09/05/2025 - The fourteen awarded titles, which include Hard Truths and The Thing with Feathers, aim to strengthen UK cinema’s presence across global territories and markets

The British Film Institute (BFI) has recently announced fourteen new awards through its UK Global Screen Fund, designed to increase the visibility and reach of UK feature films on the global stage, while also strengthening their international sales potential through strategic promotion and new cross-border partnerships.

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the latest round has allocated £448,330 through the International Distribution strand, which, to date, has given out 111 awards for a total of over £3.1 million. The funding is available to UK sales agents and producers via two rolling-application tracks: Prints and Advertising (P&A) Support and Festival Launch Support. Recent updates to the P&A track, which follow a demand from the industry, include a new single-territory application option for animation and documentary features, and expanded eligibility that now includes the UK and Ireland within international territory groupings.

The Prints & Advertising (P&A) Support track is backing Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by contributing towards the film’s enhanced theatrical release across a grouping of five territories, with the aim of increasing audiences across the grouping, box office and financial returns for UK rights holders. Produced by Georgina Lowe, the film’s award has been granted to Cornerstone Films. Also supported is The Penguin Lessons, directed by Peter Cattaneo, which is receiving funding for its theatrical rollout across ten international territories. In this case, the award was secured by Rocket Science Industries. The film had its world premiere among Toronto’s Galas section last year and is produced by Rory Aitken, Ben Pugh, Andy Noble and Adrián Guerra.

The other two films that have been backed with The Prints & Advertising (P&A) Support track are: The Salt Path, Marianne Elliott’s feature directorial debut starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson and last year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sensation To a Land Unknown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahdi Fleifel
film profile] (UK/Greece/Netherlands/France/Germany/Qatar/Palestine), directed by Mahdi Fleifel.

On the other hand, the Festival Launch Support track has endorsed a total of ten projects. Among them: Sundance’s title Brides [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadia Fall
film profile], Nadia Fall’s feature debut that follows two teenage girls who run away from their troubled lives with a misguided plan of traveling to Syria, and Dreamers [+see also:
film review
film profile], directed and penned by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, which was shown during the  last Berlinale in the Panorama section.

Other winners of the section are Khartoum [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad, Tim…
film profile] (Sudan/UK/Germany/Qatar), directed by Phil Cox, Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy and Timeea Ahmed, which premiered at Sundance, Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson’s Holloway [+see also:
film review
film profile], in competition for Best International Feature at Hot Docs, Surviving Earth [+see also:
film review
interview: Thea Gajić, Slavko Sobin
film profile], written and directed by Thea Gajić and world premiered at SXSW, and the psychological horror The Thing with Feathers [+see also:
film review
film profile], written and directed by Dylan Southern, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role, premiered at Sundance at the Berlinale. Finally, Charlie Shackleton’s Zodiac Killer Project [+see also:
film review
film profile], Grace Hughes-Hallet’s The Secret of Me, Bryn Chainey’s Rabbit Trap [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Vladimir de Fontenay’s Sukkwan Island [+see also:
film review
film profile] complete the list.

“This latest round of international distribution awards has helped increase the promotion of a fantastic range of UK feature films, already achieving significant international success on the film festival circuit,” said Denitsa Yordanova, BFI Head of UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds. “We are excited to see these titles reaching new audiences worldwide and so proud to support our exceptional independent screen sector to continue competing in the international marketplace”, she added.

Meanwhile, applications for International Business Development funding are currently open, with a deadline of 19 June. The International Co-production fund will re-open in September 2025.