12 genre projects selected for Great Migrations lab for East and Southeast Asian filmmakers

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The Great Migrations 2026 selection

Source: MilkTea Films

The Great Migrations 2026 selection

EXCLUSIVE: Twelve genre film projects from emerging East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) filmmakers have been selected for the inaugural Great Migrations development lab.

Backed by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, the lab aims to address the historical under-representation of ESEA creatives in the UK screen sector.

Scroll down for the full list of participants & projects

The development programme will include editorial support for participants on their projects, peer exchange and engagement from industry stakeholders.

The titles include Get Sucked!, from Host actress Jemma Moore and Bruce Tang; and Kayla Hendy’s Tilted. The feature projects include horror, sci-fi, thriller and high-concept drama titles.

The Great Migrations lab is run by UK firm MilkTea Films, a non-profit organisation promoting East and Southeast Asian cinema in the UK.

“Great Migrations was created to directly tackle the lack of ESEA representation in UK feature filmmaking and to create meaningful access to commercial development opportunities,” said MilkTea Films founder Chi Thai, who was named a Screen UK-Ireland Star of Tomorrow in 2021 as a producer. “By centring genre storytelling, we are creating a powerful platform for bold, distinctive voices to reach the screen and wider audiences.”

By backing underrepresented voices and championing market‑facing genre storytelling, Great Migrations aims to reshape the creative pipeline and drive lasting change across the UK screen industries by responding to a significant gap in support for ESEA UK-based filmmakers,” said Mia Bays, director of the BFI Filmmaking Fund.

The cohort announcement comes as MilkTea has shared new data on ESEA representation in UK cinema, following from The Exclusion Act report which Thai and Delphine Lievens published in 2021.

The updated figures show that of the 325 scripted UK feature films released theatrically in the territory between 2021-2025, just four were directed or co-directed by filmmakers of British ESEA heritage. All four (Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Ng Choon Ping’s Femme, Paris Zarcilla’s Raging Grace and Chee Keong Cheung’s Son of Soil) were directed by men.

The data also shows that, of the seven British ESEA filmmakers to direct a feature between 2011 and 2020, only two have so far gone on to direct another.