Antonia Campbell-Hughes’ High End and Sally Potter’s Alma are among six co-productions to receive backing from the UK Global Screen Fund in its latest round of international co-production awards totalling £962,000.
High End, previously known as Diamond Shitter, is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of an affluent expat community in Geneva. Raffey Cassidy, Andrea Riseborough, Alessandro Nivola and Guy Pearce star.
It is a minority UK co-production with Ireland and Switzerland. The UK producer is Lee Magiday’s Smoke Puppy, co-producing with Ireland’s Cuala Films and Switzerland’s Rita Productions. Germany’s Beta is selling.
Alma is focused on a family that meets to scatter the ashes of their mother, with a cast including Pamela Anderson, Richard E. Grant and Jemima Kirke. It is a minority UK co-production with Italy, Poland and Germany.
The UK producers are Sixteen Films and Adventure Pictures, co-producing with Italy’s Kino Produzioni, Poland’s Madants and Germany’s Komplizen Film. The UK’s Bankside Films is selling.
Wang Xiaoshuai’s summer camp-set psychological thriller Child’s Play (Childhood) starring Sandra Oh has also received UKGSF backing. Produced by the UK’s Good Chaos, it is written by Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch.
UKGSF is financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and administered by the BFI. The co-production strand supports UK producers – who must be the minority co-producer on a project – to co-produce with international partners and create new global projects. To date, this strand has awarded over £10.6m to 68 co-productions, supporting partnerships with 35 territories.
For the first time, Thailand is a co-production territory with a project in this strand, as part of Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Jenjira’s Magnificent Dream.
From 2026-29, the UK Global Screen Fund will receive £18m per year of support, up from £7m per year, with a suite of new strands.
Applications for international co-production funding will re-open in September.
UKGSF international co-production strand
A Few Miles South
Dir: Ben Pearce
Prod: EMU Films (UK), Stop Gap Films (Ire), New Europe Productions (Pol), Wrong Men North (Belg)
Award: £150,000
Alma
Dir: Sally Potter
Prod: Adventure Pictures (UK), Sixteen Pictures (UK), Kino Produzioni (It), Madants (Pol), Komplizen Film (Ger)
Award: £200,000
Child’s Play (Childhood)
Dir: Wang Xiaoshuai
Prod: Good Chaos (UK), The Third Line Pictures (UK), Rhombus Media (Can)
Award: £160,000
Farida: The Girl Who Beat ISIS
Dir: Hassan Nazer
Prod: Cewri (UK), Shadowplay Features (UK), Alpenglow Films (US)
Award: £200,000
High End
Dir: Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Prod: Smoke Puppy (UK), Cuala Films (Ire), Rita Productions (Switz)
Award: £150,000
Jenjira’s Magnificent Dream
Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Prod: Sovereign Film Production (UK), Burning & Kick the Machine (Thai)
Award: £102,000
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