Why the industry wants a revamped London Screenings with new dates and fresh focus

The cancellation of the annual London Screenings event has been met with calls from UK sales agents and international buyers for a revamped UK market, shifted out of the post-Cannes graveyard slot in June, and with less of a focus on screening completed films. Organised by Film London, the only export market dedicated to UK film ran for 21 years, with 2025 marking its final edition after the withdrawal of funding from the British Film Institute’s (BFI) UK Focus Fund. Around 45 UK sellers and 120 buyers were in attendance.  

“It’s embarrassing,” says Bankside Films managing director Stephen Kelliher. “The fact we can’t seem to organise ourselves to present an event that everyone can get behind and feel confident in isn’t great.”  

“If we’re to remain competitive, and also culturally, we should have an event that equates to what happens in Italy [Rome’s MIA] and France [Unifrance’s Rendez-vous], even more so now that we’re not part of [the EU],” adds Grace Carley, chief executive of sales agent trade body Film Export UK.  

“We are the only major European territory now that doesn’t have a local screenings [event],” adds Reason8 co-founder Anna Krupnova.  

Issues around a lack of resources at the former event were clear. Buyers’ flights were not covered, which ruled out widespread North American attendance, and there had been a drop in standards at the networking events.

Many sales agents felt a sense of prestige was lost after the event moved from the BFI Southbank to Picturehouse Central in 2019.  

One seller said with costs including accreditation and hosting social events for buyers in lieu of official gatherings, attendance would set them back around $2,700 (£2,000). Some agents also expressed frustration, in recent years, even if the calibre of distribution companies remained high, many were choosing to send junior executives.  

For the past few editions, the BFI contributed $110,000 (£80,000) per edition, with a similar figure from the Greater London Authority, as well as some support from the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade and private income. The BFI is currently undertaking a consultation around the future of the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), including how it could better support sales agents and declined to comment for this piece.

UKGSF’s revised 2026-29 strategy, which comes with $25m (£18m) funding per year (up from $10m/£7m), will be announced in the coming months.It is understood sales agents are also rallying for a minimum guarantee fund as part of the revised UKGSF.  

Carley notes that, while the enhanced UKGSF funding is welcome, Unifrance’s budget for cinema promotion alone is $19m (€16m) per year, while UKGSF must spread its pot across several different facets of film, TV and games.  

UK sales agents insist a formal London meet-up is vital, not just to secure deals, but to have facetime with international buyers outside of the hectic markets. “You turn up in Berlin or Cannes or AFM [American Film Market] and there are hundreds of companies,” says Kelliher. “To have that spotlight on British companies and primarily British films is very important, and not least because our closest competitors do it, and do it extremely well.” 

An event focused on screening finished films, agree sales agents, feels outdated in an era of online viewing links. There is a need, however, for a UK market that can encompass pre-sale conversations and work-in-progress screenings.

When exactly it should run is trickier to identify.  

“Coming straight after Cannes, there is often little new product to show, making it strategically less impactful than early-year events like Paris Rendez-vous or Munich Screenings, which better showcase what’s ahead,” says Shane Kelly, SVP, international sales & acquisitions at Mister Smith Entertainment. 

“It should be closer to [the BFI] London Film Festival,” suggests Blue Finch Films managing director Mike Chapman. “There are films playing there that are actively being sold, maybe films that played at Toronto and sold to North America and are looking for European partners.” But others disagree. “London Film Festival is not a festival for international buyers,” says Film Seekers managing director Caroline Couret-Delegue.  

Distributors already travel extensively for autumn festivals, and Rome’s MIA in October is becoming increasingly popular. AFM in November is also just around the corner (although, as Chapman points out, “a lot of European buyers don’t attend AFM”). From this year, there is also the option of a more intensive Toronto market in September.  

A pre-Cannes April event has the most support from UK sellers. “April would allow us to invite key buyers — the actual ones that buy, not the ones that come for the fun of being in London — and give them a preview of what’s to come in Cannes,” says Couret-Delegue. “They’ll get a first shot of projects in Cannes, before anyone else does, and that’s valuable.”  

International buyers 

A Unifrance-style ‘rendez-vous’ in April, a month before Cannes, has the backing of some international distributors who previously attended London Screenings. Other suggestions from buyers include a London screening event tied to one of the big TV markets, or a travelling showcase taking place in a different UK city each year. 

“Timing is crucial,” says Tobias Seiffert, head of international acquisitions and co-productions at Germany’s Tobis. June, he says, was never the best month to hold London Screenings because the most high-profile new UK projects had already been vetted at Cannes’ Marché du Film.  

Seiffert suggests a screening event could be combined with a prominent UK festival. “It could be Edinburgh [August], London [October] or Glasgow [early March],” he says. “Or combine it with other events like [December’s TV development market] Content London?” 

Seiffert is less interested in work-in-progress screenings. Tobis, which had a box-office hit in Germany with UK title The Penguin Lessons and has Richard Eyre’s The Housekeeper on its release slate, tends to pre-buy at script stage or wait to see the finished film. “There is always a reason why a film is not going as a pre-buy. Why then look at a work in progress?” he says. 

Mar Abadin, head of acquisitions at Barcelona’s Twelve Oaks Pictures, whose slate includes Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day by Tina Gharavi, attended the London Screenings regularly. She is clear about what she wants from a refreshed event: titles to screen. “That’s what the business is, we buy films,” she says. “We’re not travelling for fun.”  

Although Abadin enjoyed the “relaxed” opportunity to evaluate films before the summer break, she points out the London event was not cheap. “The Italian screenings and German screenings [events] pay for everything,” she says. “They are not the biggest markets for us, nor the best films, but you compensate because at least you’re not spending too much.”  

Paris, she adds, is also expensive but the selection at Unifrance’s Rendez-­vous with French Cinema in January is fresh and robust enough to make the trip worthwhile. “I bought two films there [this year],” she says. “I can probably buy another one.” 

Similar sentiments about any potential future event are expressed by Corinne Rossi, CEO of Swiss distributor Praesens, which has bought UK indie titles such as Kirk Jones’ I Swear and Harry Lighton’s Pillion. She wants an event to offer something new to attendees: “It’s always good if sales agents are capable of announcing new projects.” Without new titles, she adds, buyers are left with a “catch-up event”. 

“You get the feeling it’s the second row in choice of the movies you see there,” agrees David Marsh of Munich’s Finding Films, judging the titles on offer at the former London Screenings. However, he also believes smaller, more relaxed events offer the “huge advantage” of giving time to connect with sales agents. “Maybe to bond with them a little more. And with fellow distributors.” 

Building relationships

For his part, Gianluca Chakra, CEO of Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment, was an admirer of London Screenings. “It was one of the rare moments where the independent ecosystem came together in a focused, human way. Relationships were built there and not just deals,” he says.  

Chakra calls for an expanded UK event that would keep the human factor while facilitating co­production: “A UK-led platform bringing together producers, sales companies and international distributors around co-finance and development could be powerful.” 

Easy access in terms of location is a key requirement for time-pressed executives, and a major reason why most who spoke to Screen International prefer a London location.  

Everyone acknowledges finding a new date would be hard but Stefano Massenzi, head of acquisitions at Italy’s Lucky Red, pinpoints early April as an ideal window. “The French are going one month prior to Berlin [with the Rendez-vous]. Why not go one month prior to Cannes?” he says. 

Most distributors agree the UK is too important a market not to have an event of its own. “Without a clear UK showcase moment,” says Chakra, “films risk falling between major markets, and the industry loses a vital connective tissue.” 

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