The fifth edition of the BFI London Film Festival in Partnership with American Express Works-in-Progress Showcase will present nine new UK feature films and documentaries at Picturehouse Central on Saturday 12 October, including 4 Scottish projects.
The selection of these films still in production or post-production offers an opportunity to discover fiction and documentary features from emerging directors at their debut or second feature stage as well as more established filmmakers.
This showcase is a key part of the Festival’s UK Talent Days, in partnership with the British Council, a weekend of events and activities designed to spotlight the diversity of UK talent and to foster international networking and business opportunities for filmmakers and companies supporting the films.
The showcase event screens exclusive extracts from each project introduced by their filmmakers to an invited audience of international buyers as well as UK sales agents and festival programmers, reflecting the increasing international reach of the Festival followed by a networking event with the filmmakers and invited industry guests.
The projects are either in production or post-production. The online package will also be available online for one week from 12 October via a secure platform to a wider pool of invited international industry professionals.
The Works-in-Progress showcase continues to support featured projects break into the market for domestic and international audiences. From last year’s showcase, Jack King’s The Ceremony premiered at last month’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, winning the Sean Connery award, and Mark Warmington’s Harder Than the Rock premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest and will be released this October.
BFI London Film Festival Director, Kristy Matheson said: “The BFI London Film Festival Works-in-Progress showcase offers an energising forum for creative discovery and connecting filmmakers with sales agents, distributors and festival programmers. We are delighted to welcome each of the filmmaking teams to the festival and thank them for generously sharing these exciting projects with UK and international colleagues.”
The in-person showcase will take place on Saturday 12 October as part of the Festival’s UK Talent Days focus to support and promote UK talent. Working in partnership with the British Council, the LFF will provide a series of opportunities for UK talent from across the screen sectors to network and meet with invited international buyers, commissioners, producers and programmers.
In addition, the annual Buyers & Sellers event returns as an in-person fixture at which international sales agents can meet with UK buyers, and NETWORK@LFF will host masterclasses and events for 15 trailblazing UK based writers, directors and producers to learn from leading international filmmakers and industry executives at the Festival.
The LFF 2024 Showcase Works-in-Progress projects include:
DON’T SAY GAY
Documentary
Director: Sarah Elizabeth Drummond
Producers: Reece Cargan, Karen O’Hare
Don’t Say Gay tells the story of the rapid unravelling of progressive LGBTQ+ rights in 1980s Britain and the introduction of the homophobic law, Section 28 where gay people were erased.
The story is told by activists who united to stage mass protests and outrageous acts of civil disobedience, challenging the Government on the first law to roll back gay rights in over 100 years. For the first time, we hear the stories of the Section 28 generation who grew up under a state sponsored silence and the experience of the Director, a generation of children and teachers who share stories of anger and shame. In recent years with eerily similar laws being brought in across the globe, we ask, will Section 28 happen again in the UK?
EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET
Documentary
Director: Felipe Bustos Sierra
Producer: Ciara Barry
Supported by Screen Scotland.
An immigration 'dawn raid' in Glasgow's most diverse community triggers a chain reaction through Kenmure Street, as neighbours rush to prevent the deportation of two residents. Broadcast live and going viral on social media, the eight-hour stand-off lets the world watch as a police force struggles to contain a peaceful crowd, then exacerbates an explosive situation. Centuries of unhappy endings and systemic violence have not prepared the crowd for their peaceful efforts to pay off and yet it all ends on one of the most joyful notes you’ll get to see.
NIGHT GARDENER
Documentary
Director: Daniel Gough
Producers: Anne Milne, Sonja Henrici, Dewi Gregory.
This is a tale of broken hearts, focusing on a young filmmaker's complex relationship with his father, an ICU doctor. As a boy, Dan was haunted by his father's story of a man's suicide by a knife through his heart.
Years later, hoping to reconnect and capture this haunting tale, he visits his estranged father in a dilapidated cottage. The request to revisit the story abruptly ends their meeting – their final encounter before his father's mental breakdown, institutionalisation, and death.
Mystified by questions surrounding his father's fate, Dan faces family resistance as he digs deeper. He becomes obsessed, compulsively drawing and animating memories, fairy tales, and stories, desperately seeking meaning in his father's words. His quest expands to explore the broader struggles of doctors and the crumbling healthcare system. Dealing with his father's legacy, Dan fears their similarities yet yearns to forge his own path. Through his journey, he discovers stories' power to both wound and heal.
SPILT MILK
Fiction
Director: Brian Durnin
Producers: Laura McNicholas, James Heath
Supported by Screen Ireland (Dublin), Coimisun na Mean, RTE and Screen Scotland.
Set in Dublin in 1984 Spilt Milk follows 11-year-old Bobby O’Brien who dreams of becoming a great detective like his TV hero Kojak. Bobby sets up a private investigation enterprise with his best friend Nell Casey and the disappearance of his older brother sets them off on a quest to find him...
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Image credits
Header image: Still from Spilt Milk