The BFI Future Film Festival is the UK’s largest festival for young, emerging filmmakers. The festival runs across four days in February, with events and screenings taking place both online and in-venue at the BFI Southbank, all of which are focused on helping talented young filmmakers aged 16 to 25 to break into the film and screen industries.
17th – 20th February 2022
The BFI have announced a short film programme for the 15th BFI Future Film Festival. All films will be shown at the BFI Southbank during the festival and available on BFI Player for free from today until Thursday 3rd March 2022.
Whether you’ve shot footage on a smartphone, already have a couple of short films under your belt, or aspire to have a career creating screen content, BFI Future Film is the festival for you.
The festival programme has been carefully curated to help you:
- Develop your storytelling and filmmaking skills
- Explore your filmmaking style and different genres
- Understand career pathways in the screen industry
- Find career and training opportunities
- Consider what next steps to take
- Network and find your community
- Get to know the work of other young filmmakers
- Feel inspired to make your own projects!
Industry events:
Each day the festival will host a number of events focused on a specific area of film and the screen industries. There will be panel discussions with industry experts, masterclasses, workshops, discussions, keynotes and interviews. This year will also see the return of the marketplace, a trade show where attendees can interact with and learn about companies and learning institutions from across the industry.
The online programme is completely free and accessible outside the UK allowing the BFI to reach a worldwide audience for those events.
Films:
There will be a full programme of 50 short films made by filmmakers aged 16 to 25. Check out the full film programme here.
Films include:
Fart Car
A young man who is grieving his father, tells us the story of an eventful night where he kissed a boy for the first time. Haunted by the memory of his death, he tries his best to keep his mind, and ours, on something else for as long as he can, until a fateful encounter late at night.
COCOABEAN
A poetic, visual-narrative short embracing the nature of what it means to be of Black, Asian & minority ethnic origin, whilst questioning the validity of the umbrella term: BAME
Hot Spots:
Hear directly from established screen professionals about their careers and tips to break into the industry.
Speakers include:
- Rebecca Hall, an acclaimed British-American actress and filmmaker whose career encompasses the multiplex, the art house cinema, and the world’s most respected theaters.
- Nida Manzoor, a screenwriter and director best known for Channel 4 comedy show We Are Lady Parts for which she was awarded the 2021 Rose d’Or Emerging Talent Award. She directed episodes of Doctor Who and the first series of BBC comedy Enterprice. She is currently working on her first feature film with Working Title and Focus features.
- Romola Garai, actor, writer and director whose work as an actress spans a 20 year career in which she has worked with many of our most prominent directors and been nominated for numerous awards
- Craig Roberts, BAFTA-wining and BIFA-nominated actor and director, will make an exciting appearance at the BFI Future Film Festival for an exclusive Hot Spot interview, where he will discuss his diverse career and latest project: the newly-launched entertainment industry talent platform, FILMD.
- Callum Scott Howells, graduated from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and was recently seen as fan favourite Colin in Russel T. Davies’ multi-award-winning Channel 4/HBO Max drama It’s A Sin.
Other events:
Join the festival for keynotes, quizzes, exclusive online events and more, including:
Marketplace
Thursday 17 February, from 12pm to 3pm at the BFI Southbank. Network, and interact with key industry institutions.
Keynotes
In-venue at the BFI Southbank, Keynote address on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning from an established filmmaker working in the industry.
The Movie Quiz
A fun and interactive quiz that will test our audiences’ film knowledge with the chance to win prizes and bragging rights. 15:00 – 16:00 Sunday 20 February.
Festival awards ceremony
On 20 February at 4:30 pm the BFI will reveal prize winners, supported by Netflix.
Networking drinks
Your chance to discuss the day’s events and meet fellow film lovers.
Awards:
This year’s BFI Future Film Festival awards ceremony will present prizes in 10 categories on Sunday 20th February. These prizes are judged by industry representatives, including a high-profile jury who choose the Best Film, Best Director, and Best New Talent awards. Stay tuned for more information on the film nominations and our jury.
For more information, click here.
