EXCLUSIVE: Sheffield DocFest and Bristol’s Watershed Cinema are among the biggest recipients of the first awards from the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund 2026-29.
A combined total of £9.3m is being distributed among 23 recipients for audience-facing film and immersive projects of national scale across the UK from April 2026-29.
Seventeen are for long-term projects over two to three years, which the BFI said recognises the importance of stability for the exhibition sector and enabling sustained and strategic audience development interventions.
The biggest single recipient is the Independent Cinema Office, with £1.5m to deliver a series of strategic interventions for the independent exhibition sector to build resilience while being inclusive and audience-focused.
The biggest venue recipients are Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, Home in Manchester, Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, and Bristol’s Watershed, which have all received £600,000 to diversify audiences and engage with underrepresented communities.
Watershed has also received a separate award, with £204,000 for Other Ways of Seeing: Cinema Rediscovered 2026-29, part of the Cinema Rediscovered Festival, a UK-wide initiative supporting co-curators and venues across the UK to deliver bespoke repertory programmes for specific audiences.
Sheffield DocFest has received £600,000 to develop its festival and year-round offer to engage broader audiences, including family and young people, as well as continue emphasis on access and relevance for younger, Black and global majority, and lower socio-economic audiences.
Six awards are for targeted shorter-term activity, including £146,500 for Pictureville Cinema at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford. Funding will support Bradford’s only independent cinema to build on momentum and insights from Bradford City of Culture 2025.
Vertigo Releasing has £55,464 to support its distribution campaign of Genki Kawamura’s Japanese horror Exit 8, focusing on 18-30 audiences, and to support the design and production of immersive events to extend the film’s reach.
Seventeen recipients are based outside London and the southeast of England, although all awarded projects will have activity outside the region.
The aim is to generate 3 million admissions UK-wide, across 88,000 screenings.
The fund remains open, and further awards will be announced over the three years.
Since launching in April 2023, 153 projects have been supported by the BFI Audience Projects Fund. Based on reporting to date of the initial three-year period 2023-2026, projects supported by the fund have generated 6.6 million admissions, of which 87% were outside London and the southeast.
A total of £19.7m has been allocated to the BFI Audience Projects Fund out of £33.5m pledged to audiences over the next three years in the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029, representing a 20% increase from 2023-2026.
“As we enter the second phase of our 10-year National Lottery funding strategy, it’s vital we continue to collaborate with partners, old and new, across the UK to realise our ambition of bringing the broadest possible range of UK independent film and immersive storytelling to the widest possible audience,” said BFI’s head of audiences Ben Luxford.
BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund
Multi-year recipients
Broadway Cinema, Nottingham – £600,000
Home Cinema and Arts Centre, Manchester – £600,000
Phoenix Cinema, Leicester – £555,000
Plymouth Arts Cinema – £150,000
QUAD Cinema, Derby – £300,000
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast – £330,000
Showroom Cinema, Sheffield – £585,000
Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle – £600,000
Watershed Cinema, Bristol – £600,000
Festivals and special programmes
Arts Alive in Shropshire and Herefordshire, Flicks In The Sticks – £246,000
Carousel Project, Oska Bright Film Festival – £400,000
Flatpack Projects, Flatpack 20: Cinema Without Walls – £200,000
Leeds City Council, ‘Leeds Film Expanded– £580,000
Sheffield DocFest – £600,000
Watershed Cinema Bristol, Other Ways of Seeing: Cinema Rediscovered 2026-29 – £204,000
Audience development sector-facing initiatives
Cinema For All – £689,900
Independent Cinema Office – £1.5m
Short-term projects
The Barbican Centre, London – £186,160
London Latino Film Festival – £35,000
Pictureville Cinema at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford – £146,500
Tongues on Fire, UK Asian Film Festival– £60,000
Vertigo Releasing, Exit 8 distribution – £55,464
YourLocalCinema – £38,000
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