BFI appoints Chris Filip as international business development fund manager for UK Global Screen Fund

The BFI has announced Chris Filip as the new International Business Development Manager for the UK Global Screen Fund.

Reporting into Denitsa Yordanova, Head of UK Global Screen Fund, Chris will be responsible for the management of the strand, including the assessment of international company growth strategies, analysis of companies’ business plans, assessment of corporate structures and creation of KPIs. 

Chris joins the BFI having worked with Creative England as Programme Manager for Creative Enterprise, managing the New Ideas Fund, and their games business support programmes as part of their flagship business support and investment readiness programme. He has also worked to design and help deliver Payload Studios’ Tentacle Zone Incubator programme for underrepresented game studio founders, and co-founded Game Anglia, a not-for-profit community interest company growing the games industry in the East of England region. Before that, Chris was Game Designer and Product Manager for games and tech companies such as Ubisoft and Funtaptic. He will take up the post on 24 October. 

Denitsa Yordanova, Head of UK Global Screen Fund said: “We are delighted that Chris is joining us to manage the International Business Development fund in this brand new position within the team. His experience in managing public investment schemes and developing opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, alongside his background in the games industry and passion for tackling underrepresentation in the sector, provides an excellent fit for the UK Global Screen Fund’s Business Development strand. I look forward to welcoming Chris to the team and to working together on further realising the ambitions of the fund.”

Chris Filip said: “I am happy to be joining the BFI at this critical junction in the screen industries’ future, where more than ever there is a need to grow the UK’s international exports and deepen relationships. I look forward to working with Denitsa and the rest of the UK Global Screen Fund team to achieve our goals and, over the next few years and beyond, support hundreds of companies in games, film, TV, documentary and animation to build, expand and capitalise on their internationalisation strategy.” 

Chris joins the UK Global Screen Fund following confirmation of its continued funding over the next three years. Financed by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and administered by the BFI, the £7m per annum fund was launched last year to boost international development and distribution opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector, across film, TV, documentary, animation and interactive narrative games content. In its pilot year, 75 awards totalling £5.2m were made across the 3 strands: International Distribution, International Co-production and International Business Development. 

The International Business Development strand is now open for applications, supporting UK screen content businesses across film, TV, animation and interactive narrative video games to enhance their international activities. With its two track approach, the fund offers non-repayable  grants of between £50,000 and £200,000 in total for strategies starting in early 2023 and spanning three years. In its pilot year the fund made 30 awards to a total of £2.4m. For more information and full details on how to apply, view the guidelines here or join the latest informational webinar, taking place on 6 October, by registering here. 

The International Distribution Film Sales Support strand is also now open for applications, on a rolling basis, supporting UK sales agents to increase their international promotion and sales of live action and animated, fiction and documentary UK feature film projects. Funding is available for the international sale, marketing and promotion of a single eligible UK film in the form of non-recoupable grants of up to £25,000 for a single eligible film. For more information and full details on how to apply, view the guidelines here. A new P&A track will open soon, with details announced later this month.