Heading into Cannes, where it has four films in official selection (Bird in Competition and September Says, Santosh and On Becoming A Guinea Fowl in Un Certain Regard) and three projects participating in the Great 8 showcase (The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford, On Falling and The Salt Path), BBC Film has unveiled further details about its upcoming slate.
Among new projects in advanced development is Remi Weekes’ follow-up to His House, which is being produced by Tanya Segatchian and John Woodward’s Bright Star. Details for the untitled feature are being kept under wraps but BBC Film director Eva Yates told Screen: “It’s not a horror.”
Also in advanced development is Raine Allen-Miller’s second feature after Rye Lane, a south London-set heist comedy that she has also written (unlike the script for her debut, which was penned by Tom Melia and Nathan Byron). Details are also under wraps; Damian Jones is reteaming with Allen-Miller as the project’s producer.
After partnering with BBC Film on her 2021 feature directing debut Here Before starring Andrea Riseborough, Northern Irish writer/director Stacey Gregg is developing Superbabe with the UK funder and Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company SunnyMarch. The film is based on Louise Brown’s book My Life As The World’s First Test-tube Baby, about her experiences as the first child ever born through science rather than two people having sex.
Several debut features are also in the works. Already announced are Blue Story producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s Dreamers produced by Emily Morgan which is in post; Harry Lighton’s Pillion starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling; and actor Harris Dickinson’s untitled debut as a writer/director.
Other debuts on the slate include Stroma Cairns’ Never Seen The Sea, described as “a highly personal story” of two young men growing up without father figures that will shoot in Scotland this year with Imogen West and Kelly Peck producing, and Akinola Davies’ long-awaited first film which is being produced by Rachel Dargavel for Element Pictures. BBC Film previously backed Davies’ Sundance-winning 2020 short Lizard.
Yates discussed the upcoming slate in her first solo interview since being promoted to director of BBC Film in May 2022. In a wide-ranging interview that will be published in the May issue of Screen International, she highlighted one of her key priorities being to support filmmakers as they progress from their debut features to their second and third films.
As well as backing Weekes, Allen-Miller and Gregg on their second films, BBC Film is in active development on the follow-up features of Charlotte Regan (Scrapper); Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean); Aleem Khan (After Love); Thomas Hardiman (Medusa Deluxe); Sam H Freeman (Femme); and Mahalia Belo (The End We Start From).
“As a team we all feel strongly that we don’t want to drop people out in the world and then for them not to know where to go next,” Yates said.
The full interview will be published on Screendaily.com ahead of the Cannes Film Festival.
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