The Uncertain Kingdom, the UK feature development fund, is to end after six rounds of funding.
Its November 2024 funding round will be awarded as planned in the new year, and the fund will continue to work with filmmakers on its existing slate of projects.
This slate includes The Good Ones, written by Coral Amiga and Nicole Hartley and produced by Emilie Jouffroy and Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl, about a woman reorienting herself in her mid-30s, plus dark comedy Signs Of Life, written and directed by Grand Theft Hamlet co-director Pinny Grylls and produced by Rebecca Wolff and Julia Ton, about one woman’s journey towards self-acceptance through learning sign language.
The first iteration of The Uncertain Kingdom was a £200,000 fund backing a range of short films providing a spectrum of perspectives on life in the UK in 2019, in the wake of the Brexit announcement.
In 2021, the fund pivoted to support the development of features deemed to be commercial projects unpacking UK culture and identity, with up to £60,000 awarded per round.
UK filmmaker John Jencks of Electric Shadow Company founded and self-funded the scheme, which he ran alongside a team of Pretty Red Dress producer Georgia Goggin, Electric Shadow Company’s head of development Isabel Freer and artist Myah Jeffers.
The team is in the early phase of developing a different development fund which they are hoping to launch in the new year, and are currently consulting with the industry on what shape the fund should take.
A statement from the team said: “The Uncertain Kingdom was created to capture and reflect on an era of British life. It feels to us that that era has passed, in the culture at large but also specifically in our industry. Consequently, we’re closing The Uncertain Kingdom.
“Since launching in 2018, The Uncertain Kingdom has supported over 100 filmmakers working on shorts and features. We are hugely proud of the films we have supported and of the network of filmmakers that has emerged from the fund.
“We know there continues to be an appetite for a fund that can take a risk by backing development, so we will be launching a new development fund for feature films next year.”
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