The 10 titles that were the biggest recipients of distribution funding from the British Film Institute (BFI) received a total of £664,875 from the organisation’s Audience Projects Fund.
Six out of the 10 titles listed are documentaries.
The Audience Projects Fund made its first funding awards in April 2023 when the BFI’s 10-year revised National Lottery funding strategy Screen Culture 2033 launched. This replaces the BFI Audience Fund which closed in line with the end of the BFI2022 strategy.
The fund has £15m available over the three years. According to a statement from the BFI, the fund is designed “to be flexible and broad in terms of the audience facing activity it can support, funding one off or multi-year projects which will run until March 2026.
“Recognising the importance of long-term stability for the exhibition sector and enabling long-term and strategic audience development interventions to attract and retain new audiences, this year the Fund has so far supported venues, festival, specialist projects, audience development organisations, as well as funding to distributors to support theatrical releases.”
The BFI also emphasises: “Markers of success are not wholly routed in box office results, but also increasing opportunities to see the films, raising the presence of indie film in the cultural landscape, enabling new approaches to distribution and exhibition and sharing of data and learnings that the sectors can use themselves.”
1. Blue Jean, Altitude Film Distribution (£131,378)
Venice premiere Blue Jean unfolds in 1980s Newcastle, as a secondary school teacher tries to keep her lesbian identity a secret at work – a plan upended by the arrival of a new pupil at the school who is fast becoming a regular on the local queer scene. Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Rosy McEwen stars in the titular role. The drama was released on February 10, and grossed £327,482 at the UK-Ireland box office. It was supported as part of Altitude’s 2022-23 organisational award, that totals £199,064.
2. All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Altitude Film Distribution (£128,429)
Another Venice premiere in the top 10 is Laura Poitras’s Golden Lion winning documentary, that tells the story of artist and activist Nan Goldin’s personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid overdose crisis. It was released in the UK and Ireland on January 27, grossing £307,879, and supported as part of Altitude’s organisational award.
3. Talk To Me, Altitude Film Distribution (£100,000)
Australian horror and Sundance premiere Talk To Me was a summer box office success and the best performing release of this top 10, grossing £2.5m in the UK-Ireland after its July 28 release. The debut feature from YouTube favourites Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou was produced by Australian outfit Causeway Pictures. A group of Australian teenagers discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, and find themselves addicted to the thrill, until they take it too far. Sophie Wilde and Miranda Otto star. A24 – the North American distributors of Talk To Me – is working up a sequel with the sibling filmmakers, Talk 2 Me.
4. Subject, Dogwoof (£50,260)
Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera’s Tribeca documentary studies the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking, examining well-known documentaries of the past decade including The Staircase, Hoop Dreams and The Wolfpack, and revealing the impact their commercial success has had on the lives of the onscreen subjects. It totted up £13,059 at the UK-Ireland box office after its March 3 release, and was supported as part of Dogwoof’s 2022-23 organisational award, which totalled £125,000.
5. Tish, Modern Films (£46,500)
Paul Sng’s Sheffield Doc Fest opener tells the story of artist Tish Murtha, a photographer who captured images of working-class communities, and follows Tish’s daughter Ella, in her drive to preserve her mother’s legacy. After its November 17 release it is about to hit £100,000 at the UK-Ireland box office.
6. Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom, Peccadillo Pictures (£45,924)
Pawo Choyning Dorji’s debut feature follows a discontented teacher assigned to the most remote school in Bhutan, and was the first Bhutanese film to make the Oscar shortlist for international feature. It was released in the UK-Ireland on March 10, bringing in £154,283.
7. Is There Anybody Out There?, Conic Films (£42,384)
This Sundance documentary traces filmmaker and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020’s Ella Glendining’s search for someone with a body that looks like hers, and explores what it takes to love yourself fiercely as a disabled person in an ableist world. It also played at SXSW, Thessaloniki, CPH:DOX and HotDocs. The BFI support focused on a day-and-date release of the film to ensure access for disabled audiences, taking £4,092 at the box office from a seven-site November 17 release. The BFI support was also used to put on a series of events linked to the film both in cinemas and online.
8. Kokomo City, Dogwoof (£40,000)
Fellow Sundance title Kokomo City sees Black transgender sex workers tell their story to Grammy-nominated producer and singer/songwriter turned documentarian D. Smith, and won the audience and innovator awards in the Next section at Sundance before playing at the Berlinale. Master Of None star and writer Lena Waithe is an executive producer on the film, that brought in over £34,000 at the UK-Ireland box office, following its August 4 release.
8=. Queendom, Dogwoof (£40,000)
Agniia Galdanova’s debut documentary feature takes place in Russia, profiling queer Russian performance artist and activist Gena Marvin. It world premiered at SXSW ahead of playing at CPH:Dox and was released in the UK-Ireland on December 1, grossing around £17,000 to-date.
8=. Little English, Resource Productions (£40,000)
Theatre director Pravesh Kumar’s comedy unfurls around a chaotic Punjabi family in the pressure cooker life of a terraced suburban home in Slough. Simon Rivers, Rameet Raul and Seema Bowri are among the stars. After its January 1 release, it brought in £58,935 at the box office.
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