EXCLUSIVE: Manchester Animation Festival (MAF) has launched Animation Featured, a development lab looking to strengthen the UK’s feature animation pipeline and support the next generation of independent animation filmmakers and studios.
Running from September 2026 to March 2027, the lab will select six UK projects for 115 hours of sessions, workshops and mentoring, plus two industry trips. Participants will be paid for their time on the lab, ensuring they can focus on developing their work and advancing their careers.
Animation Featured is fully funded by the BFI’s Creative Challenge Fund, with additional support from Screen Scotland and Northern Ireland Screen. Submissions to the lab open today and close on Sunday, August 16.
The lab aims to bridge the gap between creative vision and marketplace readiness. It will include mentoring, group work, one-to-one sessions, workshops, and presentations. Mentors will include Kensuke’s Kingdom and Ethel & Ernest producer Ruth Fielding, who is joint managing director at Lupus Films; and Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl producer Richard Beek.
“The UK has no shortage of animation talent, and with so many pitching events around the globe, we need a way to get our world-renowned ideas ready for investment,” said Steve Henderson, MAF festival director. “Animation Featured does just that - plugging a gap to get UK animated feature films to market and onto the screen.”
“The UK has a strong reputation for animation talent, yet the pathway from development to production for animated features remains fragile,” said Mia Bays, director of the BFI Filmmaking Funds, who described Animation Featured as an “ambitious programme, combining creative development with practical business and market training to help filmmakers compete internationally and secure production partners.”
The BFI’s Creative Challenge Fund was launched in 2023, and re-opened in 2025. Recent labs supported by the Fund include Together Films’ The Business of Impact, which held its pitch day earlier this month; and the Great Migrations lab for projects from emerging ESEA filmmakers.
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