The BFI London Film Festival is to introduce a new works-in-progress showcase and has selected seven projects for the inaugural edition.
Scroll down for full list of projects
The platform will form part of the LFF’s industry programme and will introduce upcoming UK films, TV series, and immersive projects to international buyers and festival programmers. The first edition will take place entirely online on October 9 and is intended to become an annual event.
Clips will be screened from each of the selected projects – which are all in production, post-production, or near completion – followed by a short Q&A with the director and/or the producer. Access will be by invitation only via a secure platform with two repeat screenings to accommodate international time zones.
The projects include Here Before, starring Andrea Riseborough, which marks the feature debut of UK writer-director Stacey Gregg and is produced by Rooks Nest (The Witch). Bankside Films previously acquired worldwide sales to the psychological thriller, which is backed by BBC Films, Pia Pressure, and Northern Ireland Screen.
Also set to be showcased is The Score, a heist musical starring Johnny Flynn, Naomi Ackie, and Will Poulter, which is the feature debut of writer-director Malachi Smyth. Produced by Stigma Films (Yesterday) and Sentinel Entertainment, it is co-produced by Pont Neuf. WestEnd Films is handling world sales. Shooting recently resumed on the production.
Bankside also handles sales for Welsh-language horror The Feast, which has also been selected for the works-in-progress platform. It marks the feature directorial debut of Lee Haven Jones, better known for his work in television on series including Doctor Who and The Indian Doctor, for which he won the BAFTA Cymru best director award. His first short, Want It, premiered at BFI Flare in 2015 and played at festivals worldwide.
Documentaries in the line-up include Ewen Spencer’s 8 Bar, centred on the UK grime music scene, and Alice Russell’s If The Streets Were On Fire, in which two young men attempt to avoid the pitfalls of street crime by joining a community of bikers.
Another debut feature is Sweetheart from writer-director Marley Morrison, which is the final title from the latest Film London Microwave slate, supported by the BFI and BBC Films.
Rounding out the selection is the Untitled Baff Akoto Project, the second in a trilogy from the experimental artist and Screen Star of Tomorrow. The film follows Leave the Edges, which is showing in the Experimenta strand of the LFF and the trilogy is contextualised by the current civil rights movement, characterised by Black Lives Matter.
The 64th LFF will run from October 7-18 as a hybrid edition of physical and online screenings.
LFF works in progress 2020
8 Bar (working title)
Dir. Ewen Spencer
Prods. Aleksandra Bilic, Jamie Clark, David Upshal
The Feast
Dir. Lee-Haven Jones
Prod. Roger Williams
Here Before
Dir. Stacey Gregg
Prod. Sophie Vickers, Julia Godzinskaya
If The Streets Were On Fire
Dir. Alice Russell
Prod. Gannesh Rajah
The Score
Dir. Malachi Smyth
Prods. Matthew James Wilkinson, Ben Pullen, co-pro Isabelle Georgeaux
Sweetheart
Dir. Marley Morrison
Prod. Michelle Antoniades
Untitled Baff Akoto Project
Dir. Baff Akoto
Prods. L-A Appiah, Baff Akoto
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