At the 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (7-18 October), the Works-in-Progress Showcase will present eight new fiction features and documentaries by filmmakers based in the UK and Ireland at Picturehouse Central, as part of the Industry Forum on Friday 9 October. The showcase features screenings of exclusive extracts from each project, with introductions by their filmmakers to an invited audience of international buyers, UK sales agents, distributors and festival programmers, reflecting the increasing international reach of the festival. The showcase will be followed by round-table meetings and networking for the filmmakers and invited industry guests. Immediately after the event, an online package will also be made available online for one week via a secure platform – this will be open to a wider pool of invited international industry professionals.

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This is a key part of the festival’s UK Talent Days, in partnership with the British Council, which connects major international industry professionals with UK creative talent and emerging professionals from across the screen sectors to support the development of new and upcoming British films, and to create opportunities for investment and partnership. The UK Talent Days also sees the return of the annual Buyers and Sellers event, offering a platform for international sales agents and UK distributors to meet, while BFI NETWORK@LFF will again welcome 15 new UK-based writers, directors and producers to participate in master classes, screenings and events involving leading industry professionals. It will also host the Writers' Roundtables, fostering professional meetings between emerging screenwriters and UK and international producers, and providing a number of networking opportunities for British filmmakers. The UK Talent Days are backed by the BFI Industry supporters: Amazon MGM Studios, Apple TV, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros Discovery.

Going back once more to the Works-in-Progress Showcase, this event continues to support selected projects breaking into the market, and seeking domestic and international audiences. From last year’s showcase, Beatrice Gibson’s At Night world-premiered at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival, in the Filmmakers of the Present competition, where Gibson was also awarded Best Emerging Director. Simon Ryninks’ Out There world-premiered in competition at the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival and was one of the ten movies in the running for the gathering’s Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. Finally, Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak’s Birds of War world-premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, where it received the Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact, with Dogwoof picking up sales and distribution rights.

Here is the full list of projects taking part this year:

Switch (fiction)
Director/screenwriter: Taisia Deeva
Producers: Helge Sasse, Nik Bower, Wolfgang Boss

Mid Wif (documentary)
Director/screenwriter: Mia Harvey
Producers: Natasha Dack, Mia Harvey

Landlines (fiction)
Director/screenwriter: Tristan Heanue
Producers: Peadar King, Collie McCarthy, Diarmuid Hughes, Claire McCabe

Echolalic (fiction)
Director: Peter Mackie Burns
Screenwriters: Ben Hogan, Colin Elves
Producers: Helen Simmons, Stephanie Aspin, Chloe Culpin

40 Years of Silence (documentary)
Director/screenwriter: Maythem Ridha
Producers: Maythem Ridha, Mostafa Nagy, Andreas Rocksén

The Last Picture Shop (documentary)
Director: Liam Saint-Pierre
Producer: Nan Davies

Gol-e Sorkh (hybrid)
Director/screenwriter: Maryam Tafakory
Producers: Emma Norton, Andrea Queralt, Maryam Tafakory

Leopard Spots (fiction)
Director/screenwriter: Joshua Trigg
Producers: Toby Cameron, Aiko Flores Yoshioka, Ruth Yoshie Linton