The 10 biggest recipients of production funding from the British Film Institute (BFI) received a total of £7.88m in support in the first half of 2022 from National Lottery funding.
The biggest single recipient was Janis Pugh’s debut feature Chuck Chuck Baby, a musical drama set in a chicken factory in industrial north Wales, which received £1.15m. This was followed by Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre, which has been awarded £1.04m, and Naqqash Khalid’s In Camera, with £985,000 from the fund.
Scroll down for the full top 10
The BFI has also supported several titles this year through National Lottery funding via its Development Fund, which is accessible at multiple stages of a project’s early life cycle, supporting work on treatments through to production-ready screenplays, as well as late-stage development funding. The fund has an average spend of around £1.5m annually. Projects backed in the first six months of this year include Freaks, which received £22,750 for Archery Pictures; Noonday which was allocated £27,500 from the fund for Lunapark Pictures; and Beak, which received £8,500 for Quark Films.
Top 10 BFI Production awards – Jan-June 2022
1. Chuck Chuck Baby, Artemisia Films, Chuck Chuck Baby (£1.15m)
Pugh’s musical drama takes place in the present day and is set to existing songs from the 1960s and 70s. Louise Brealey plays Helen, a woman stuck in a rut, working in the local chicken factory and living with her former mother-in-law, ex-husband, his new girlfriend and their baby. Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn also star.
Anne Beresford and Andrew Gillman are producing through Artemisia Films, alongside Adam Partridge of Delta Pictures and Peggy Cafferty of Play House Studios. It is funded by the BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales, both awarding National Lottery funding, and BBC Film. It was developed by Ffilm Cymru Wales, the BFI and Artemisia Films.
2. Starve Acre, House Starve Acre (£1.04m)
This horror film is the second feature from Apostasy director Daniel Kokotajlo, and stars Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark. It is based on Andrew Michael Hurley’s 2019 novel of the same name. Set in 1970s rural England, it centres on an archaeologist and his partner who unwittingly allow dark and sinister forces into their remote family home.
It was developed and backed by BBC Film, and backed by Access Entertainment and the BFI. Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell are producing for House Productions, alongside Emma Duffy. Cornerstone Films handles sales.
3. In Camera, Pretty Bird and In Camera Films (£985,000)
Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020 Naqqash Khalid has described his debut feature In Camera as “a fairytale about ambition, performance and identity”. It is set in Manchester and follows an actor navigating the film and TV industry. It is produced by Juliette Larthe and was developed as part of the 2019/20 iFeatures scheme, backed by BBC Films, the BFI and Creative England.
4. Stopmotion, M.I.H.K. (£905,000)
Robert Morgan’s debut feature is a psychological horror, starring Screen Star of Tomorrow 2014, Aisling Franciosi. It follows a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Producers are Alain de la Mata and Christopher Granier-Deferre. Wild Bunch International is handling international sales.
5. Blue Jean, Kleio Films and Blue Jean Productions (£885,000)
Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Rosy McEwen leads the cast of Georgia Oakley’s debut feature. It is set in the north of England during the Margaret Thatcher years and follows a PE teacher forced to live a double life because of her sexuality. It is a Kleio Films production, which is backed by BBC Film and the BFI, in association with Great Point Media. Film Constellation handles sales.
6. Knockers, Dorothy St Pictures (£880,000)
Details are still under wraps for this project, produced by Dorothy St Pictures, the UK production company behind Bruce Lee documentary Be Water. The company was founded by Screen Future Leader Julia Nottingham, and the team includes director and producer Becky Read. It’s been a busy nine months for the outfit, having signed a development deal with Sky Studios for an exclusive slate of high-end series and feature documentaries, plus Chernobyl producer Sister acquired a minority stake in the company.
7. Hoard, Delaval Film and Hoard Film (£730,000)
Saura Lightfoot Leon, Joseph Quinn and Hayley Squires lead the cast of Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Luna Carmoon’s debut feature Hoard, backed by BBC Film and the BFI. It is a drama about the close bond between a mother and daughter. It is produced by Helen Simmons for Erebus Pictures, Loran Dunn of Delaval Film and Andy Starke for Anti-Worlds. Simmons and Dunn were previously named Screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2018 and 2017 respectively.
8. Low Rider, Quinn Trip Productions (£675,000)
This South African road trip feature is written and directed by Campbell X, and produced by Stella Nwimo and Rebecca Long. It is the first feature from Nwimo and Long’s new production company, Boudica Entertainment, and reunites Campbell X and Nwimo, who worked together on Campbell X’s debut feature, Stud Life.
9. The Old Oak, Sixteen Films (£400,000)
The drama marks the return of director Ken Loach to the north east of England, where he shot I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You. It centres around a pub landlord in a village – once a thriving mining community – where a group of Syrian refugees are unexpectedly homed. It is produced by Rebecca O’Brien’s UK outfit Sixteen Films with France’s Why Not Productions, and backed by the BFI, BBC Film, and is a co-production with Paris-based Les Films du Fleuve. Wild Bunch International is handling sales, and Studiocanal UK will distribute in the UK and Ireland.
10. On The Morning You Wake (To The End Of The World), 38 minutes (£240,000)
This three-part virtual reality documentary explores nuclear threat. The first chapter, ‘Take Cover’, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and focuses on the first-hand experiences of people in Hawai’i, who confronted the threat of nuclear annihilation when a false missile alert was sent in January 2018. The second chapter, ‘The Doomsday Machine’ and the third chapter, ‘Kuleana’, aim to take a deeper look at the threat of nuclear risk, and premiered at SXSW.
It is created by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison of UK production studio Archer’s Mark and Pierre Zandrowicz and Arnaud Colinart of French immersive production studio Atlas V, and produced by Colinart, Jo-Jo Ellison, Brett and Jamison.
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