BAFTA Breakthrough UK, the flagship talent programme for emerging British creatives and practitioners working across films, games and TV, is now in its 12th year and open to applications until June 19, 2025.
BAFTA Breakthrough offers an important support network and development opportunities at a critical point in a person’s career.
Since it was launched in 2013, the programme has elevated the careers of 290 creatives and practitioners across films, games and TV to date.
“The point of taking someone who has had a breakthrough moment is that we are able to provide mentorship and advice to help them negotiate success and manage their next steps,” explains BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip. “This career juncture can be exhilarating, but it can also be confusing and de-stabilising, particularly for those who face barriers and bias as a result of life experience or background.”
Some 20 talents are selected each year. For actor, producer and video game creator Abubakar Salim, being chosen as a BAFTA Breakthrough in 2019, is continuing to gild his career six years on.
“Being chosen as part of BAFTA Breakthrough had a domino effect,” Salim says. “If it wasn’t for Breakthrough, I wouldn’t have met a lot of the other actors and directors and writers, I wouldn’t have learned so much about the games industry. If it wasn’t for learning about the games industry, I wouldn’t have started a game [Tales of Kenzera: ZAU].”
Born to Kenyan parents in the UK, Salim is a graduate of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). In 2018, Salim was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award for best performer for his role as the main protagonist Bayek on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins.
A year later, following his selection as a BAFTA Breakthrough talent, Salim formed Surgent Studios and secured a deal with Electronic Arts and its EA Originals Label. As CEO and creative director, Salim set out to create content stemming, as he describes it, from human truth. This April, he and his team, along with Electronic Arts, released Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, which won a BAFTA Games Award in the Game Beyond Entertainment category.
“This is the brilliance of BAFTA Breakthrough. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to force anything. They are respectful of the talent and of the art and of the voice,” Salim notes. “It doesn’t discriminate.”
He has since produced projects through Surgent Studios including Caitlyn Sponheimer’s 2023 US feature Wild Goat Surf and short films Essex Girls, Things I Never Told My Father and The Whale.
As an actor, Salim is now filming the second season of HBO’s House Of The Dragon in the role of Alyn of Hull. His acting CV also boasts a star turn in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi drama series Raised By Wolves and key role in the filmmaker’s Napoleon feature.
On TV, his credits include period drama Jamestown, a recurring role in the Sam Mendes -produced BBC/Amazon series Informer and a turn in the mini-series Fortitude for Sky.
Actor Rosy McEwen was selected as a BAFTA Breakthrough talent in 2023, in the cohort that also included writer/director Georgia Oakley with whom she had made Blue Jean, her first leading role. McEwen’s performance won her multiple plaudits including a British Independent Film best lead performance award.
The actor says being part of such a creative cohort “created a breeding ground for creative inspiration”. She has since impressed in films including Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper’s futuristic sci-fi drama Vesper, horror thriller Apartment 7A from writer-director Natalie Erika James and Bryn Chainey’s folk horror Rabbit Trap. McEwen most recently filmed Mission, a UK thriller written and directed by Paul Wright in which she stars opposite George MacKay.
“Talented new faces, people with original ideas all striving to bring them to life, BAFTA Breakthrough felt like an exciting place to be and make friendships too,” McEwen notes. “This job can feel like quite a lonesome endeavour so to be within a community is a wonderful rarity.”
2025 marks the sixth year of Netflix’s partnership with BAFTA Breakthrough with the streamer pledging support for a further three years.
“We’re proud to continue supporting BAFTA Breakthrough as it helps the next generation of storytellers take that vital next step in their careers,” notes Netflix UK vp, content Anne Mensah. “It’s been inspiring to see how this programme opens doors for emerging talent and provides them with the tools, connections and confidence to thrive across film, TV and games.”
Applications for BAFTA Breakthrough UK supported by Netflix are now open at: www.bafta.org/programmes/bafta-breakthrough
The deadline for entries is 12.00 on Thursday June 19 2025.
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