Screen Star of Tomorrow 2024 Elizabeth Rufai and The Ceremony producer Hollie Bryan are among the 15 writers, directors and producers taking part in the 11th BFI Network@LFF professional development programme.
Rufai won a Bafta for her National Film and Television School graduate short film, Jellyfish And Lobster, which is currently being developed into a feature, with backing from BBC Film. She runs Carbon Pictures alongside her sister, Abiola Rufai-Awojide, with a slate that takes influence from their UK-Nigerian heritage.
Bryan’s debut feature as producer The Ceremony won the inaugural £50,000 Sean Connery prize for filmmaking excellence at this summer’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film’s director, Jack King, is an alumnus of the BFI Network@LFF programme. Bryan has also worked as an associate producer on Ken Loach’s The Old Oak.
Also in the line-up is Manchester-based science teacher Liam White, whose short, Punch-Drunk, is being developed into a feature by Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding producer Escape Plan.
Charlie Dennis is a writer-director from the West Midlands. His dystopian short film Silent World, starring and co-written by deaf rapper SignKid and produced through Lowkey Films with support from the BBC, is being developed into a TV series.
The annual programme runs as part of the BFI London Film Festival and takes place from October 10-14, including masterclasses, screenings and networking with industry professionals.
For the first time, the programme includes a focused documentary strand, in response to the increasing number of documentary-hybrid filmmakers. BFI Network – the arm of the BFI that supports early-career filmmakers, has partnered with Doc Society, the BFI’s delegate partner for independent UK documentary filmmaking, for this year’s event. They have collaborated on outreach to applicants, shortlisting and the shape of the programme. Filmmakers with a focus on documentary in this year’s cohort include Julia Alcamo, who has directed and shot short films for Channel 4, Al Jazeera and National Geographic.
“Selected from almost 500 applications, the brilliant BFI Network@LFF 2024 cohort have been selected for their talent, their ambition and the potential they demonstrated in their applications and previous work,” said Alice Cabañas, head of BFI Network, with filmmakers chosen based on their short form work to-date and debut features in development. “We feel confident they will continue BFI Network@LFF’s track record of supporting some of the UK’s most exciting filmmakers as they move onwards through the industry and through their careers.”
The BFI Network@LFF alumni includes Sandhya Suri, whose narrative debut Santosh premiered at Cannes and has just been announced as the UK entry for best international film at the 2025 Oscars; Luna Carmoon, writer/director of Venice Critics’ Week prize winner Hoard; and Helen Simmons, producer of Hoard, whose latest film Last Swim is screening at the BFI London Festival after its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
BFI Network@LFF 2024 cohort
- Adam Knopf – producer
- Akaash Meeda – writer-director
- Akwasi Poku – writer-director
- Amelia Sears – writer-director
- Callum Harrison – producer
- Cassiah Joski-Jethi – writer-director
- Charlie Dennis – writer-director
- Charlotte Hailstone – producer
- Elizabeth Rufai – producer
- Hollie Bryan – producer
- Julia Alcamo – director
- Liam White – writer-director
- Noemie Nakai – writer-director
- Onyeka Igwe – director
- Sam Dawe – writer-director
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