitoring data, evidence of need and demand, sector feedback, as well as the continuing evolution of the sector, we have made some targeted changes to the funds and programmes the BFI operated in the 2023-2026 period. Although most remain the same, some programmes have been slightly amended to ensure that they deliver against our National Lottery Strategy as effectively as possible.

Based on projections we plan to distribute £150m over the next three years – up 10% from the £136.3m set out in the 2023-2026 Funding Plan. This has enabled us to increase funding allocations across a number of programme areas, with the greatest increases focused in areas of high demand and which demonstrate clear evidence of need.

The previous funding plan included six areas of activity: Audiences; Screen Heritage; Filmmakers; Education and Skills; International; and Innovation and Industry Services. In this Funding Plan, we are amending these slightly by bringing together Screen Heritage with some of our education programmes to create a new ‘Education and Heritage’ grouping. This means funds will now be grouped in six key areas:

• Audiences
• Education and Heritage
• Filmmaking and Talent Development
• Skills and Workforce Development
• International
• Insight and Industry

This Funding Plan builds on pilot activity undertaken during the last three years, including our Open Cinemas programme supporting regular free screenings of independent film across the UK, as well as a Good Work programme focused on improving working practices in the sector. We will introduce new support for micro-shorts through BFI NETWORK and expand our skills and workforce development to reach beyond production and heritage to distribution and exhibition. We will also launch a refreshed strategy for BFI Film Academy.

While film remains the primary focus of BFI National Lottery funding, we will build on the early steps we have taken in support for immersive and video games over the past three years, responding to the continuing convergence across the screen sector. This includes exploratory support around skills and workforce development, research and innovation, audiences, and development and production.

The 2023-2026 BFI National Lottery Funding Plan provided support for inward investment and production services, as well as the UK’s presence at major international festivals and markets. As part of its industrial strategy published in June 2025, UK Government significantly increased its support for the sector and will invest directly in these services from April 2026. This has allowed us to increase the amount of BFI National Lottery funding available to other areas of activity. UK Government’s Industrial Strategy also included an increase to the UK Global Screen Fund from £7 million per annum to £18 million per annum, as well as greater support for BFI Film Academy and the BFI London Film Festival.

This section provides an overview of the funds and programmes we will operate over the three years from April 2026-March 2029 including which BFI National Lottery Strategy outcomes they are designed to deliver against. All budget totals are for the three years 2026-2029. More information on the outcomes.

We will set out more information on each of these funds and programmes in the weeks and months following publication of this Funding Plan. Including through detailed guidelines developed for individual programmes.

BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund

Budget: £19.70m
Primary Outcomes: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
About: An open fund supporting ambitious exhibition and distribution activity taking place on a national scale. It aims to increase audience access to independent film and immersive work, with a focus on engaging priority groups and building audiences that are representative of the UK.

BFI National Lottery Film Audience Network

Budget: £10.80m
Primary Outcomes: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Secondary Outcomes: 1.4, 3.4
About: Supports distribution and exhibition activity taking place at a local level, boosting public and community access to screen culture across the UK. Delivered in collaboration with a network of screen organisations, it provides funding, guidance and support to hundreds of exhibitors right across the UK.

BFI National Lottery Open Cinemas

Budget: £3.00m
Primary Outcomes: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
About: Aims to boost attendance for new and lapsed audiences by supporting an awardee to deliver a regular programme of free screenings of independent films at cinemas across the UK. This builds on the pilot programme launched during the 2023-2026 Funding Plan.

BFI National Lottery Teaching with Film

Budget: £5.19m
Primary Outcomes: 1.1
Secondary Outcomes: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.3
About: Supports the integration of film and the moving image into the curriculum for children and young people across the UK, helping them to learn, to engage with, and use film and the moving image while also supporting wider learning.

BFI National Lottery Screen Heritage Fund

Budget: £8.11m
Primary Outcomes: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4
About: An open fund aimed at moving image archives working across the UK. Awards will support financial sustainability, skills and organisational development, and enable archives to engage regional audiences and local communities – with a focus on underrepresented groups. This new iteration of the Screen Heritage Fund will be made available to a wider range of moving image archives.

BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund

Budget: £41.50m
Primary Outcomes: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
Secondary Outcomes: 1.2, 3.2
About: An open fund providing development and production funding, with editorial assistance, for a diverse range of risk-taking filmmakers from across the UK. Supports the films and stories of tomorrow for audiences far and wide, spanning fiction, immersive, animation and higher budget shorts.

BFI National Lottery Documentary Funding and Talent Support

Budget: £7.20m
Primary Outcomes: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
Secondary Outcomes: 1.2
About: Supports ambitious projects and diverse voices working in documentary features, shorts and immersive work. Funding is delegated to a delivery partner to make awards for development and production of documentary projects, to provide executive, creative and business affairs support, and to provide professional development opportunities for new and early-career documentary filmmakers.

BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund

Budget: £3.00m
Primary Outcomes: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.2
About: An open fund supporting organisations to run programmes for UK filmmakers to develop long-form projects. Each programme responds to a ‘challenge’ set around specific themes or topics, with filmmakers supported to work across feature films, documentary and immersive.

BFI NETWORK

Budget: £9.30m
Primary Outcomes: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.2
Secondary Outcomes: 1.2, 3.1, 3.4
About: Supports early career writers, directors and producers to develop their careers, including through funding for shorts and early feature development, as well as networking and professional development activity. BFI NETWORK is delivered in collaboration with a network of partners in every nation and region of the UK.

BFI National Lottery Skills Clusters

Budget: £11.85m
Primary Outcomes: 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.3
Secondary Outcomes: 3.3
About: Supports organisations working across the UK’s major production hubs to take the lead on below-the-line skills and training for their area. Awardees work to provide clear employment routes into production on their doorstep, building strong and representative local crew bases. This programme aims to support a combination of established skills clusters alongside introducing further skills clusters where there is evidence of need.

BFI National Lottery Good Work Programme

Budget: £2.40m
Primary Outcomes: 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.3
Secondary Outcomes: 3.3
About: The programme offers free-to-access advice, guidance, resources and support to improve working practices across the screen sector. It builds on pilot activity undertaken during the 2023-2026 Funding Plan.

BFI National Lottery Skills Bursaries

Budget: £1.575m
Primary Outcomes: 3.2
About: Provides bursaries to individuals from underserved backgrounds to help access skills, training and work opportunities in below-the-line production roles in film, television, and animation, as well as in exhibition, distribution, and video games. This funding will be delegated to a delivery partner to administer.

BFI National Lottery Skills Fund

Budget: £3.225m
Primary Outcomes: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.3
About: An open fund designed to support responses to a range of screen sector skills needs across the UK. This will fund time-limited activities including targeted interventions for exhibition, distribution, video games and beyond.

BFI National Lottery Business Development Training

Budget: £2.25m
Primary Outcomes: 3.2, 3.4, 4.1
About: Supports screen sector businesses across the UK to grow. Awardees help companies to get investment ready, as well as providing mentoring, training and networking opportunities to those underrepresented across the screen sector.

BFI National Lottery Careers and Progression

Budget: £6.30m
Primary Outcomes: 3.1, 3.2
Secondary Outcomes: 2.2
About: Aims to inspire 11-18 year olds to choose a career in the screen sector. This fund supports an awardee to develop and deliver resources and activities for careers advisors, teachers, parents, children and young people, with an emphasis on reaching children and young people from underserved backgrounds across the UK.

BFI National Lottery Young Creatives

Budget: £3.15m
Primary Outcomes: 1.1, 1.3, 2.1
Secondary Outcomes: 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2
About: A UK-wide community and education-based programme for 7-16 year olds living in disadvantaged parts of the country, providing opportunities to access and participate in introductory filmmaking and wider screen-related clubs.

BFI Film Academy

Budget: £4.80m (plus additional support from UK Government)
Primary Outcomes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2
About: Enables 16-25 year olds across the UK to learn about, and access training for, careers in screen with an emphasis on occupations with skills shortages. With a new delivery model and increased support from UK Government through its Department for Culture, Media and Sport, BFI Film Academy will focus on local level delivery, supporting underserved and underrepresented young people.

BFI National Lottery International Connections Fund

Budget: £0.89m
Primary Outcomes: 2.2, 4.1, 4.2
Secondary Outcomes: 2.4, 3.2
About: Supports individual and group attendance to key international screen sector events including festivals, markets and co-production forums. It aims to help those working in the UK screen sector to build their global networks.

BFI National Lottery UK Focus Fund

Budget: £0.51m
Primary Outcomes: 4.2, 2.2
Secondary Outcomes: 2.4, 4.1
About: Supports the delivery of UK-focused activity at established international festivals, markets, co-production forums or other industry events or platforms with international reach dedicated to screen content. It aims to increase the visibility of UK talent and content and connect those working in the UK screen sector with their international counterparts, resulting in increased international collaborations.

UK Global Screen Fund

(This is not National Lottery funding)

In addition to our internationally focused National Lottery programmes, the BFI administers the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF) on behalf of UK Government. UKGSF 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. Government announced that it will expand UKGSF from £7m per annum to £18m per annum from 2026 as part of its Creative Industries Sector Plan. More information on UKGSF.

BFI National Lottery Research and Statistics Fund

Budget: £1.95m
Primary Outcomes: 4.1, 4.3
Secondary Outcomes: 1.3, 1.4, 3.2, 3.3
About: Supports the creation of publicly available, independent, trusted and rigorous evidence on the screen sector. It provides insight into how independent and cultural organisations – as well as wider industry – can adapt, thrive and deliver the greatest benefit to the public. Priorities for research are recommended by an external Research Advisory Group.

BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge Fund

Budget: £2.55m
Primary Outcomes: 4.1, 4.3
Secondary Outcomes: 1.3, 2.2, 3.2
About: An open fund empowering not-for-profit organisations to tackle some of the screen sector’s biggest challenges, supporting them to develop and test new solutions. Awardees are required to make their findings publicly available, so the wider sector can benefit. Funding calls are issued around specific questions and topics, from environmentally sustainable production to building inclusive workplaces.

BFI National Lottery Sustainable Screen

Budget: £0.75m
Primary Outcomes: 4.4
Secondary Outcomes: 3.4, 4.1, 4.3
About: Provides support for the screen sector to minimise environmental impact, helping organisations work towards net zero and positively contribute to tackling the climate and ecological crisis. This programme funds expert partners to deliver a range of resources and support for National Lottery awardees and those working across the screen sector.

Each of our National Lottery funds and programmes must deliver against the three cross-cutting principles for funding set out in our 10-year Strategy. The guidelines for each fund will set out how awardees are expected to deliver against these. The measures which are applied across all BFI National Lottery funded activity are:

• Equity, diversity and inclusion: We are committed to driving meaningful change and encouraging inclusive practice, while monitoring how effectively our funding is contributing to a more equitable sector. We will support strategic and targeted actions that impact access to the industry. Our programmes and funded activity may include a focus on persistently marginalised groups and activity should be designed appropriately for the needs of communities regionally and nationally. We will use specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are guided by our Inclusion Targets to track and report on how representative beneficiaries of BFI National Lottery funding are, and how funding is driving change. All funding recipients will be required to meet at least the minimum criteria of the BFI Diversity Standards as a condition of funding, and awardees will also be required to comply with the BFI’s guidance and principles on bullying, harassment and racism prevention. Read more about inclusion targets, the BFI Diversity Standards, and the guidance and principles.
• UK-wide: We will assess all applications against the UK-wide principle, taking into account their impact in places across the UK, and with some programmes we will prioritise applications from outside London and the South East. We will monitor all award recipients against their UK-wide impact. Awardees delivering activity on a UK-wide basis will be required to demonstrate how they tailor delivery to the varying needs and unique policy context of each of the four nations, as well as their track record of delivery in this manner.
• Environmental sustainability: Applicants for BFI National Lottery funding will be required to outline how they will embed environmental sustainability into their funded activity as part of their application. They will also have to submit any organisational environmental policy or plans. Through the Sustainable Screen programme, the BFI will fund support for awardees to enable them to work towards having a net positive environmental impact. This support will be tailored to meet the needs of the wide range of projects the BFI supports.

We rigorously monitor delivery and the impact of our funds and programmes. This helps ensure the BFI National Lottery funding we award works as hard as possible for the public and the sector. We will do this in a number of ways:

• All programmes will set KPIs and deliverables. They will be subject to regular review of monitoring data based on these KPIs. These will be tracked on a quarterly basis, with an annual review of progress against deliverables. BFI National Lottery funded programmes will be interrogated against the principles, objectives and outcomes set out in our National Lottery strategy. They will also be assessed against the BFI’s National Lottery policy and financial directions.
• Where appropriate we will commission externally conducted evaluations. These will be bolstered by periodic reviews of the funds at key stages of their delivery, which we will coordinate.