Screen spotlights 16 UK titles that look set to grab the attention of festival directors in 2024, including new projects from Andrea Arnold, Mike Leigh, Rungano Nyoni and Asif Kapadia, plus a selection of buzzy fiction feature debuts from the likes of Lucy Cohen, Daisy-May Hudson, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Sandhya Suri.
Bird
Dir. Andrea Arnold
Arnold’s latest is a strong contender for Cannes, given her track record at the festival. She was awarded the Cannes Jury prize for Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey, and her documentary Cow also premiered at Cannes in 2021. Bird stars Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski and filmed in the UK around the Kent area. As with her previous work, it is an examination of life in the fringes of society. BBC Film, BFI, Pinky Promise, FirstGen and Access are among the key financiers.
Contact: Cornerstone
Edge Of Summer
Dir. Lucy Cohen
Documentarian Cohen’s fiction feature debut, previously known as Knockers, follows an 11-year-old girl whose summer trip to Cornwall with her mum takes a dark turn after meeting a local boy. Cast includes Joel Sefton-longi, Flora Hylton, Skyer Dennett, Josie Walker and Nichola Burley. Julia Nottingham and Ariadne Kotsaki produce for Dorothy Street Pictures, with backing from BBC Film and the BFI. Edge Of Summer took part last year in Great8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors organised by BFI and British Council.
Contact: Dorothy Street Pictures
Harvest
Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari
Ken Loach and Rebecca O’Brien’s production outfit Sixteen Films is no stranger to Cannes, most recently playing in competition in 2023 with Loach’s 15th directorial outing, The Old Oak. The French festival therefore seems a natural home for the company’s latest film, the Scotland-shot western Harvest. It is adapted from Jim Crace’s book about a late-medieval villageand directed by Greek Chevalier filmmaker Tsangari. Over seven hallucinatory days, a place with no name vanishes. Caleb Landry Jones stars in the film which is a co-production with New York-based outfit Louverture Films.
Contact: The Match Factory
Hamlet
Dir. Aneil Karia
Filming wrapped in December on this modern-day take on Shakespeare’s tragedy, that explores race, mental health and inequality. It reunites Riz Ahmed with director Karia, after the pair collaborated on short film The Long Goodbye, that went on to win the 2022 Oscar for best live-action short. Ahmed plays the troubled prince, with Mofydd Clark as Ophelia. Ahmed and Allie Moore produce for their banner Left Handed Films, alongside Lesslie’s Storyteller Productions. James Wilson also produces.
Contact: WME Independent
Hot Milk
Dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz
She Said writer Lenkiewicz marks her directorial debut with an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel of the same name, that explores the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship, against the backdrop of Almería in Spain. Emma Mackey plays the daughter, while Fiona Shaw stars as her wheelchair-bound mother. Vicky Krieps, Vincent Perez and Patsy Ferran also star. It is produced by the UK’s Bonnie Productions in co-production with Greece’s Heretic Films, with backing from Film4.
Contact: HanWay
Last Swim
Dir. Sasha Nathwani
Nathwani’s debut feature is a day-in-the-life drama starring Deba Hekmat, Narges Rashidi and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Solly McLeod, and follows an ambitious Iranian teenager in London who has been diagnosed with a life-changing condition. It is produced by Campbell Beaton for Pablo & Zeus, Nisha Mullea, Bert Hamelinck and Sorcha Shepherd for Caviar. Caviar’s production credits include Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s War Pony, winner of the Cannes 2022 Camera d’Or. It is a first feature as a writer for Helen Simmons, producer of Luna Carmoon’s Venice prize winner Hoard.
Contact: Last Swim Film
Lollipop
Dir. Daisy-May Hudson
Buzz has been building on UK filmmaker Hudson following Halfway, a documentary chronicling her family’s experiences of living in a homeless hostel in 2013, for which she was nominated for both a Bifa and a Grierson award. Lollipop is her BFI and BBC Film-backed fiction debut and it follows a young woman who having just been released from prison struggles to regain custody of her children from the care system. When she bumps into her childhood friend, a fellow single mother struggling in the system, the two women join forces to take destiny into their own hands. It is produced by Polite Society producers Cecilia Frugiuele and Olivier Kaempfer of Parkville Pictures, and was the first major title announced by former Embankment execs Calum Gray and Max Pirkis’s Architect. Cast includes Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Posy Sterling, TerriAnn Cousins and Idil Ahmed.
Contact: Architect
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Dir. Rungano Nyoni
While not much has been revealed about Nyoni’s follow-up to her debut, I Am Not A Witch, Screen understands On Becoming A Guinea Fowl is looking ready for a festival launch this year. Nyoni has a long-standing relationship with Cannes – her debut feature bowed in Directors’ Fortnight in 2017, and prior to that, she took part in the Cannes’ Cinéfondation residence in 2013 and her short, Listen, premiered at the festival in 2014. The Zambian-Welsh filmmaker’s sophomore feature is produced by UK-Ireland outfit Element Pictures, a Fremantle label, with backing from A24 and BBC Film.
Contact: Element Pictures
On Falling
Dir. Laura Carreira
Carreira is one of Screen’s Rising Stars Scotland 2022, and her short The Shift premiered at Venice in 2020. The Portugal-born filmmaker’s debut shot in Scotland towards the end of last year and is a drama about a Portuguese worker in a distribution centre in Scotland. It is also produced by Jack Thomas-O’Brien through Cannes veteran outfit, Sixteen Films.
Contact: Sixteen Films
The Salt Path
Dir. Marianne Elliott
Acclaimed theatre director Elliott’s feature debut is based on Raynor Winn’s memoir about trekking 630 miles of UK coastline with her husband after they were forcibly removed from their home. Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the writer who also features on this list with her directorial debut Hot Milk, wrote the film adaptation. Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley of Number 9 Films produce with Shadowplay Features. The film was developed with support from BBC Film and financed by BBC Film and Lipsync. Black Bear will distribute in the UK.
Contact: Rocket Science
Santosh
Dir. Sandhya Suri
Suri, a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023, has recently wrapped shooting in India on her feature debut Santosh and it could be ready in time forr Cannes.The Hindi-language film is the narrative feature debut of the British-Hindi filmmaker, that is billed as a character-driven neo-noir, set in the hinterlands of Northern India. Zwigato and A Suitable Boy’s Shahana Goswami stars. Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher are the UK producers, alongside France’s Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex of India’s Suitable Pictures. Backers are BFI, BBC Film., ZDF/ARTE and CNC. Goodridge is becoming a amiliar face on the Croisette, with credits on Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness and 2023 competition title Club Zero.
Contact: Good Chaos
Rabbit Trap
Dir. Bryn Rhys Chainey
This 1973-set psychological horror stars Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen, and is directed by UK-Australian filmmaker Chainey. Elijah Wood is among the producers. A married pair of musicians relocate from London to an isolated cabin in Wales to complete their new record. Here, a strange child enters their lives. Bankside represents international sales, while CAA Media Finance handles the North America.
Contact: Bankside
Sister Midnight
Dir. Karan Kandhari
Kandhari’s Mumbai-set arthouse take on a love story is produced by UK companies Wellington Films and Anna Griffin’s Griffin Pictures, and coproduced by Sweden’s Filmgate Films. Backing comes from the BFI and Film4, with additional production funding from Sweden’s Film i Väst and development support from India’s Cinestaan.
Contact: Protagonist Pictures
Timestalker
Dir. Alice Lowe
Lowe’s now-completed follow-up to Venice premiere Prevenge sees her reunite with actors Kate Dickie, Dan Skinner and Mike Wozniak and producer Western Edge Pictures – the same team from her debut. The time-travelling romantic comedy is a tale of one woman’s unrequited love, played out across several centuries. It is a co-production with Popcorn Group, and funded by the BFI, Head Gear Films, Popcorn Group and Ffilm Cymru Wales. Nick Frost, Jacob Anderson, Tanya Reynolds and Lowe also star.
Contact: HanWay
Untitled Mike Leigh project
Dir. Mike Leigh
Details are scant on Leigh’s untitled next project, although it is set in London and explores family and relationships in a post-pandemic world. It has already sold widely for Cornerstone, including UK rights for StudioCanal and Bleecker Street for North America. Georgina Lowe produces, with Film4 co-financing alongside Creativity Media. Leigh’s history at Cannes includes the Palme d’Or for Secrets & Lies in 1996 and the best director prize for Naked in 1993, which also won the best actor award for David Thewlis.
Contact: Cornerstone
2073
Dir. Asif Kapadia
Kapadia returns with this drama and documentary mix set in a dystopian future. It is inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 French new wave film La Jetée, about a time traveller who risks his life in the hope of saving humanity. Kapadia and George Chignell are producing through Sheep Thief Films, with financing from Film4 and US outfits Neon and Double Agent. Kapadia previously played at Cannes in the Midnight Screenings section with 2015 Amy Winehouse doc, Amy.
Contact: Film4/Neon/Double Agent
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